By Megan Hurt

Julie Watkins works on strength training for about an hour at least three times a week. She also does cardio, yoga and works on improving her balance with fun and challenging games. In the comfort of her own living room, Watkins’ personal trainer pushes and motivates her to keep up her exercise regiment.

Watkins is not super rich, a celebrity or extra special because she has her own at-home personal trainer. Instead, Watkins is just a UK journalism student who owns a Wii Fit.

Since its release in the U.S. in May 2008, Wii Fit has sold 4.5 million units, according to the NPD Group, a marketing research company. Even now, eight months after it’s release, the Wii Fit is one of the hardest products to find in stores, said Jason Hacker, a Wal-Mart electronics associate.

“The same day we get the Wii Fit in, they are gone,” he said. “They sell out now worse than when they first came out,” he said.

Hacker said the Wal-Mart on Nicholasville Road gets around 20 calls a day from people asking for a Wii Fit, but the store only gets sporadic shipments of eight or less of at a time.

“Stores aren’t able to keep them in stock,” Hacker said. “If someone has one, then they are lucky to have it.”

The Wii Fit, designed by Nintendo to use with the game console Wii, uses a balance board where players stand and interact, participating in challenges and games to increase their physical activity.

The mini-games designed for the Wii Fit fall into four categories: yoga, strength training, aerobics and balance. There are 47 mini-games in all and half are unlocked by playing a certain amount of time on the other games.

“The balance games are fun,” Watkins said. “There is a soccer ball game where you hit a ball with your head and then sometimes they throw a shoe at you — you dodge those. The strength training games are fun too because you can challenge the trainer.”

The Wii Fit balance board records your weight and center of balance, which lets the player keep track of their weight loss and improvements in posture.

While the Wii Fit is a good way to incorporate strength training and balance improvements into a workout, the game should not take place of a daily workout at the gym, said Samantha Thomas, an exercise physiology graduate student.

The mini-games on the Wii Fit range from a minute to five minutes in duration, something that makes the Wii Fit an imperfect workout regiment.

“In order to get a good cardio workout, you have to get your heart rate into a certain range,” Thomas said. “I think the Wii Fit can be a great addition to anyone’s workout, but it should not replace it.”

Watkins said she feels like she gets a good workout when using the Wii Fit, and says sometimes she is sore afterwards, but she also tries to get to the gym located at her apartment complex several times a week to work on cardio.

“I like using it because I’m naturally kind of a lazy person. If I can’t get to the gym, I can just work out on my Wii Fit,” Watkins said.

She first tried out the Wii Fit when her mother bought one for the whole family to use. That’s part of the appeal of the game — anyone can do the exercises, Watkins said.

“My three sisters and mom use it almost daily. If my mom can do it, and she’s 60, then anyone can,” she said.

Watkins said she feels it was absolutely worth the retail price of $89.99, but her complaint is that it doesn’t offer downloading of additional games.

“I’ve had it for so long, I’ve literally done all the things it offers so many times. It kind of gets repetitive,” she said.

Still Watkins said she has already recommended the Wii Fit to her friends, and would recommend anyone try it out.

Hacker said he has seen every type of person come to Wal-Mart to purchase the Wii Fit.

“I think it’s mostly made for the average person — everybody really,” he said.