My husband brought home EA Active this week. It's a new workout game for Wii. It's like Wii Fit, but it's all strength and cardio! You won't find yoga or bubble popping on this game. It includes exercises like running in place, side lunges, squats, tennis, boxing, reverse lunges, and so on!
The game comes with a leg strap, to hold the nunchucks, and a resistance band. When you start the game it lets you set up a profile that includes things like gender, height, weight, and what intensity you want to work out. I had to go with medium, because honestly, I just think I'm better than low, but definitely am not ready for high.
The game allows you to set up your own workouts, do 20 or 30 minute single workouts or do a 30 Day Challenge. I chose to do the 30 Day Challenge because I like when workouts are already planned for me. Plus, I want to see what this thing can do for me in 30 days. It gives you a calendar with your plan, workout and rest days. Each day you start your workout you can modify it to exclude or include certain exercise. I'm thinking this is for either a) people who are lazy and don't want to do 30 lunges or b) people who have physical limitations and can't do some exercises. I just go with what preset because after only 2 days of using it, I think the system probably knows what I should be doing better than me.
Once you start your workout it gives you a short video of each exercise as you come to it. It lets you know if you'll need the nunchuck in your hand or in the leg band, and if you'll need the resistance band.
After the video, your personal trainer pops up in the right bottom corner of the screen and will guide you through each step. She (or he, your choice) will tell you to step right and as she does it there is a sound effect to prompt you. I appreciate this since a couple of times I was so into the workout I wasn't listening to her every word, but when I heard the ding, I knew it was time for the next move.
If you're not doing the moves correctly (speed, timing, positioning) somehow the Wii knows and it will either have you do it over, or it just won't count toward your goal in reps. And you can always go back and watch the video over again and continue the exercise. I did learn that you have to be precise with pointing your Wiimote. If you start the exercise with it pointed left, you can't keep it pointed left or it doesn't register your movement. But the trainer has a Wiimote in her hand so you just have to be aware of which way her's is pointing through each movement.
While you're working out the Wii keeps track of your calories burned and time. During my second workout I kept a close eye on the calorie counter to see what it was actually counting. If I wasn't moving, the counter wasn't moving. And with each exercise it gave you a certain number of calories burned. So for the Alternating Bicep Curls, I got .2 calories burned. I feel more confident knowing they aren't just throwing a number out there randomly, or just having the counter continually clicking away, although I know this number has a certain amount of randomness to it.
From my day one workout to my day two workout the exercises had already built on themselves! I was already sore from day number 1, I couldn't imagine what day number 2 was going to do to me. It wanted me to burn 40 more calories and I worked out an extra 6 minutes. At minute number 16 the trainer said something about "It's time to do lunges to get that heartrate up" and I found myself telling the trainer "It's ALREADY up!" The exercises were even more advanced. Instead of doing just Alternating Side Lunges, it included a toe touch (which makes you hold the lunge even longer and makes it burn even more! Ouch!). I was really impressed that it didn't just have me doing the same thing over and over each day.
During the workout, half way through, the exercises loop so you're doing all of them at least 2 times. I guess this is what is supposed to happen in a workout, because when I had a personal trainer she did the same thing. Plus, the second time around, you're familiar with the exercise and you can push yourself even harder!
So far I really enjoy this EA game. You can tell they have put effort into the game and didn't just throw something together to compete with Wii Fit. I do have one complaint though, the music is sad. It's the equivalent of any other video game, nothing "workout music" about it. I'm going to use my iPod workout playlist with it once I get used to the exercises and don't rely on the trainer so much.
Oh, and did I mention it's only $60???? No excuses now when it's raining, too hot outside or I just don't want to leave the house! Now my trainer sits in my living room... stairing me down....
I'm sure I'll post updates as the 30 Day Challenge continues.
