[petra65]

I was at walmart today and went ahead and picked up some hand weights and a balance ball. We use these in pilates all the time so I knew which ones to get. They actually were not very expensive so I"ll try them out this week with the program and see how that goes. I like doing pilates with the ball. I have terrible balance so the ball works well for me.

I also looked at the EA sports thing. It looks like it was designed to be a competitor to Wii Fit. For those of you who plan to get it I"m interested in what you think. I read some reviews-mostly positive but some people thought the controls didn't work well and maybe they need to refine it a little before it lives up to its potential. May be one of those that it would be worth waiting for the 2nd or third generation to come out before buying. Gamefly doesn't carry it at this point so I can't rent it (at least not from them).

Peanutsmom-having been able to work with a personal trainer at one point in the past, I would have to say, yes, this video comes pretty close to that. At least as close as you can come in a video format.

[petra65]

Tried the Vertigo game with the balance board. Yes, it is very much like the tilt table in Wii Fit Plus which I'm not very good at. I was terrible at this. I couldn't get off the first platform So I would only recommend this if you are really good at those tilt table games.

I've been in the mood to play games today. I even rearranged my living room a little so I have more space for active things. I played with the Decasports thing for a few minutes-didn't particularly like this. It has it set up for you to lose most of the time which is no fun. I played golf and boxing on the regular Wii sports. I did the training exercises on the boxing one. My sensor doesn't gauge when I move very well which gets frustrating.

That's my review of active videos for the day

[petra65]

In my video game musings this weekend I learned something I would have never learned otherwise. Punch Out! is apparently a remake of an old Nintendo video game. It isn't meant to be a boxing simulation, it's a video game that happens to include boxing. Everyone who has reviewed this game loves it but I would have never realized that there is trick to the game if I hadn't read that stuff, I would have just been happily boxing away trying to defeat my opponents on sheer strength which would have never worked. I'm looking forward to playing it again now that I know there is a trick to it.

[CardboardCutoutCat]

Ooooooh the post just arrived and EA Active personal trainer was there! Can't believe how quick that was, usually delivery from the UK to Malta is at least a week.

Going down now to give it a whirl. Will update later!

[petra65]

I'm really sore today and I"m guessing its from that Fitness Coach! Although I did manage to Knock out Glass Joe last night on Punch Out now that I know what the goal of the game is. BTW, Punch Out is considered one of the top 25 games ever made on the Wii Format.

Sarah, looking forward to your review of the EA Sports video.

[CardboardCutoutCat]

EA Active personal trainer -

That was a nice workout. I spent about two hours with it as I had to set up a profile and before every exercise was an instruction video as it was the first time. You can set goals, so I set three for the week. 7 hours of exercise, 250 cals a day, and 7 workouts. After an hour's exercise I'd burnt off closer to 300 cals so I think if I keep up the same every day this week then I'll meet the set goals.

Pros -
Higher resistance workout
Seems there is a lot more choice of exercise
You workout to music
It's not mean to me, telling me I'm unsteady and shaky! It's very upbeat and complimentary. It also awards different trophies for different achievements like burning a certain amount of cals, working out for so many days, etc.
The exercises with the resistance band are great, you can really feel them working.
There's dance! yaaay It's pretty easy but fun. There are also a good few different sports like tennis, volleyball, basketball, rollerblading, boxing.

Cons -
Leg strap came loose twice. This may be due to the fact that I was wearing loose fitting bottoms. Maybe its better to wear shorts or leggings.


All in all I would say it is very different from Wii fit plus but equally as fun. A nice change. It's too early to tell but I think it's possibly a tougher and more effective workout.

[petra65]

Ok. Keep us posted. I'm so sore today I can barely move. I'm not sure this is completely from working out with my video yesterday. I think I'm also coming down with some bug-I have a sore throat so its probably a combination.

[CardboardCutoutCat]

Feel better soon!

[PeanutsMom704]

wow, these games sound pretty intense!

feel better soon, Petra!

[petra65]

Where have all the Wii chickies gone? I tried the yoga routine on the My Fitness Coach video today. It was actually pretty good. I only did 15 minutes cause I didn't know how hard it was going to be but I could have done more. I may try it again for a longer time. I'm not big on yoga videos so this is saying something. I also noticed today that the Wii Fit instructions for triangle pose are incorrect. Anyone else noticed this?

I boxed today for the first time in a couple weeks. I only did 6 minutes cause I knew 10 minutes would be too much but it felt good. Will probably do some running or other stuff later.

How's the EA Active Sports 30 day challenge going? And the Gold's Gym Cardio boxing game? None of mine have come yet from the rental company. I got to try out an intense shooting game last night but might be a bit much for even me and I like to shoot things. Its called The Conduit-supposedly the best shooting game for Wii if any of you have teenagers who love these kinds of games.

[petra65]

It is really fun. I haven't checked it out on ebay or craigs list but you might be able to find a good deal.

[PeanutsMom704]

I've been off exercise for over a week now, thanks to this cold and the whole not being able to take a deep breath thing.

I did do a little bit of Wii Fit yesterday, but I could only make it through the Advanced Step one time before having to give up. And today, I did the 1 mile WATP today, so hopefully I'm finally starting to get back into the groove.

[petra65]

I was reading on the other thread about the EA Active Sports program and saw on-line that a new version is coming out in the fall-just in time for Christmas. I'm thinking maybe I'll ask for it for Christmas. I'll be ready for some new by then I suspect.

[Heidi58]

I was happy to see new posts in this thread. lol

I'm still enjoying my wii fit plus, but we've had some great spring weather (pretty unusual for March in Maine) so I've been walking outdoors and riding my bike more than I've been working out inside. I wish there was some way to explain this to my little balance board.... He sounds so accusing, "No time to work out yesterday Heidi?" But on the bright side, my bank turned gold last week.

I'm still using the strength routines pretty much every day. I'm getting so much better at the 'hard' exercises and I feel like I'm seeing a difference in my abs and upper arms. But I'm still waiting for the day when the trainer will mind her manners and not say, "You're very shaky." at the end of my routine.

[petra65]

Heidi-I love your picture. Your baby has been taking lessons from a cat.

You can put activity on your activity log you know. I know what you mean about the "you're shakey comments" I get annoyed with that too. I don't do the strength exercises but I do the yoga occassionally. While I"m doing it, she comments on how good my posture is and then at the end tells me how shaky I am! What's up with that? How many hours until my piggy turns brozne? I have 7 hours and some change. I'm thinking 10?