Monday, June 29, 2009

Wii Active

So you know how you get those gifts sometime that make you think, "This gift isn't really for ME?" I feel that way many times when I get a "gift"from my hubs that I know I'll never use but he will. For example, one Christmas he gave me a Family Tree Maker CD. Now there's nothing wrong with family or anything, but I am not a genealogy nut like he is. I think that was the first thing he opened and he rushed to the computer right away to you know...install it for me. He's so sweet. Well, I have to admit, for Father's Day I kind of did the same thing. I bought my hubs new lighter hand weights (since Jillian Michaels is a crazy woman and is trying to kill us). I also bought him a Wii Active program. Do I think he will use it? Yes. Do I also think I will use it? I tried it out just today (before he has) and I like it. We already have Wii Sports and Wii Fit so I knew I liked the idea. I'd read about it in my various Fitness and Weight loss magazines and I kept toying with the idea of buying it. I was on the fence though because I liked my Wii Fit, in fact I was obsessed with it for awhile. But I am a busy working mom and the Wii Fit can take forever. There's a lot of talking in between and I just want to workout and not listen to a computer generated trainer give me the same advice, "You're strong but you need to work on your stability." My hubs and I both used the Wii Fit a lot this winter but have been on our running and Jillian kick lately. But I went ahead and bought it since it's supposed to individualize a program just for you.
Today I entered my weight loss and fitness goals. I also took a food survey to see what it said. Then it came up with 12 different exercises for me that I am supposed to be able to finish in 20 minutes. It also gave me the option of low impact, medium, or high impact exercises. I had choices that I could select or remove and it gave the estimated finish time and calories I would burn. I only selected 5 exercises since I had already gotten my butt kicked by Jillian, but when it said the estimated amount of calories I'd burn was 47 that was unacceptable! I did my 5 and then chose to do some more. I like that it gave both cardio and strength training choices. It was kind of like interval training. Tomorrow is supposed to be different exercises to keep it fresh. Also there was an option to watch a demo or not, so that could be a time saver. There didn't seem to be a lot of talking and button pushing between exercises either like in Wii Fit. I'll keep you posted on how I like it. I just want to keep doing strength training and running. I usually just run and I know that I need to strength train. Unfortunately, since I'm usually short on time I choose to get my running in and then don't have any strength training time. I'm working on it since I know it's important to my health AND should make me a better runner.

Workouts- Monday Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones DVD and 15 minutes on Wii Active

2 comments:

Katy said...

Thanks for the review, I've been interested on hearing what it's like, without the investment.

I was also getting frustrated with the Wii Fit 30 minutes of exercises would often take 40 minutes +

Jules said...

My mom got us the Wii Active for our BD's and the holiday's (moms day/dads day) hubby hasn't used it yet. But I like it. i work hard to burn more calories than it estimates and I sweat. Boy do i sweat. I'm going to buy wrist and ankle weights so i can get rid of the band and up the strength routine. I also like that it tells you how long the exercising will be WITH the tutorials instead of without. I don't watch them but when i'm strapped on time it gives me an idea of how long I'm looking at. I love my Wii Fit... but I agree... i just want to get rid of the time hassle in between. Oh well.
Have fun with it! And enjoy it! :)
OH! Check out the sports ones that come on it. Can be fun and different. :)