Make sure those curtains are closed (again!) (active: Personal Trainer (Wii))

Member Name: kingsraconteur

Product:	active: Personal Trainer (Wii)
Date:	29/06/09 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Works up a sweat, great fun to play, continuous use will get you fit

Disadvantages: Will you get bored eventually?, sometimes Wii struggles to find me, Sorry but you'll have to work :D

Fanfare please. Why thank you and would you kindly take your seats as I prepare for my 50th (tada) review.

First things first I must confess to being a bit of a doughnut. I typed in EA Active in the search bar and was rewarded with a big fat zero. I was quite amazed and thought it was sure to be on here. So, venturing bravely into the unknown I made my first suggestion. Soon after I pondered on what would be a fitting review and glanced under Wii. What do I see? Said game staring back at me under a slightly different moniker. Oh well, sorry Dooyoo but I did type in the correct product name :D

Anyway, without further ado I think we'd best crack on. I'm not usually one to waffle on about boxes as for me they soon end up in the bin. I really couldn't give a chimpanzee about what fancy picture is on the front but will make an exception in this case. Why, prey tell I hear you ask?

Well, it's not for the fact that a young heroine is showing us the way to fitness but rather it got a bit battered. Boo points for Play.com for not putting this into a suitable box but I'll forgive you just this once. Thankfully the gubbins inside was fine and that leads me nicely onto what you actually get.

Well, there's the disc and a pamphlet for starters (well, you wouldn't get far without it would you?) but my attention was drawn to this rather long piece of elastic and two handles at the end. Now it isn't for use in some dodgy establishment but this goes onto form a resistance band. There are some fairly simple instructions to follow in making the resistance band which I managed to accomplish (a miracle!) and I was almost set.

Another contraption is what looks like a knee support. You dangle your nunchuk in here for certain exercises and despite feeling a little bit tight it's quite comfortable. Ok, ok, I hear you scream, for goodness sake get on with the games. That's what we're here for after all.

Verily, I shall press on then! Before you start leaping, punching, jumping and looking rather foolish to any passing stranger you have to log your details. Now, forgive me for being a bit old fashioned but I do wish they'd give you the option for putting in stones/lbs rather than kilos. The same goes for height which is in centimetres. I haven't a scooby on how tall I am in the world of metric but certainly do in imperial.

So, suitably irritated I was at last ready to do the 30 day challenge. Now, let's get one thing straight from the off. You will sweat. In fact you will sweat rather a lot :D. Thankfully, I'm reasonably fit from my karate endeavours but I would advise starting with the low intensity at first.

The first exercise that came along was a spot of walking and running on the spot. I didn't find this too taxing but soon noticed a great little motivation tool in the top left corner. In a pistachio shell it's a calorie counter. It's great to see just how many calories you're losing with this baby and it certainly motivates you to keep on working even when you feel it getting a bit too much.

It wasn't long before I brought my balance board (this is optional, not compulsory by the way) into play for a spot of punching and kick boxing. Yup, expect to let loose on some imaginary heavy bag. This will definitely get the heart rate moving and is also great fun. Before you know it it's time for a spot more running and so on and so on.

You also get to use the resistance band for some simple curls and a couple of other simple exercises. At this point sweat will be running most profusely whilst you wonder what comes next.

This is the beauty of this product for me. The exercises are pretty sharp and snappy rather than a monotonous chore. You never know quite what comes next (although I dare say boredom may well come down the line) and it keeps your mind as well as your body active.

I'm into day three of my 30 day challenge and have had a spot of Tennis (more like Candy Curry than Andy Murray), inline skating, jumping (Oh yes, you get to unleash your inner frog) and dancing. Now seeing me dancing is quite a scary feat believe me. There's the promise of plenty of more exercises to come with even a spot of volleyball and baseball play to come. I can't wait!

So, all is rosy with this game then dear Raconteur. Hmm, well almost. I don't know if it's me but for some reason my Wii has issues at times with picking me up. Well, not by lifting me by the neck by a virtual hand and telling me off but rather than that damnable sensor on the Wii.

I fancy I need a bit more room but there's nothing more annoying than letting loose with the nunchuck at a tennis ball only to see your onscreen avatar stare dumbly back without playing a shot. At other times, you'll do a standing squat where your avatar stays in the same position. End result is me getting lower and lower and bellowing at my pixellated twin to do likewise!

This almost makes me give it 4 rather than 5 stars but not quite as I fancy it's more my setup than the game itself. Before I go onto summing up I must just add that the workouts seem to go from about 15-20 minutes and the amount of calories burned vary from workout to workout. Some will focus on strength whilst others are certainly more cardio based to really burn off that fat. There seems to be 16 exercises in one sitting but I fancy that may well be upped the further I go into the 30 day trial.

One further cause for concern is the knee strap. A couple of times it's slid down my knee which is most annoying when you're in the middle of an exercise and then be told off by your virtual trainer to get busy! It is a velcro based affair and I do worry about whether in the long term it will wear out.

So, do I recommend. Well most certainly. I actually can't wait for the next day/challenge to come along and give it my all. I've also heard a promising rumour that this is to be the first of several Wii games from the EA franchise which will really get you working up a sweat. They've recognised the huge potential of the home fitness market and good luck to them for making us jump off our sofas and into our healthy new selves.

Oh, I suppose I'd better do a little ode :D

There was this man with a Wii,
Which connected to his TV
He banged in a game from EA,
For he was rather keen to play.

Before long he was yearning,
To replace the calories he was burning,
Jumping and a punching he went,
His energy now almost spent.

But at last it was time to end,
And ponder: Did he wisely spend?
And he is most glad to acclaim
This is a most splendid game :D

Summary: Have fun getting fit :D