Keep fit in style (active: Personal Trainer (Wii))

Member Name: laramax

Product:	active: Personal Trainer (Wii)
Date:	29/09/09 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good variety of exercises

Disadvantages: You need plenty of self discipline

If you look back through reviews I have written you will appreciate that about 18 months ago I decided to get fitter and healthier and just over a year ago I bought myself Wii Fit. I enjoyed that when I first got it and to be fair it did set me on the road to exercising more and losing a bit of weight but after a time it gets boring and working out with it is quite slow.

I then moved on to My Fitness Trainer so it isn't surprising that when EA Sports Active came on the scene I would be willing to give that a go too. It is designed for use with the Wii and you have the option of using the balance board that comes with Wii Fit or not using it so you don't need to have Wii Fit to use EA Sports Active but if you do have the balance board then it extends the range of exercises you can do.

What is it?

EA Sports Active is an exercise system which works with the Wii Console to help you to improve your fitness. It uses the Wii remote and nunchuk to track the movements you are making to monitor if you are doing the exercises correctly. The 'trainers' do make comments as you go along but they aren't too repetitive.

If you have the Wii balance board you can opt to use this and this will extend the range of exercises available.

Unlike Wii Fit this system allows you to select a programme of exercises and work through them so that you don't have the dead time you get with Wii Fit.

Out of the Box

I ordered my EA Sports Active from Amazon and it comes complete with a leg strap to allow you to strap the Wii nunchuk to your right leg during exercise (so that it can tell you if you are doing the exercise properly) and a resistance band. You have to put the resistance band together in that you need to attach the loops to the end but that isn't especially taxing and is done in a matter of minutes. The resistance band felt a bit flimsy to me but in practice it seems to work quite well and I imagine you could easily replace it with something stronger if you wanted a tougher workout.

EA Sports Active are also doing an accessory pack to allow you to purchase an additional leg strap and resistance band so that you can exercise with a partner or friends.

Once installed on your Wii console you go through the routine of entering a few personal details so that it can identify you next time and store details of the workouts you have done.

In Use

The software offers you a 30 Day Challenge to get you started and you choose the intensity you want to exercise at. I decided to select 'medium' and commenced the first workout which lasted around half an hour including the little videos which show you how to do the exercises.

At first progress seems slow as you watch a short video to understand what is expected of you. After a few days you get the hang of things and can generally skip these as most are fairly straightforward.

The exercises are interesting and varied with standard resistance work punctuated by jogging, inline skating, tennis and boxing so it doesn't get boring. The first couple of times I didn't find it too taxing although I did work up a bit of a sweat but as you progress, and skip the video demonstrations you get more of a workout.

Would I recommend it?

I do like the variety of the exercises and the fact that you don't know what is coming next (unless you memorise the list they show you at the start).

There are a range of workouts you can select if you don't want to do the 30 day challenge and youcan customise the exercises to suit yourself. There are some gimmicks in that you can get awards as you progress through the exercises and there is a helpful place where you can record other exercises you have done and your diet.

Overall I think it makes an interesting addition to my range of exercise options. I don't see it as making you super fit but it will get you toned and give you a bit of a workout. It suits me as I am not keen on going to the gym.

At £34.96 from Amazon it equates to about a month's gym subscription so it is reasonable value and it does offer a varied workout each day which you don't get with and exercise video.

This review was also published on Ciao by laramax

Summary: A way to get fit without going to the gym