Fitness Game News and Reviews
Post subject : Review: My Fitness Coach
As creator of WiiFitForum.org, I’m obviously a fan of Wii Fit. I’m also the first to acknowledge that it is far from perfect. The main criticisms have been the lack of structured workouts and the time wasted between exercises. So I’m always looking for something to complement the Wii Fit, and for the last few weeks I have been trying My Fitness Coach (MFC).
MFC takes a different approach to Wii Fit, eschewing attempts to be a fun game. Instead think of it as a 21st century exercise video. Your virtual fitness coach, ‘Maya’, creates an exercise routine based on your current fitness, the time available, your aims (toning, weight-loss etc) and the equipment you have available (free weights, a step, balance ball, or pulse monitor).
My first MFC session started with a fitness test. This recorded my heart rate before and after exercise, my weight, and height, waist, thigh and chest measurements. I did both cardio exercises and strength tests, measuring how long I could work at a given rate. The only thing you will need for the test is a tape measure, but a pulse monitor may be helpful if you are not confident about taking your own pulse. This is a proper measure of your fitness, and a detailed assessment of your body shape. It is much more realistic than the one used in Wii Fit which just uses your BMI and balance. The whole process takes about 10 minutes.
Once the test is done Maya suggests what you should be concentrating on. Unsurprisingly, my target was weight loss. I then specified how much time I wanted to commit to exercise on each day of the week. I found this commitment idea much nicer than Wii Fit’s continuous nagging, Maya only nags you if you don’t keep your commitment, not just because you don’t use it every day. I found the whole tone of MFC much more positive than Wii Fit. There is no melodramatic demonstration of how overweight you are, or nagging you when you put on the occasional pound or two.
Before you begin you pick a focus for the routine from a set of categories, such as cardio, flexibility, etc, one of which will be recommended for you. I’ve mostly been doing cardio, but it’s good to mix things up. MFC doesn’t use the Wii Fit balance board or controllers, which at first seemed like a major handicap, but it frees you up to move around much more than with Wii Fit. In fact I had to rearrange my living room a bit to make more space to exercise. I found it much easier to work up a serious sweat than with Wii Fit because of this extra dynamism.
The exercise routines are similar to what you might find on an exercise routine DVD, but are different each time, and adapt to how you are feeling. Periodically Maya asks how I’m doing and adjusts the intensity of the workout accordingly. This seems to work quite well, and recently my routines have been spot on in terms of intensity. They are varied and well structured, starting with a warm up and finishing with a few stretches, with brief rests and water breaks. Maya doesn’t waste much time and the routines are very efficient for burning calories (you get an estimate at the end). …
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