Wii Workout Warriors: EA Active, My Fitness Coach, or something else?

[Golf4food]

We want to get one of the exercise programs for the Wii to help us get through the colder months until we can get back outside more regularly again. I've seen mixed reviews for all of the various Wii exercise programs.

My Fitness Coach has a better overall rating on Amazon and is only $20, which is nice.

EA Active seems to be more interactive and perhaps more fun but would also run about 3 times as much to get two sets of equipment so is it realy 3 times better to justify the extra cost?

Or is htere something else out there entirely?

(We are not looking for Wii Fit or Wii Fit Plus or buying the balance board.)

 

[SunshineOR]

I have EA Active More Workouts. I'm half-way through my first sixty-day challenge. The workouts are rigorous. I set it to medium intensity, and for the first two weeks, I was a puddle of quivering jello after my workouts.

First piece of advice, if I had it to do over, I would not have purchased the leg strap/resistance band kit and I definitely wouldn't buy two of them. I would get cheap resistance bands at Walmart. The leg straps do not work well. Either it's too loose and falls off when you move, or you get it on tight enough but are cutting off your blood circulation. Some of my family just uses shorts with pockets and puts the nunchuck in their pocket with better, but not perfect results. I took an old tee shirt, cut a square and stitched it on the front of an old pair of yoga pants. It holds the nunchuck on the front of my thigh firmly and works perfectly. Everyone in my family has been coming to me with old shorts and pants asking me to sew on pockets for them and it works great.

Positives: Without dieting and only using EA Active for a month, I have lost five pounds and gained a lot of muscle tone. I am really pleased with the results. It is nice having a trainer and pre set workouts and just turning it on and getting to work. The little games and activities are fun. It's more fun to lunge while playing squash and squat while waterskiing, etc. We also like that there are programs you can do with a partner.

Negatives: Even with the variety and games, it's still getting a bit repetitive. Lots of the exercises are pretty much the same with just a small variation and daily exercises will often repeat two or three of the exercises. I am finding it's getting stale and it's definitely something I will do for sixty days, then break from for a while before getting back to it. I am really happy with the muscle tone development, but not happy with the cardio aspect of it. The step aerobics is only three exercises repeated over and over and there's some running or jumping rope in place, but I don't feel I'm getting in as good of cardio shape as I'd like.

Overall, I'm happy with it. I like the set-up, am enjoying the challenge and am getting results. I would hesitate to recommend it for an all-year, only thing you do workout, but I think it's perfect for getting through the winter. You won't find me doing this in the summer months when I can do other things, but I predict I'll break this out every year with my New Year's Resolution and use a sixty-day challenge to drop some pounds and tone up after the holidays.

 

[Golf4food]

Thanks. That's what I've read - that the cardio is not as good as it should be. I suppose we could combine games because the MyFitnessTrainer or the Golds Gym game both sound pretty cardio intensive. Just seems annoying to have to switch back and forth to new games all the time.

Good tip about the do-it-yourself nunchuck pouch, too. We'll skip the money on the second set if we go the EA Active route and just buy our own better quality stuff from teh beginning.

 

[Disneefun]

Here's my Wii workout regimen:

MWF: I do Wii Active or Active More Workouts. I agree with everything the poster above said, but will add this: You can create your own custom workouts to get more cardio, if you want. I have whole workouts set up with nothing but cardio boxing or running or (on more workouts) the follow the leader workouts which can be quite cardio intensive. The thing with the Actives is that, if you do the preset workouts, you only spend a few minutes on each thing. If you really want to focus on something, you're better off creating your own routine that reflects that.

TH: I do either: Golds gym cardio workout, my fitness coach, dance dance revolution, or just dance.Great cardio all of them. Sometimes I'll do one of the workouts I referenced above in active that I created.

Saturday: I have the biggest loser and sometimes I'll do the challenges in that one or some of the premade workouts. I don't love this one as much as the others, so it gets less rotation in my workouts, but it's still a solid workout title.

Sunday: I have wii fit plus and I do the yoga and balance exercises on this one just for fun mostly. Not a great workout, but just something to do in down time.

Come spring and summer I'll get outside much more and probably retire the wii a little more. But for the winter, it's fun and keeps me going. I will say, don't bother with my fitness coach 2. I bought it b/c I loved the first one, but the second one isn't even close to it's predecessor.

 

[castmemberb4]

I love Just Dance. It's fun only needs a remote and has music other than Hip-Hop.

 

[Golf4food]

Thanks. Probably a good idea to just get both and rotate as Disneefun does.

Question: Can you get the EA Active: More Workouts and use it if you don't have the first one? Just buy our own resistance bands and make our own leg pouches as the PP mentioned?

 

[SunshineOR]

I bought the 2nd version of EA Active without ever owning the first. It is a stand alone and there's no reason to buy the first one.

The only thing is the More Workouts isn't sold with the leg strap and resistance band, but you have to buy them separately. Of course, as I said before, I'd just buy the game and not buy the workout gear if I had to do it all over again.