Wii Active – Take Two!

So I didn’t give up on Wii Active.  Oh I did take a break, the frustration was far too much and so were the injuries from squatting a bit too much.  For those of you who didn’t get a chance to read my first take on Wii Active by Electronic Arts, you may do so right here.

Believe it or not, now that I threw out the 30 day pre-programmed crapola and designed my own, I am now working out close to 400 calories a session! And I’m looking forward to it, I might add. Very strange coming from a gaming lady who has carried around far too much weight for most of her adult life. I’m not complaining – it does feel good.

So what did I do?

1) I refused to click on the presets, such as their 30 day workout or whatever else they have concocted. Oh yeah, never try the one that says it isn’t a low body workout, because it is. You’ll see what I mean.

2) I experimented with the making of my own workout, keeping in mind the apparatus that I will use. Nunchuk in the leg strap, Wii Balance Board, or that silly Wii strap.  By keeping like exercises together I discovered that it was much less hassle and much less time changing between whatever I am using.

3) I repeated exercises that I liked. Okay, look I know that exercising isn’t supposed to be fun. I understand that, but there is a difference between sweating out in misery wondering if you can complete something (like a long run) or if you do things you can do, but repeat them more often. I enjoy not being miserable when exercising while still feeling the sweat roll down my back.

Remember that they always include the time it takes for the tutorials, so your 50 minute workout turns out to be 45 minutes. That means add some extra reps of something.

The problem I’m having is with the lack of lower body exercises. I’m not at a good enough fitness level to do a bunch of jumping lunging OMG make it stop. That’s where I hurt myself last time. So my workout tends to be 40% Cardio, 40%  Upper Body and 18% Lower Body. I don’t know where the 2% goes, but who said that video games can count?

Oh yeah please note that Inline skating is the equivalent to squats. Use them wisely and it will hurt like a bugger.

Things I still hate –

Porno lady voice – Oh yeah!

System Catch ups – Your move doesn’t register completely and then suddenly the next one moves so fast you might as well not blink.

30 day workout
Things I like –

Most of the cardio workouts, including the sports (minus basketball).

The flexibility of designing your own workout. I thought this would lead me to be lazy, but in fact I am pushing myself harder.

So all in all, once you throw out the 30 day workout, Wii Active is quite good. I’m sore but not so much that I’m in pain but enough that I want to workout tomorrow instead of dreading it and wondering when the 30 days will end.