However, consider this. I've had a Wii for about a year now and I haven't played any video games where I sit still. I bought it specifically to try out some of the fitness modules. After trying a few, I'm now using The Biggest Loser module. I've been following this program at least loosely for about a month. (Note: I am not good at compulsive behaviour - has my family ever done anything exactly the same for the holidays, ever? No). I needed something new and different, because especially around this time of year, I get incredibly bored with exercise. Too nasty outside to hike. My exercise DVDs are all old. My Zumba class isn't happening tonight. And to top it off, this month has been incredibly, ridiculously busy. You know all the excuses!
So, I created my profile, weighed in, answered all the questions, and got started. It took me awhile to get used to the menu, but as I worked it, now I know what I'm doing. At first, I elected full body workouts at the "Challenging" level, 4 times a week for 60 minutes. I included the Fitness ball and exercise bands as options. As I scanned the workout calendar, I saw that I'd be doing various workouts ("Box-Fit", "Full body", and "Yoga) throughout the week. However, as I worked my way through, the workouts all seemed pretty much the same combination of exercises, with emphases on certain ones. For example, when doing the "Yoga" workout, I was doing more planks and downward facing dogs, but I was also doing side leg-raises and boxing. Box Fit included lots of strikes and punches, but also some bicep curls. Although I enjoy most of the exercises themselves, they became a bit repititious, and the fact that my "trainer" kept repeating the same encouraging words whether I was working my butt off, or sitting on it, was a bit un-encouraging. At the "Challenging" level, they're probably not as strenuous as what I'd get from a machine at the gym or from lifting free weights but I had to admit I felt pretty good when I was done. I also liked the weekly feedback of weighing in, and some of the Challenges were fun.
I didn't participate in the recipe section, since we already eat very healthy meals. I liked most of the Health and Lifestyle hints, and even tried a few. However, after about 2 weeks, I realized I was getting bored, and I had to change things up a bit.
So, I went back into the profile information and changed my workouts to 30 minutes each. I decided since I did enjoy the exercises, I should keep doing them just to assure that I was working out all my muscle groups at least 4 times a week. But I needed to supplement those 30 minutes in order to get the 60 minutes I need in order to maintain my current weight. Also, I wanted to get more Pilates and Yoga workouts....
So I went back to my Wii's "Home" menu, where I can access all my Netflix watch-instantly videos to stream to the Wii. This is available to current members for no additional charge, or, if all you want are the instant movies, you can join for just $7.95 a month. I've found a plethora of exercise videos available there. Willa and I really like the videos that are divided into 10-minute sections such as "10 solution: Kickbox Boot Camp." I've found that mixing it up, either with these Netflix instant-watch videos, or videos in my current DVD library, keeps me interested enough to push myself a bit more than I might.
Next week I'm going to post about another technological option: podcasts! Stay tuned.
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