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My Fitness Coach Wii Review

11/04/2009 Family Fit Gamer Review
Guest author: Paul Leader
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My Fitness Coach Nintendo Wii

My Fitness Coach

Format:
Nintendo Wii

Genre:
Improvement

Buy/Support:
Support Luke, click to buy via us...


Other GamePeople columnists have reviewed this from their perspective - huh?:
Family Gamer (Wii)

My Fitness Coach 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).

As creator of WiiFitForum.org, I'm obviously a fan of Wii-Fit, but I also 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 (My Fitness Coach).

My first My Fitness Coach 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.

I found this commitment idea much nicer than Wii-Fit's continuous nagging, Maya only nags you if you don't keep your commitment.

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 My Fitness Coach 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. My Fitness Coach 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). Lately I've been burning around 300 calories in 30 minutes, nearly as much as I did at the gym. At the end of a session I really feel like I've had a good workout, something I can't always say of Wii-Fit. The almost continuous movement helps keep your pulse up and your muscles warm.

If you are serious about your fitness and have found Wii-Fit too limited, then My Fitness Coach may be for you.

It's fair to say that My Fitness Coach is not made for fun (unless doing jumping jacks and crunches are your idea of a good time), but it is made for genuine fitness. I'm pushed for time, but My Fitness Coach lets me fit in a real workout without wasting time switching between exercises or clicking through screens. I also find the whole tone of My Fitness Coach more encouraging and less patronizing than Wii-Fit. The lack of active feedback is a shame, but at the same time frees you from the balance board and WiiMote, allowing you to really push yourself. My onl. problem with it was the lack of tutorials for some moves, but you quickly get the hang of them after a couple of goes.

If you are serious about your fitness and have found Wii-Fit too limited, then My Fitness Coach may be for you. It is certainly doing me a lot of good.

Guest review by Paul Leader


You can support Luke by buying My Fitness Coach



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Paul Leader wrote this Fit Gamer article under the watchful eye of Luke Pyper.

"As a trained professional fitness coach I bring an informed and balanced take on fitness video games. I cover Xbox 360, PS3, Wii-Fit, DS lite and PSP games from a gym, health and fitness angle."


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