UFC Personal Trainer coming to Wii, Kinect and Move in June

Here's the first video from THQ's UFC Personal Trainer software coming to Wii, Xbox 360 Kinect, and PS3 Move this June:

Looks like it might be a pretty good workout. This is something I'll definitely be keeping an eye on. For a little more info, check out this article at Joystiq: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/07/get-fighting-fit-with-ufc-personal-trainer-in-june/

EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp - 60 Day Challenge Complete!

Good morning, blog readers. This morning marks the successful completion of my EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp 60 Day Challenge on the Wii. Unfortunately, the last few workouts haven't synced up property with the EA servers, so I can't show you my graphs and whatnot like I usually do. For some reason, the challenge actually ended up being 63 days. I was expecting to be done on Friday, but the workout calendar showed workouts through today (Monday), and the game even said "Day 63" when I logged in this morning. Oh well, the last two workouts were actually easier than the ones leading up to them.

Okay, so now that I'm done, how do I feel? How much weight did I lose? What am I going to do next?

One question at a time. Did I lose weight? Actually, no. I am right in the same weight range as when I started (6'0", around 183-185 lbs). Hmmm. I think the key here is that I'm in a lot better shape and I'm a healthier 185 lbs than when I started. My legs, arms, and core are all visibly more toned, and I feel stronger. I know the old adage of muscle weighs more than fat sounds a bit trite, but it is true. I think I still have some excess fat to burn, but I'm overall happier with how my body looks compared to when I started. I think if I can keep this up for another month, the results will start to show even more.

How do I feel about the whole experience? Overall, great. 60 days is a good amount of time to commit to a workout program, and I want to see if I can keep with it for even longer. I really like the variety of cardio, upper body, lower body, and core exercises and how the challenge kept upping the intensity with each workout. It always felt like I was working really hard. Considering you can pick this up for around $40 as of the time I am writing this, I'd say there's no reason not to. I used to pay that much each month for my gym, and I think that is on the lower end of the pricing spectrum for gyms. I really enjoy being able to workout in the comfort of my own living room and still feel like I'm getting an intense and balanced workout.

What am I going to do next? Well, I'm going to try out some other Wii fitness software, but I'm definitely going to keep NFL Training Camp as my main workout for now. I'll dive into the custom workouts and see if I can still challenge myself and stay motivated in the future. I'd like to keep up 3-4 days a week of high intensity workouts. Hopefully I can get the connectivity issues resolved with the EA servers and I can post some graphs of my final workouts. Thanks for reading, and I'll keep posting on Wii exercise related topics.

EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp 60 Day Challenge: Day 56

60 Day Challenge Day 56, Workout #32
Reliant Stadium, Houston, Trainer: Matt Schaub
Time: 41:24
Calories Burned: 321.0
Avg. Heart Rate: 124 bpm
Max. Heart Rate: 169 bpm

Yesterday's workout was a lower-body focused workout, which I really didn't have too much trouble with. Not to say it wasn't a challenge, but I didn't find myself cursing the television as much as I have in some past workouts. Here's my workout chart from last night:

I think I've finally gotten to the point where I don't dread the prone knee drives quite as much as I used to. I had three 45 second sets in last night's workout and I powered through all three without really slowing down. In the past, I have had to stop mid-set a few times. I was certainly gasping for breath by the end of each set yesterday, but I made it through. I didn't have to take any extended pauses (more than 30 seconds or so) between any exercises last night.

EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp Weekend update

Because I wasn't able to work out last Wednesday, I had three days of workouts in a row to do from Thursday-Saturday. I won't do individual recaps of each, but here's my historical calories burned chart for the last 30 days:

Somehow Friday's workout ended up burning something like 370 calories, but it didn't seem quite as challenging as Thursday's. I think it was a good 10 minutes longer though, so I'm sure that explains it. I was pretty sore yesterday (Sunday) and a little sore today too. Mostly my arms and shoulders this time. I'm actually noticing some major toning happening in my triceps and my forearms, which is nice.

I think Friday is going to be the last day of the 60 Day Challenge, so I'm pretty excited to get through this. At the same time though, I really think I need to keep going with these workouts and I hope I have the motivation to keep up with the 4 days a week schedule.

Thanks to everyone who has been leaving me comments. I know the comment system on blogspot is really buggy, so I often have trouble replying to comments when I try to, but I do read and appreciate them all. If anyone would like to email me any questions or success stories or anything like that, you can send them to shapingupwithwii at gmail dot com. Thanks for reading!

EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp: Workout #29

60 Day Challenge Day 52, Workout #29
Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Trainer: Matt Cassel
Time: 38:32
Calories Burned: 305.7
Avg. Heart Rate: 131 bpm
Max. Heart Rate: 182 bpm

I did workout #29 last night rather than Wednesday because I had some friends in town and just didn't have an hour to spare on Wednesday. I also have to workout tonight and Saturday, so that means three days in a row of workouts. Here's a look at yesterday's workout chart:

Click to Enlarge

It was a pretty cardio-heavy exercise, in that there were a ton of jump squats (5 sets of 20) and stride jumps (3 sets of 40). There was one particularly brutal series of exercises as follows: Set of 20 jump squats, another set of 20 jump squats, 45 seconds of foot fires, 40 stride jumps. I was tempted to sit down and catch my breath after the second set of jump squats, but I just kept going. My heart rate hit 182 during the foot fires, the highest that that game has recorded for me. My average heart rate of 131 is also the highest I've ever recorded. Overall it was a really tough workout, but I survived.

I think I only have four workouts left in the 60 day challenge.In Phase 3, I feel like I really turned a corner, like I'm actually in decent shape now. I know that I'd like to see myself lose burn off a little more fat, so I need to make sure I keep up the intensity after the challenge is over. I definitely feel stronger and healthier, but I think this is really only the beginning.

EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp 60 Day Challenge: Workout #28

60 Day Challenge Day 49, Workout #28
Mile High Stadium, Denver, Trainer: Knowshon Moreno
Time: 41:21
Calories Burned: 304.0
Avg. Heart Rate: 127 bpm
Max. Heart Rate: 171 bpm

One more in the books. I actually had a hard time with the stride jumps last night - my legs were just feeling really tired for some reason. There were three 45 second sets of prone knee drives, the exercise I love to hate, but I'm actually doing a lot better with them now. Here's a look at my historical calories burned chart over the last 30 days:

Click to Enlarge

EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp: Workout #27

60 Day Challenge Day 47, Workout #27
 University of Phoenix Stadium, Arizona, Trainer: Larry Fitzgerald
Time: 38:13
Calories Burned: 277.2
Avg. Heart Rate: 117 bpm
Max. Heart Rate: 166 bpm

Yesterday's workout really wasn't too bad, especially if you consider how awful Friday's seemed. First we'll take a look at yesterday's chart before I start complaining about Friday:

Lots of squat jumps and stride jumps last night, but nothing too brutal. It was an upper body focused workout, so my shoulders were definitely feeling sore afterwards and they still are a bit today. Friday on the other hand - I couldn't believe the intensity of that workout. There were four sets of prone knee drives, each lasting 45 seconds. These exercises are absolutely brutal and they work your legs, arms, and core all at the same time. Plus its a real cardio workout too. Generally when I am doing my workout, I don't really stop to rest at all between the exercises except to the extent that it take the game to load the next exercise. Friday was a different story. After the third set of prone knee drives I had to stop and sit down on my stairs for a few minutes. I was feeling nauseous and completely winded. I did it again before the fourth set of prone knee drives.

Honestly, I don't recall feeling that tired/sick from working out since interval training days when I was on the high school track team. There is no question that this is a legitimate workout. After having built up my fitness level over the last month and a half, this game is still pushing me to my limits and really breaking me down in ways. I wasn't happy about having to rest during the workout, but I am glad I eventually made it through and finished strong. Yesterday wasn't quite as much of a challenge, but I am feeling like the upper body exercises are helping more than I give them credit for. I don't think they're building up the biceps and pecs really, but the smaller muscles in my shoulders, back, and arms are actually starting to show some definition, which is really nice. I think some more serious weight workouts would be needed to bulk up, but like I said, there is some definite toning happening here now.

Anyway, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my day of rest today and get back to it tomorrow morning.