For Christmas my wife gave me a game console-based fitness program, EA Sports Active 2. In our case it was for the Nintendo Wii but it’s available for XBox and PS3 as well. The entire program includes the DVD, a USB drive for saving the results the program tracks, a stretch band used in some of the exercises, and monitors that go on your left forearm and right upper thigh for monitoring pulse rate and motion. If you’ve got a Wii balance board (as we do) the program will use that, too.
I’ve been faithfully participating in the major activity of the program the “9 Week Fitness Program” for the last nine weeks. I more or less accomplished my goal—weight loss. Since beginning the program I’ve lost six pounds, a little less than a pound a week. That doesn’t sound like much but for me it’s extraordinary.
I’ve noticed that I’m a bit stronger than I was when I began the program. That, too, is extraordinary for me. Typically, it takes significantly longer for me to see results.
Discipline has never been my problem in maintaining my weight or in staying with a fitness program. The problem that I have is boredom and I found the graphics, activities, and computerized personal trainer of EASA 2 just interesting enough to keep with it. Next week I’m beginning another nine week program at an increased level of intensity. We’ll see how that goes.
Another problem is equipment. I don’t mean the equipment of the fitness system but my own personal physical equipment. I’m constructed very differently from most people. For example, my body temperature at rising is frequently around 92°F and it rarely goes above 96.5°F through the day.
The pain has been excruciating. Pain is something I live with on a day-to-day basis and the more I move the more pain I’m in. There are trade-offs in life and right now I’d rather be stronger and leaner and put up with more pain. Next year I might choose differently.
I suspect that the motion-sensing capability of the Wii and the XBox Kinect is the future both of videogaming and fitness training. As these gadgets become more sophisticated they’ll become more effective, more entertaining, and more responsive. I’m genuinely surprised that there don’t appear to be any role playing or first person shooters that exploit the features that this generation of game consoles (and add-on peripherals) brings to the party.
You once posted that you walk 365 days a year, rain – shine or whatever. In Chicago, THAT’s discipline.
Good luck with the program. I’ve started my own and am 5 lbs down. Starting to feel good again. I must admit that 92 degrees took me aback. Really?
Congrats on the progress, and really too bad about the pain. Other than the occasional migraine, I’m usually good. A blessing.
I’m paying attention to my protein again, and find for me that makes the big difference … shooting for approx 30gm at all three meals. A little vanilla protein powder dumped on a bowl of shredded wheat tastes way better than it sounds 😉
I would think that someone who does rock climbing or whatever it is you do, jp, that you’d be skinny as a rail and in great shape.
Mountain biking and hiking. I am pretty skinny, pretty good cardiovascular and lower body endurance … but I’ve got the upper body of a bicyclist. That’s what I should improve.
I’m surprised at the lack of creativity of the myriad fitness games. I play volleyball and track and field in kinect sports, and am exhausted afterward, but it didn’t feel like exercise. The only problem is my Kinectjuries. My shoulder has been hurting for weeks now from an errant virtual javelin toss with no real warm up.
Anyway all this to say I think the future of fitness will be more funcercise than virtual exercise. I would totally ride a fitness bike in front of the tv if it was a virtual tour de france racing game, but not if it was just another calorie counting view which I find is analogous to the current selection of fitness games. The simulated competition would make me push myself way more.
@Drew:
Yeah, I’ve always run pretty cold. Some years back my GP joked that my body temperature was so low, my pulse rate was so low, and my blood pressure was so low if he didn’t seen me walking around he’d’ve thought I was dead. My pulse rate and blood pressure are in normal ranges now (still lower than most my age) but I’m still cold. And, yes, I walk 3-5 miles every day in addition to my workouts.
@jp:
For the last 15 years I’ve maintained a pretty strict dietary regimen. The protein component is about 120gm divided among three meals and two snacks, spaced about three hours apart through the day.
Some years ago I had migraines. I learned to meditate through them. Now I can sort of sense when one is coming on and meditate it away.
@Sam:
One of the good aspects of the workouts that I’m doing is that they insist on warm-ups and cool-downs and stretches. At my age that’s pretty necessary.