My Fitness Coach - Nintendo Wii

I have Wii fit, fit+ and this title. This one is by far and away the best!!! Wii fit is much more expensive and not as good of a workout. Buy wii fit only if you are starting from ground zero. It may be useful for you to be able to weigh yourself and start slow. But if you can walk comfortably without sweating, wii fit's clunky interface will not be challenging. It takes so long to go between exercises and you make fun of the trainer because he/she ALWAYS says the same things.Maya is motivating, she takes you through a real workout, and only hangs up once in a while, usually after she has asked you how you are doing. You will do about 15 minutes of cardio, high and low impact, no matter how long a routine you have chosen. Then you will go into your or Maya's area of focus for the day. If you have one of the wrist operated heart rate monitors and light weights or water bottles, you will enjoy the workout even more. Keep in mind this is essentially a toning workout.There are a few cons-when Maya asks you how you did in the last segment, the choices are very small and it is easy to hit the wrong one, affecting your next workout(s) negatively. If you are working hard, and you accidentally hit "No sweat" and tell Maya to pump up the routine next time, be prepared. So make sure you focus and hit the right one, as there is no option to change your answer. Also, if you choose a duration over 30 minutes, she doesn't stick to your daily focus. For example, I usually choose a 45 minute workout and a different focus area than Maya. So, when I chose "Upper Body" as my focus, I got the usual 15 minutes of aerobics, but then I got 15 or so minutes of LOWER body, and then the last 15 was upper body. I really wanted a half hour of upper body as I had worked lower the day before. And sometimes it can seem that she only knows how to do leg extensions and nothing else for lower. I will have to experiment, but it may be best to do 30 minutes of Maya and 15 minutes on my own or back to Wii fit for 15 mins.Since I have both titles, now I weigh myself, do a body test, and input Maya's workout time in the wii fit, then do Maya's workout. So I've spent $[...] to get a good workout, and you can spend less than $20, not including the console. Good luck!10-31-2010 updateI've gone over 140 workouts with Maya now and have a couple of tips.I don't use it for yoga, but the 15 minute duration is best for cardio. The 30 minute duration is the sweet spot for other areas. You'll warm up, hit your long-term focus, your daily focus, then a little from another area, then a cool down. I've also found you can get a longer aerobic workout by changing your long term focus to "cardio" prior to your workout. Otherwise, if you pick "cardio" and leave your long term focus, you'll only get about 12 minutes of cardio and then move on and do about 20 minutes of something else when you really wanted to do cardio only.If you pick a 15 minute duration with a daily focus, she'll do short routines of two other areas. Make sure you hit "I was working hard" on these or she will ramp up those areas when you didn't really work them at all.Her favorite exercises are "squat lunge" and "Side Crunches". She will usually do both sides twice, so these exercises can sometimes fill up your routine. After you get to know the drill, sometimes I will do other exercises when she's doing these. For example, sometimes when she does side crunches so much, she forgets to do regular crunches, so I'll do those.Hope this helps. Still the best Wii workout.

I'm in my late 40's, walk every day, am in pretty good shape overall but was looking for a cardio workout that would help cut back on my winter weight gain. I've always put on a few pounds over the winter and don't really have a problem with that, but it seems to be an extra pound or two a year, and takes a bit longer to take it off in summer. I read a lot of reviews for this game and a number of others that are mentioned by other reviewers like the Gold Gym cardio one (only boxing would get boring), Greatest Loser (seems cheesy), Zumba (no way am I dancing around my living room), etc. I'm glad that I picked this one because it's perfect for my needs. My biggest concern was that it would be too easy, like Wii Fit, but my first 30 min cardio workout left me soaked in sweat. I couldn't keep up and felt horribly out of shape. I've been doing this 3 times a week for about a month now, and have toned up overall and feel like I'm making good progress. I like the routines, like how supportive Maya is, like that I don't have to wear a belt or hold the controller, and I like the mix of exercises. I can see where Maya's comments might get old after a while, but I still find it helpful. Like when she says "Don't hold your breath", I always find that I have been holding my breath.Some issues I have with the game: The controller is hard to aim, and sometimes when I mean to click on "I've been working hard" I'll hit "No sweat!" and Maya will tell me that she has to make the routine harder next time, oh dear. Maya's really big on squats and plies, and I think this is good overall, but on my very first core workout she did well over 100 and no way can I do that many. Sometimes there's not enough warm up for me and I'll have pain in my shins. I have hardwood floors and use an exercise mat. I didn't realize that I could stop this program until I read in some of the other reviews that you need to hit the Home button on the controller to pause. So sometimes I need to pause and stretch out a bit more. Not a huge deal. Also, I have a Polar heart rate monitor and this program is way off on number of calories burned. It's often half of what I've actually burned. Lastly, it's starting to get old when Maya has to stop to "find the beat".I've had a lower back/hip issue for several years on my left (non-dominant) side. I've done physical therapy and have exercises to try to strengthen my left side, but the exercises are really boring and I have trouble doing them regularly. All of Maya's damn squats, lunges and plies have really helped with my hip issue, which was a totally unexpected benefit. She also does some back exercises like the swimming one and the superman one that have helped strengthen my back.I think this is a great exercise program overall. Several reviewers wrote that it's not for beginners, but I think if you started with 15 min routines you could work up from there. And if you can't keep up with all of Maya's heel jacks or plies, just do something lower impact until you can do it, or start with yoga or flexibility training and work up to cardio. It would be much worse if the program was too easy.

new addition to my fitness programs and it works well - more options for my fitness exercises :)

Game does not work. Waste of money

I don't provide a lot of reviews, but I thought I should in this case. I have really benefited from this "game" and so I wanted to let others know that this is very good.This is the only Wii exercise program that I know of that will adapt itself to your fitness level. It isn't perfect, in that it does not ask which exercises you cannot do, and sometimes I have to modify them to avoid hurting myself (I need to avoid jumping). However, most exercises are fine.I really liked that Mia started me out very slowly and recommended a schedule suited to my fitness level, which was originally not very high. In fact, when I started, it was an issue to get down on the floor.Now that I have improved (used it 56 days so far), the exercises are getting more challenging. You inform Mia when she can make the exercises more difficult, and they do become more challenging, slowly. At the end of the session, I feel like I've really had a good workout.The exercises are different each day (other than the warm-up where there doesn't appear to be much variety), and I have stayed interested. In fact, Igenerally look forward to my session. This is in contrast to the DVD's that I've bought in the past. I played them maybe 2 or 3 times before they started gathering dust.My fitness level has improved a lot since I started the program, so I am very thankful that this "game" exists. I can see doing this for a very long time.Just in case you think this is only good for sedentary types, my daughter who is very active watched me and now she uses it herself. Of course, her exercises are more demanding. She gets a very good workout and tells me the exercises she does are challenging at her level too.

I love this game! Is has a wonderful planning for a tons of exercices. The only cons are that the exercices are a little fast to start and that you can't know if you are doing the exercice right since the mouvement detector doesn't work with the game. Oh, and you have to have a LOT of space to do those exercices. But I sweat a lot, thanks to this, Really great game.

...but worst than going to the gym. This is a good alternative if you don't wanna spend too much money and too much time. You don't have to go out and waste time and money by going to the gym.The thing is that after a while the workout becomes repetitive. This is normal because there's not a lot of things you can do in the comfort of your living room without any exercising machines.My fitness coach is good for couch potatoes, but for a limited time only. I'm glad I bought it, but I will probably sell it in the future and try something else like the Wii Fit.