I mentioned last week that I had purchased the new peripheral for the Xbox 360, the Kinect. The Kinect is basically a motion sensing and tracking device that allows you to control your video games without holding a controller in your hands. To me it’s one of the most exciting advancements in gaming technology in years, probably since the Wii came out with the motion tracking Wiimote.

While the Kinect is priced a bit on the high side ($150), after having a week or so with the device I have to say that I’ve been thoroughly impressed and I feel like it was worth it for me. In my few tests so far in using the device it has been extremely accurate in sensing my motion, and the only real glitches I’ve seen are due to the fact that my play area probably isn’t large enough. That is the biggest con I’ve found of the device so far – that the Kinect needs you to have a play area 8×8 feet or larger to really enjoy it to it’s full potential.

So far I’ve got two games that I’ve been able to test out, Kinect Adventures (which comes with the Kinect), and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved – a fitness title that aims to take full advantage of the Kinect’s motion sensing capabilities, and really take the fitness video game genre to a new level. Today I’m going to do an initial review of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved.

Your Shape Fitness Evolved

Before we get too far into the review, let’s start with a quick look at what Your Shape is supposed to be from the Amazon.com description:

Your Shape Fitness Evolved is a fitness-simulation game for Xbox 360 that is designed to deliver a 3D, controller-free fitness simulation experience like no other. Built around the camera, depth sensors and multi-array microphone of the Microsoft Kinect sensor peripheral,* the game allows for real-time motion capture of the players movements, facial recognition and both voice and interactive menu commands. This combined with Ubisoft’s Player Projection Technology, which enables the Kinect sensor to track up to a million data points on the player’s body, results in low lag and total player immersion in what is destined to be the most challenging fitness-simulation game to date. Additional features include: in-game instructors, multiple exercise classes, workouts created by real experts, progress tracking and multiplayer support.

So Your Shape aims to give the player a totally immersive experience where they’re able to actually be in the game, not be distracted by feeling like the game isn’t a real workout and be challenged by a variety of workouts, classes and mini-games.

For me the game so far has done that – when I’m playing it I feel like I’m really at the gym taking a class or getting a one-on-one personal training session. To me it’s probably the only fitness video game (or video) that I’ve done that makes me feel like I’m actually getting a tough workout, the right way. Because of the Kinect sensor, the game also is able to give you correction and make you feel almost like you’re actually working out with a real instructor!

So let’s jump in and talk about what you’ll find in this product.

Playing The Game

When you launch the game for the first time, the first thing it will do is do a quick scan of you to figure out how tall you are, your body proportions and then ask you some simple questions as far as your age, weight and a couple of other data points.  Based off of what you answer – and the body scan, a somewhat personalized workout plan will be created for you.

They say the camera adds 10 pounds, and Kinect has two cameras. So when Ubisoft’s upcoming Kinect title Your Shape: Fitness Evolved put a somewhat stout-looking projection of me on the screen, I shouldn’t have been surprised—especially given that the game’s success depends on players wanting to melt away those love handles (source)

Depending on what your goals are as well you can choose a variety of programs tailored to your needs.  Just had a baby?  Choose a program tailored to new moms.  Trying to drop some weight?  Choose the weight loss regimen.   Toning up?  Choose the toning program.

Menu Systems Very Intuitive

While I was beginning this process the first thing that I noticed was that the menu system for the game is very intuitive.  Basically, the Kinect sensor camera recognizes you, scans you as you stand there and inserts a full body image of you in the game.  Then as you stand there in game if you reach your arms out you are able to choose different menu options with your hand outstretched, and once you’ve chosen something it always asks you to confirm.

I wasn’t sure how well this was going to work when reading about it online, and whether or not there was going to be a lot of lag from when you do something to when it happens on screen.  I have to say I noticed very little if any lag in this game.   I played a couple of other demos, and kinect adventures – and Your  Shape was by far the most responsive of the games I’ve tried so far.

The menus were very easy to use, and after doing it a few times I found I was controlling the game and menus with little or no thought to it. It just works very well in my opinion.

Workout Options

After being scanned the first time, every time after that you’ll be logged into the game automatically, and the in game hostess will welcome you back  with a “good evening” or “good morning”.    Once you’re in the main menu you can do a variety of different things.  First, you’ll see a customized home screen for you, showing how many calories you’ve burned so far and any challenges you’ve got pending with other users.  You can also change your in game appearance or view any news or updates by simply stepping on one of two small  circles in your play area on screen.  If you don’t want to do any of those things, you can simply begin your workout by choosing either “personal training”, “gym games” or

Personal Training

One of the first options you have in-game is to do the personal training – customized training sessions that are tailored to your fitness level and fitness goals that you chose when you first signed on.  To me this is the heart of the game.  For me I chose a weight loss goal and started right in with the cardio workouts.

You can either let the game guide you through workouts, or choose a specific one that you want to do. When choosing workouts it will tell you what it is, how long it takes, and how advanced the workout is.

The first one I chose was a cardio workout.  The clock starts and the game begins by showing you how to do a couple of the moves that will be included in the workout.  The Kinect sensor tracks you and shows you on-screen – and will tell you when you’re not doing the exercise right.   Think you’re going to dog it when working out?  Think again!  The game will recognize when you’re not lifting your legs high enough, or your arms aren’t going up all the way, and will tell you to pick it up and improve.  For example, I was doing lunges at one point, and getting tired.   I started not dipping close enough to the ground. The game recongized that and told me to dip lower.  I did, and felt the burn!

The first couple of cardio workouts that I did were up to an intensity level for me right now (where I’m out of shape) where I felt challenged, but not like I was going to fall over and die. While you’re working out the game tracks the number of calories you should be burning – and will keep track of that for you every time you workout.  While I can’t vouch for how accurate that part of it is (there is some debate about that), I can tell you it’s a useful yardstick for yourself when working out.

The day after doing the cardio workouts I did a brief Men’s Health upper body weights workout (there are several Men’s Health and Women’s Health sponsored workouts in the game).  The weights workout was effective as well, and I found myself getting a great workout, while getting useful feedback from the game when my form wasn’t up to par.  To me, the feedback you get from the game is extremely helpful because it helps you to get a better workout, all while having better form than you might otherwise have had.

I’ve only been doing the personal training workouts for about 3 days now, but so far I’ve been pretty impressed with how much of a workout I feel like I’m getting, and how effectively the game uses the Kinect sensor to improve your workouts.

Gym Games

Another part of the game that can be fun, although I haven’t found it to be overly exerting, is the gym games.   You may have seen some of the gym games on the commercial, especially the virtual smash game (show below)

The games found in the title include:

• Virtual smash:  In this game you are trying to punch and kick as many blocks with your hands, knees and feet as you can before the time runs out.  In more advanced levels you’ll also need to avoid swinging pendulums.
• Light race:  You stand in a circle and have to have fancy footwork in order to copy the pattern of lights appearing on the circle around you.  Reminds me of that old handheld game where you hit the buttons in the same pattern the game does, or you’re out.
• Loop-a-hoop:  You do the hula hoop for a set period of time and try to get the balls lifted and out the hole in the ceiling based on the intensity of your hula-hooping.
• Stack em up:  You hold your arms in the air and catch blocks and balls on a platform as fast as you can, and dump them into holes in the floor when they open up to get points.

The games can all be played with anywhere from 1 to 4 players, one player at a time.  They’re fun, but I can’t see myself playing these games over and over unless we had others over at the house and needed some laughs.

Fitness Classes

There are also currently two fitness classes that you can take in-game.  Yoga training and cardio boxing.

So far I’ve taken one of each class, and they do what they’re supposed to. The yoga class takes you through a progression of yoga moves over the time period, scoring you on how well you do. I’m not a big yoga guy so I can’t see myself doing this too often. I had heard it suggested that you do a yoga routine after working out as a cool-down, and i can see how that might work well, that’s how I did it this time.

The cardio boxing is more enjoyable for me. I did this routine the other day and it does give you a good workout.  My only thing is that I have a hard time following along sometimes – although part of the great thing about this game is that it helps you to fix what you’re doing wrong.   You can see yourself on-screen  and compare to the instructor – and the game tells you what you’re doing wrong.  I love that.

Conclusion

After playing Your Shape: Fitness Evolved for the past few days, I’ve been very impressed with the game, and would highly recommend it to anyone.  Among the high points.

• Great utilization of Kinect:  The game’s use of the Kinect sensor in the game’s menus, workouts and games is done really well. The menus are responsive, there is hardly any lag, and it really does give you an immersive experience.   I especially love how the game gives you feedback and helps correct you when you’re not doing the exercises correctly.
• You will break a sweat:  While the novelty of Kinect will certainly sell the game, the fact that the workouts actually make you sweat will keep you coming back.
• Good variety of workouts: There are a good variety of workouts that will keep you entertained for weeks to come.
• It’s fun!:  The game is just plain fun – never mind the fact that you’re getting a good workout!

The game isn’t without it’s faults.  Some cons:

• You need a large play area:  One of the downsides for the game is that you need a pretty big area to play the game in, in order for it to track you correctly.
• Environment is kinda plain sometimes: The white backgrounds on the game can be kind of plain and vanilla at times.  more colorful backgrounds might have been nice.
• Number of workouts isn’t exhaustive:  Although the game does come with quite a few workouts, the game isn’t exhaustive.  They do plan on releasing more as downloadable content, however.

I’m loving Your Shape: Fitness Evolved so far, and look forward to dropping some pounds using it over the next few months!

Get more details and your copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved at Amazon.com

Have you tried out Your Shape: Fitness Evolved?  What was your experience?   Considering getting the game? What’s holding you back? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

There are affiliate links in this post. If you purchase something through my link, I will receive a small commission. Thanks in advance if you do!

This is a guest post by Joe over at joetherunner.com. His site is about how running can change your life; make you a better father, husband, and friend. You can check out his site at the URL above, or by subscribing to his feed here.

My love of running started off like many long lasting and fruitful relationships; rather difficultly. You see I haven’t always had the fondness for the sport that I do now. In fact at first we hated each other. There was simply no mutual respect. I used running as a way to lose some much needed weight and running used me as a moving symbol of how not to run.

However, for one reason or another I kept at it. I did lose some weight but the best outcome of our new relationship was the respect I gained for the wonderful aspects of the sport that were hidden beneath the surface. After years of using running it has become my favorite tool to deal with grief, purge stress, stay lean, maintain a positive attitude, and boost my confidence; and there seems to be a genuine scientific explanation for it.

The Science Behind The Love Of Running

The most popular explanation for my near dependency on running stems from a runner’s favorite little compound – the endorphin. Produced by the pituitary gland endorphins are proven to produce a natural feeling of well being and pain relief, and even in name have a chemical relationship to the morphine family. And though they are proven to have very powerful effects on the human body, there has been some speculation over the notion that running produces enough of them to have a measurable effect.

However, in 2008 the New York Times reported on a study done by researchers in Germany. The published findings were that running does in fact produce a surge of endorphins in the brain. Backing up the study were leading scientists, who were not directly involved, also accepting the researcher findings.

I am glad the debate seems to be satiated, but to be honest I wish they would have come to me first. I don’t know if my personal experience would have been sufficient to warrant publication in neurological journals but I would have let them study the life changing benefits running has had on me, for a fee of course.

Here is what I have discovered. First, running has the ability to do all the things you have heard. It can alter your mood in the most positive ways and has lasting effects. I also attribute it to helping me establish healthy sleep patterns, not something I see mentioned in many discussions. Also, the harder you push yourself the more endorphins are released. This was proven by the same study referenced above and backed up by yours truly.

Not Only Running Can Give You The Runner’s High

It should be mentioned that running is not the only exercise that produces these benefits. It just happens to be the only one I know how to do well. My love of running came when I embraced it for its mental as well as physical benefits. Any fitness quest comes with it fair share of challenges; embracing exercise on multiple levels delivers much needed motivation for the bumps in the journey.

Have you experienced the release of endorphins, and the runner’s high?   Tell us why you love running in the comments!

photo credit: SashaW

What do you tell your clients who ask if it’s better to lose weight running? After all, if you visit just about any gym or health club the most popular area is the cardio section. I remember back in 2002 when I was a personal trainer at a health club how in-demand the treadmills were.

It was crazy!

The ‘after work crowd’ would flock in around 6pm and due to the massive popularity of our brand-new ‘state of the art’ treadmills, we actually had little signs posted on each treadmill that read

“2o-Minute Time Limit When Others Are Waiting”

I actually had to put out a waiting list for members to sign up to use the cardio equipment…

It got so bad because some of the members wanted to run on the treadmill for their hour and so they got creative with ways to stay on the equipment longer. Some put gym towels over the timer display while others just stopped the thing around the 19th minute just to restart it so the timer would reset.

Ah, those were the days.

So, where am I going with all of this? Well, it got me thinking about the most popular methods people use to lose weight. And, aside of diets, cardio is a very popular method. Many people who run on the treadmill do so because they want to lose weight.

Since the majority of “cardioholics” fail to achieve the weight loss results they want and their bodies never significantly change because it’s just not that effective for weight loss purposes I decided to dig up some info to better answer the question “Is it better to lose weight running?”

But, what I found out will surprise you.

Watch the video below to find out if running really does help to lose weight then leave me a comment below:

I won’t go into the benefits and downfalls of running in this article. Instead today I thought I’d list  some alternatives to running that people can do to get in shape.  There’s no excuse for getting bored with your workout!

Alternatives To Running

• Going for a brisk walk
• Swimming at the local club
• Doing a workout video
• Playing basketball
• Rowing machine
• Hiking on local trails
• Spin classes
• Stationary bike
• Roller Blading
• Cross country skiing
• Mountain bike riding
• Elliptical machine
• Treadmill
• Jumping rope
• Circuit training
• Ultimate frisbee
• Step Aerobics
• Handball/Racquetball
• Rock climbing
• Kickboxing

Do you have your own exercises that you enjoy doing (that isn’t running?)? Tell us about it in the comments!

photo credit: kimdokhac

photo credit: ericmcgregor

Time To Jumpstart My Weight Loss

After the new year hit, I made a goal that I was going to start working out again 6 days a week, and that I was going to lose the final 30-35 pounds that I’ve been wanting to lose. I’ve lost 20 already, but I still have that nagging 30 left to drop.

Over the years I’ve begun to realize that when you’re beginning a workout program, one of the hardest things to do is just to start, and then to maintain your activity over the long haul.

I’ve never had a hard time starting a workout program, I’ve done lots of those. I’ve always had a problem completing or maintaining a regular workout schedule. The first few weeks of working out are always the hardest.  Once you’ve been doing it for 3-4 weeks it starts becoming more of a habit.

Yesterday I restarted my 6 days a week workout schedule. I have to tell you I was dreading it. I was happily content being a couch potato that last few months. The problem is, my waistline was starting to show it, and I had to get moving again.

First Two Days Of Working Out

Last night I went running for the first time in months on our nearly new treadmill that we bought last spring. I set it to do a high intensity cardio workout running about a mile and a half varying speeds and inclines anywhere from 3 mph and 1 incline all the way up to 5 incline and 6.5 mph.

It was pretty hard jumping back in after all these months, but once I got going, it felt really good. I started to remember how good it feels to workout. How you can feel your muscles pumping, and sweat starting to pour down your brow, and getting into rhythm with the music.

It wasn’t my best workout ever, but it was a good re-start.

Tonight I did my upper body weight workout. I did sets of 12, 10, 8, 6 and two sets of 12 for my pecs, shoulders, triceps, back and biceps. One thing I’ve noticed is that when you haven’t lifted for a while, you usually will get pretty sore the next day. Your body takes a while to adjust. So I’m expecting some soreness tomorrow.

So, I’m back on the wagon – I’m working out, eating healthier, and I’m sure I’ll knock these 30 pounds out in no time!

What’s your experience in losing weight? Have you found the first few weeks to be the hardest?

It’s been just over a week now that I’ve been back on the exercise wagon.  Since last monday I’ve ony taken one day off from my cardio and weight training routine, and I took that day (Saturday) off by design.  In my plan I workout 6 days a week, with alternating days of weights and cardio.

photo credit: shoothead

On Sunday I did my lower body weights routine for the second time since I re-started, and while it was hard, I wasn’t as sore as last week when I did the same routine. The routine is starting to set in.

Last night I went running on our treadmill using a built in high intensity interval training (HIIT) program.  In the program you start out walking, and work your way up to running 6.5 miles per hour at a higher incline after a few minutes.  The routine repeats this pattern 4 or 5 times.

By the time I was done I was soaking with sweat and was extremely short of breath. I think I am right at the point where I’m doing just the right amount -not enough to make me collapse, but enough to challenge me.

Tonight, I’m back on the upper body weight routine that I talked about last week.

My workout plan does get a bit repetitive, but I know it works since I lost so much weight last year doing the same thing.  After I’ve been doing it for a few weeks I may switch things up a bit with some workout tapes or other types of cardio to make sure I don’t burn out on the routine – and to keep me motivated.

What types of things do you do to keep motivated, and keep things interesting?

Last night I did my upper body weight workout for the first time in a couple of months. Whenever I go that long without doing a weight workout, the first time I lift again I get really sore. This morning, I am really sore – I can barely lift my arms above my head!

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photo credit: Gio JL

Today, since I am alternating between cardio and weights days, I am once again back to a cardio workout. Today I’ll be doing some interval training, or better known as high intensity interval training (HIIT). Here’s an explanation of what it is from Wikipedia:

Interval training is broadly defined as repetitions of high-speed/intensity work followed by periods of rest or low activity.

This training technique is often practiced by long distance runners (800 metres and above) although some sprinters are known to train using this technique as well.

Distance runners often practice intervals on tracks, running hard at a certain pace for a specified distance (or, less often, time) and jogging, walking, or resting between (for a set distance/time.) An example could be 12 repetitions of 400 meters with a 200-meter jog between each. Distances can also vary; one example would be a “ladder” workout consisting of a 1600-meter, two 1200-meter, three 800-meter, and four 400-meter repetitions, each at an appropriate speed and with an appropriate amount of recovery.

Interval training is a favorite of coaches because of its effectiveness in cardiovascular buildup and also its ability to make more well-rounded runners.

More generally, it can refer to any cardiovascular workout (e.g. stationary biking, running, rowing, etc.) that involves brief bouts at near-maximum exertion interspersed with periods of lower-intensity activity. One popular workout that incorporates this methodology is so-called “walk-back sprinting,” in which one sprints a short distance (anywhere from 100 to 800 meters), then changes directions and walks back to the starting point (the recovery period) to do it again. To add challenge to the workout, each of these sprints may start at a predetermined time interval, e.g. 200 meter sprint, walk back, and sprint again every 3 minutes. The time interval provides just enough recovery.

It is believed by many in the fitness industry that this method of training is more effective at inducing fat loss than simply training at a moderate intensity level for the same duration. This has been confirmed in at least two studies

As mentioned above, HIIT is an excellent way to maximize your workout if you are limited on time as I often am.   I know it works from experience. Last year I lost almost 40 pounds using a combination of weight training and HIIT.  Unfortunately I stopped doing it and I’ve gained 15 back. But now I’m back on course and looking to lose that last 25 or so pounds.

Wish me luck!