On the Search for the Genuine

Maya and Me – Wii's "My Fitness Coach" is Not Joking Around

Posted by Jen - 18/01/09 at 02:01:54 am

So as of last Saturday the 10th, I spent a week playing with my new Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit.  I dutifully logged Fit Credits on the Wii Fit, unlocking this and that, beating the Table Tilt and running around the Island and all of that, until it became apparent that I wasn’t really losing any weight.  Sure, I was gaining some muscle by doing daily lunges and squats and yoga, but even when doing 30 minutes of “Free Step” (an ingenious little program by which you can use the Wii Fit as a step and it’ll play a metronome beat for you while you watch TV), my heart rate wasn’t going up.  We also own Outdoor Sports and Dance Dance Revolution 2, and while those do get your heart a pumpin’, they’re definitely Short Attention Span Theater.  There’s no systematic way to work out for more than a few minutes at a time.

So I asked my husband to run out and buy My Fitness Coach, which the Amazon.com reviews said was excellent.

And let me tell you, Fitness Coach Maya is not. joking. around.  If you’ve been looking for a way to work out for real with your Nintendo Wii, this is the game.

The personal trainer’s name is Maya, and she’s obviously been computer engineered to be as pleasant and non-objectionable as possible.  And she is.  A lot of the online screen shots make her look like a pill, but most of the time she has that gentle smile on her face that says “I’m not mad at you but I’m not so cheerful that you want to slap me either”.  She’s got a great body, but she’s not too thin and not too fat.  I don’t know about the rest of you ladies, but I’m at my mentally cattiest when I’m working out, but Maya is hard to hate.  Instead of thinking “I will never be like Maya”, you find yourself thinking, “What a nice person you are for someone who doesn’t really exist.”

Not that there aren’t things to test this friendship.  Right after you create a name/weight/height profile, Maya puts you through a fitness profile that brought my Fatness Situation into stark reality.  Two minutes of quickfire jumping jacks to get your elevated heart rate, then as many pushups as you can do (up to something like 50), then as many crunches as you can do (up to 60), then squats, etc. etc.  It asks for inch measurements on your waist, chest, hips, bicep, and thigh.  Yeowch.

One of the game’s coolest features is that you can tell the game about fitness equipment that you already own: a heart rate monitor, an exercise step, hand weights, and/or a stability ball.  If you own those things, they get integrated into your workout.  There are also numerous workout goals ranging from weight loss to Yoga to straight up cardio to upper or lower body target training.

I’ve only worked out with Maya twice so far, but the workouts were noticeably different from each other–a real plus for me since I am easily bored by aerobics.  I’ll warn anti-aerobics types that Maya is definitely into the traditional aerobics moves like Grapevine, Turn Step, V-Step, Hustle Up and Back, etc.  But the moves rarely last more than 20 seconds, so even those with a short attention span will like it.  Maya asks several times during your workout whether you felt overtaxed, okay, or felt like it was too easy.  She adjusts your next workout accordingly, so for your first few workouts, I’d recommend choosing the 15-minute option until she calibrates.  Otherwise, you’ll get stuck like I did in a 30-minute workout that was mostly too easy.

You also get to choose your workout arena.  I’ve been enjoying the Empress Dojo, which has a very Matrix/Zen vibe to it.  There’s also a decent music selection, but so far everything sounds pretty much the same to me.  It’s that same “Muzak with some energy and beat” stuff that you get at real-life aerobics classes.

But like I said, this game is Not Joking Around about getting you to exercise, and this is real legitimate aerobics (whereas the Wii Fit is really more for fun).  So if you have some kind of physical problem that forces you to take it easy, think twice and watch some Youtube footage before purchasing.  Otherwise, welcome to the Maya fan club.  I don’t know yet if she’ll actually help me lose any weight, but she’ll definitely keep me coming back, if only to see if I’ve finally exhausted her stock of 450 moves.

Hilarious horoscope

Posted by Jen - 06/01/09 at 07:01:03 pm

Whew!  New Year, new semester.  No apologies from me for not blogging.  I’ve been too busy doing lots of other fun stuff, like teaching a whole new LHSP 125 course (new readings, new syllabus, new everything), planning a new SWC 200 course, buying a horse trailer, etc. etc.

Anyway, a quick post for today. I almost never sign into my Yahoo! home page (evidence: the template is still set to “Hello Kitty”, a preference that I probably set in the 1990’s).  But today, my poor work computer was feeling anti-cookie after being abandoned for three weeks over the holiday break, so it sent me there, where I found this hilarious and utterly inaccurate horoscope:

“Sure, being diplomatic is wonderful and all, but today you shouldn’t feel like you have to mince your words — especially with the people who are jerking you around. These folks need to know that you are not going to put up with any more baloney from them. It’s a good time to flex your muscles and step into a bigger power position. People around you are going to be more receptive to your suggestions, and they are looking for the new ideas that you are sure to have.”

I find this horoscope amazingly ironic.  For the first time in nearly 20 weeks, nobody is jerking me around; I have never been one to mince words; and I’m fortunate to work in an office where people are always open to suggestion.  Hilarious.

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