Guest Post- HER Thoughts on EA More Workouts

Hey Sisters (and Brothers)!

It’s Melissa (TheDailyMel) sneaking in with a guest post today.  As you may remember, I was one of the lucky winners of the new EAS Active More Workouts fitness game for the Wii recently during the big Shrink-a-Versary Giveaway extravaganza.  Since I’ve had it for a few weeks now, Lisa asked if I would be willing to share some of my thoughts about it.

I’ll start off by saying I was/am a big fan of the original EAS Active Personal Trainer fitness game.  I completed the 30-Day Challenge when I first purchased the game when it was released earlier this year.  Even though I have subsequently purchased other Wii fitness game titles, I kept going back to Personal Trainer.  I have continued doing custom workouts and setting new goals with it.  I loved working toward earning all of the trophy achievements as I went along.  Ok, so yes I admit it, I loved all the little gold stars when I was in kindergarten, too.  What’s your point?

When I heard that More Workouts was coming out recently, I kind of had mixed emotions.  I had high hopes that More Workouts would be as good, if not better, than the original Personal Trainer.  Yet at the same time, I was nervous that perhaps it might be anotherSpeed 2.  You know, the kind of really bad sequel that never should have been made in the first place.

Well, let me reassure you, More Workouts did not disappoint!  I actually like it better than Personal Trainer!   There was a discussion last night among a few members of the Sisterhood on Twitter about which was better when someone asked which game they should purchase if they could only get one.  Of the three of us who responded, it was unanimous that More Workouts was the way to go.  The quality of More Workouts definitely leaves me hopeful that this will just be the first sequel in a long line of the EAS Active franchise of fitness games.

Christy gave a great rundown of how the game is set up & works in her review on Saturday.  If you haven’t already read her review, you should check it out.  I couldn’t say it any better than she, so instead of rehashing all that type of stuff again, I’m going to talk about a couple of improvements in the More Workouts title that I’m happy to see.

• Warm-Up & Cool-Down – I’m so happy to see this feature has been added in More Workouts.  In my opinion, that was the biggest gap in the original Personal Trainer title.  While it’s easy to view this as a “game” since it’s on the Wii, it really is a good workout if you really put your all into it.  Because of that fact, it really is important to warm-up and cool-down after doing one of these workouts.  Now, that having been said, it would be nice if the warm-up & cool-down routines were varied.  I get the same routine with each workout, so it could easily get a bit monotonous over time.
• Better Movement Recognition – In Personal Trainer, there are some strength training movements that just never seem to be recognized by the Wiimote and nunchuck for me.  I finally figured out that if I wiggled them a bit when finishing the movement that the system would then recognize them.  I’ve not had this issue with More Workouts, even when doing similar activities.
• Bob Greene’s The Best Life Diet Nutrition Booklet – Ok, so this wasn’t really something that I needed personally as I have … *ahem* … several diet/nutrition books already.  I do think it’s cool they are including it though for those who might not have the complete Library of Congress diet/nutrition section in their home.  *whistles innocently*  It also includes a section in the back of the booklet with meal plan ideas and a few recipes, so that’s nice.

Now, for the fun part … the workouts! (Ack! Did I just say workouts were … fun?!)  I will start off by admitting that I decided not to start the new 6-week challenge after receiving my game.  I realized that my upcoming vacation (2 more sleeps!) was going to fall right in the middle of it, so I decided to wait and start the challenge when I get back home instead.  In the meantime, I’ve been doing some of the pre-set workouts as well as creating my own custom routines.  Here are some of my favorite activities thus far:

• Cardio Boxing!! – I loved the boxing in the original Personal Trainer, but it’s even better in More Workouts!  Instead of just having targets, there is now an actual sparring partner which makes it more like working out with a trainer.  There are even duck & dodge moves incorporated now along with all the jabs and hooks.  *LOVE*
• Squash – Ok, I could easily see myself becoming addicted to the squash.  Every time I play it, I keep trying to set a new record for consecutive hits without a miss.  LOL
• Step Aerobics – While this isn’t necessarily my favorite game, per se, it really is a good workout.  I wanted to point it out specifically because it is LIGHT YEARS better than the step stuff in the Wii Fit title.  Doing a step workout in More Workouts is like doing an actual step class or DVD.  You can actually do full 30 minute step workouts with this title.  I think it might actually motivate me to buy one of the step riser accessories for my balance board now!

All in all, I give the new More Workouts a major two thumbs up!  If you have a Wii, this is definitely a title worth having.  There’s actually still time to win a free copy, too!  For more details, be sure to follow  @Active_Girl on Twitter and also become a fan of EA SPORTS Active on Facebook.  Kathryn (a.k.a. @Active_Girl) is giving away 2 copies a day through December 16th as part of their “10 Days of #easactive” on Twitter.

Well, that’s it from my Wii little corner of the world. ;-)

Thanks!

Melissa
Blog:  http://www.melgetsfit.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TheDailyMel
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheDailyMel

Related posts:

Tags: EA Sports Active, EA SPORTS Active 30 Day Challenge, EA SPORTS Active 6-week challenge, EA SPORTS Active for Life Challenge, EA SPORTS Active More Workouts, Fitness, fitness, fitness games, guest post, lucky winner, More Workouts, review, TheDailyMel, Wii, winner of EA SPORTS Active More Workouts, workout

Category: EA SPORTS Active for Life Challenge, Fitness, Lisa, The Sisterhood