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Yourself! Fitness

It is very difficult to come up with a review for Yourself!Fitness, simply because this isn’t really a game, and it has more in common with Jane Fonda’s exercise videos than the likes of Master Chief. That said, it is possible to take a look at the target audience of this title, and see if it accomplishes what it sets out to do – by raising the bar of expectations, create a tailored workout routine to get in shape.

After initially booting up Yourself!Fitness, you will be asked to create a profile. This can take approximately 30 minutes, as you will be performing jumping jacks for 2 minutes, and measuring your heartbeat before and after, along with entering many other pieces of data (such as age, weight, etc.) to give Maya (the personal trainer) the information needed to tailor a workout specific to your needs.

The initial “consultation” provides a small workout in itself (provided you’re an overweight lazy person in their late 30’s like myself) and that may be enough for one day. After checking with my ability, needs and goals, I was given a workout regiment that on the surface would appear to not be that strenuous – 15 or 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week. I would later be proven wrong, as the program does not slack up.

Yourself!Fitness provides several options for the workouts, starting with some variation in the locations of the workouts. This helps (especially after a few weeks) to keep the interest high. That, however, is merely a cosmetic change – the real differences come in the workouts themselves. Upper body, lower body, core, cardio – there are hundreds of different exercises to choose from. Well, that’s not accurate, as Maya chooses the exercises based on data from the profile, as well as commitment and progress.

It is possible to incorporate a few items that you may already have into the workout – such as free weights, a step, or a fitness ball. One of the advantages of seeing a personal trainer is the changeup of equipment used (I personally have done some interesting exercises involving a bench, a ball and weights) that Yourself!Fitness simply can’t match because of limitations, particularly since many people won’t have all the fitness equipment at home. While this is a drawback, it isn’t necessarily one of the title, but simply the nature of home exercise routines in the first place. Though it would have been nice to be able to see some common household items able to be substituted for “proper” workout equipment.

Unlike fitness videos, the customization and variety in workouts makes this light years beyond anything Jane Fonda envisioned in the early 1980’s. Yourself!Fitness has such a variety of workouts that it is nearly impossible not to have as good a workout as possible in the home, particularly since each exercise does come with a tutorial. This may be perhaps one of the best single features in Yourself!Fitness as being able to slow down the action, as well as controlling the camera to see the exercise from all angles is second best only to having somebody watching you personally.

The exercises will vary from day to day, and it would be a good idea to invest a little further in a few basic items to add to the repertoire of exercises Yourserlf!Fitness can offer. Home exercise has become a booming business, and most sporting good stores have enough equipment at a reasonable price that setting up a decent place with some equipment won’t cost too much. It may be advisable however, to start with Yourself!Fitness first, see how the routines are progressing, as well as what your space allows for and fitness interests are.

Yourself!Fitness doesn’t just provide the next level of home video workout. It really is an all-around fitness coach, starting with a menu planner and cookbook. There are hundreds of recipe and menu ideas. This is really a program in itself, as the menu planner adjusts for serving sizes as well as general taste. As a vegetarian, I would have like to see a bit more options in here, but one can’t fault the developers in here too much, as having something like this in here at all is a major step.

Another way that Yourself!Fitness sets itself apart is with the inclusion of yoga. This was by far my favorite section, providing a decent workout without making me feel like the overweight lazy person that I am. True, I am not the most flexible of people, but never have been, so I am rather comfortable with that part of my life. The yoga portions serve to really change the workouts up and provide even further incentive to keep going with the program.

The visuals are very good – clean and clear, easily seen. The graphical detail is sharp, and with the minimal distraction from the backgrounds, the exercises are fully understood. The audio is also good, there isn’t much in the way, but the instructions are clear and well understood. The technical aspects of conveying the exercise routine are well done.

Yourself!Fitness is not your typical Xbox title. It isn’t a game so much as a lifetime application. It isn’t for everybody, particularly since your typical Xbox owner would rather sit in front of the television, eat chips and play Halo 2 for 8 hours at a stretch. For others, however, it is a great piece of equipment. While it isn’t able to take the place of a full gym or personal trainer, it is definitely the next best thing. Much better than any workout video as it is able to tailor a workout routine and provide a varied workout over a much longer period of time than any passive video can offer.

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Tags: Yourself! Fitness

Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Nov 29th, 2004 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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