Hype or Help Review -Week 2: EA Active Trainer 2

It's my second week to review EA Active Trainer 2, but really only my first full week of using it.  If you remember, I only used in once before introducing it last Sunday.

This week, I was supposed to use the Trainer on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I didn't work out on Monday, due to July 4th holiday.  I had planned on making that work-out up on Wednesday - but went to the river with my family instead.  I, also, didn't work out Friday due to some plans I had made...thinking I'd do it when I came home - but didn't.  Going to try better this next week - and even plan on making up the missed work-outs.  OK, enough with the excuses - and on with the review...

The other two days, I did my work-out...and it was good.  Each one of the work-outs were different, and each focused on a different target area of the body. 

Tuesday, the focus was upper body.  It was a mixture of working with the resistance band - I opted to use 8lbs hand weights - and calisthenics (repetitive cardio/muscular exercises).  The "sport" activities were boxing and step aerobics.  I really liked this work-out...it was fun, challenging, and even though it focused on a body target area, there were plenty of full body cardio to balance everything out nicely.

I really enjoyed the sporting activities...and think mixing them in to "personal trainer" type exercising keeps things fresh and exciting.  The boxing was similar to what Cara did on Biggest Loser this past season.  The "trainer" held gloves, and I got to beat the crap out of them.  It was jabbing and side punches.  I tested whether or not the force associated with my punches was accurately being displayed - and it was.  If I punched HARD, my avatar punched HARD.  If I was wimpy - so was my avatar.

The step aerobics required moving along to different step exercises - minus a board - to fast paced music.  I LOVED this part of the work-out!!  It was accurate to my steps, heart pacing, and fun.

This work-out was only 28 minutes long, but I burned around 200 calories...not too bad.  Pretty simple - and I completed all activities at 100%.

On Thursday, the focus was lower body and Oh. My. Goodness!  I really thought, starting the routine, that I'd find this work-out pretty easy.  I mean, I've been running for a while now - and I believe that my lower body is MUCH stronger than my upper body.  While that may be true, it wasn't for this work-out.  I really thought I wasn't going to make it through several parts of this work-out, and by the time the 30 minutes were over, I was praising all things holy.

There were LOTS of squatting exercises with this work-out...again, I used the 8lbs hand weights.  In between every weight exercise there was either 180 foot fires (those really quick foot moves that football players do) or 50 mountain climbers.  Yes...you saw that right...50!! In between EACH and EVERY strength exercise.  I believe I did over 200 mountain climbers and 500 foot fires by the time it was all said and done.

I had some problems during the strength training with this work-out.  Some of the exercises required squatting for 30 seconds...for several reps.  After a couple of times, I had problems staying in my squats...if I stood up, the clock restarted - and I had to start over.  It ended up taking a while before I was able to complete the reps.  There is definitely no room for cheating, or trying to slack off with this program - that's fo'sure!  My only issue is that there's no option to skip an exercise...so if you're having problems, you're stuck with it - until you can finish what you're supposed to do.

The sporting activities on Thursday were trail running and mountain boarding.  The trail running was fun.  It was a mixture of jogging and burst sprints.  I had to compete against other runners, and the objective was to sprint past them.  Even though I was running in place - holy fire ant balls - I felt like I was running harder than I've ever ran on the track.

The mountain boarding, I encountered a few bugs - that I think were my fault.  You have to squat on the board to make the board go faster, and then do flip jumps to grind on poles and earn points.  I had some issue with the game registering my squats, flip jumps, and stunt jumps.  The first run through, I missed most of the required jumps - even though I was jumping...and getting a little ticked off.  The second time through, I realized my timing was off - and did a lot better...and realized that I had to be MUCH lower in my squat for it to register on the game.  Again - no room for slacking off allowed.

After 35 grueling minutes with this work-out, I burned over 300 calories.  I was completely drenched in sweat - and my legs hurt for the rest of the day, and all day Friday.

Overall this week, I liked it.  I'm going to work-out today and try and make up at least one of my missed work-outs. 

I tried linking my game to my online EA account, but have had some issues that Hubby is going to look in to.  He thinks he can get it fixed for me - so next week, I should be able to show you my online stats.

After a week of using the Trainer 2, I really feel like it's something I can stick with...despite missing a couple of work-outs...and that I'm going to enjoy it.  The fun factor of this system is definitely up there in my reasons of enjoying this program. 

In my opinion, there's nothing worse than standing in front of the TV with the same work-out routine and same trainer day in and day out.  I need variety - and this program is providing exactly that.

I promise to try my best to do EVERY work-out this week...and give another full review next Sunday.

Till next time.  ;)

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