Alternative Health Ideas: Why Do I Like EA Sports Active On Wii?

The Wii Console on Amazon

We have a treadmill, an elliptical, a weight machine, countless free weights, a trampoline, a yoga station, and other gadgets and gizmo's for exercising. Yet, I don't use those very often - I'd rather use my Wii games instead!

We got a Wii in 2009 and to say it's been used is an understatement. We use it for family get togethers, for keeping records of our improvement physically, and mostly (especially in winter) - for extra exercise.

Lately we got the EA Sports Active in our collection and I love this game. It comes with a heart monitor in the form of an arm attachment, and a leg attachment that reads the movements you make during each exercise. This way it can literally tell you if you are doing the exercise right.

Of course in the beginning when I didn't do any of their exercises right I was barely moving on the TV screen as well. I figured out the twisting and turning while sitting on the couch the right way got the results I wanted without having to do the exercise.

The point is if you don't do it right you have to keep trying until you do finish the whole set the proper way. After 100 squats this can get quite exhausting if it doesn't consider you way the right way (and you were only supposed to do 10 squat).

But once you get the hang of it you can bang out those 10 squats with no problems and no hesitations.

You can set your own workouts which I haven't experimented with yet because you can also partake in a pre-programmed 9 week workout. The separate workout levels are easy, medium, and hard. I've of course chosen hard as I'm trying to get in shape here - sheesh.

Your instructor can be a woman or man (although I don't like the woman for some reason - I think she was mean to me!). And they do the exercises with you, as well as show you how to do them if you need an example. In fact, the first time around you will be taken through an example of the exercise no matter what.

Warm ups, cardio, strength, and cool down are all part of the workout and part of the time I'm hanging off the arms of my treadmill trying to catch my breath. So it's working well for me.

And with each workout I'm finding the my body is getting stronger and my endurance is getting better. They also allow you to set goals like calories burned, workouts achieved, and hours spent workout out. I love goals. I think it makes everything more fun and productive.

All in all I think it's a great tool for keeping in shape. It's fun, motivating, and let's you see how far you've come. What more can you ask for in an exercise game?

Now I haven't tried the other games they have as technology moves faster than my workouts, but I imagine that anything with an EA in front of it will be a good buy.

You can check some of them out below from amazon.