- Vilmarie
Laurel responds
Winter can be a challenge for a lot of people to maintain their exercise program. It’s also a great time to explore new fitness options. Of course, I love Your Shape for Wii since it allows you to work out at home, on your schedule and it creates a routine specific to your daily and long term goals. You can even select specific body parts that you want to strengthen or slim. For instance, select Legs and Cardio and you will be sweating within minutes.
If you prefer the motion of running, ExerciseTV.TV has at-home walking routines that don’t require a treadmill. All you have to do is log onto the website, download the routine you want and you are ready to go. As a last result, honestly, I walk and even run in place while watching TV, brushing my teeth, talking on the phone, even curling my hair. The point is to get your heart rate up and keep it elevated for a minimum of 20 minutes. If that means running in place and doing jumping jacks and kicks and swinging your arms in your living room- by all means!
- Jessica
Laurel responds
Every one of us has our own motivations to get in shape. For one person it might be to lose weight, another to be healthy in order to live a long life for their kids, or, as the cliché goes- to fit into your “skinny” jeans. What I do on the first of every year is create an “Intention Board”- basically, a collage of words and images cut out from a magazine that illustrates my intentions for the year- that includes maintaining a fitness lifestyle. Every morning- literally- for the first two months, I spend 5 minutes staring at the board while drinking my coffee. I look at the images and read the words and imagine what they mean to me, how they translate into my life that day, and in the long term.
Another way to stay motivated is to leave little notes and images around your house- on your refrigerator, at the foot of your bed, on the mirror that you stare at for 2-minutes twice a day as you brush your teeth. Sometimes it’s the little reminders of why you are working out and eating right that really push you to change.
What I love about Your Shape is that it helps to motivate you throughout the game thanks to little comments like “I love your enthusiasm” and “You’re doing great!” to less obvious motivators like the fact that the game tracks your calorie-burn and displays it on the screen. This way, you always know how many calories you’ve burned and how close you are to achieving your goal! Plus, since you are working out next to the digital version of the gorgeously shaped Jenny McCarthy, you’ve got some motivation right there to keep up!
- Vanessa
Laurel responds
I think it’s a great and very healthy decision to avoid stepping on the scale. Take the number out of the equation- it creates too much pressure. I don’t even own a scale. I honestly have no idea how much I weigh. I prefer my “tester skirt.” It’s a size-less skirt (I had it hemmed to fit my exact shape) that I try on once a week. If it’s feeling a little tight, I know I need to make some changes. If it’s loose, I know I am on the right track that week. You can also select a pair of jeans as your tester. But here’s the key: the sole purpose of that skirt or jeans is your “tester.” If you actually wear it out, it will stretch and no longer correctly track your size.
- Tanya
Laurel responds
Personally, I love the look of lululemon, though I find it a bit tight, which is actually the point- to avoid jiggling and create lean, seamless lines. My exercise outfit of choice is a James Perse cotton t-shirt or a naturally wicking (and super soft) bamboo t-shirt, and black tight Nike pants or Adidas shorts (depending on the weather).
- Janine
Laurel responds
Yoga and Pilates work your muscles (including your heart) in different ways, different from each other and different from running and biking.
Pilates is less of a cardio workout and more of a muscle toning, body tightening workout. You won’t have the same sopping wet sweat results that you can experience from running, biking, or yoga, but you will wake up very sore the next morning, with aching muscles that you may not have even known existed. Pilates is an amazing way to tone up, particularly when it comes to the core.
Yoga can be an extremely calming, almost sedating experience. It can also be an extraordinarily intense cardio/resistance workout (Power Yoga, Yoga Flow) that will literally leave cups-worth of sweat on your mat. What I love about Yoga is that (unlike running and biking) you are not only working your legs, but you are engaging your arms, abs, back, and shoulders. It is a total-body workout that requires no weights (except your own body weight- which is a lot if you think about it), no electricity, and no membership. The best way to work out is to change it up, and keep your body and muscles guessing so that your mind stays interested- and therefore motivated, and your body continues to evolve (instead of plateau)- which is also a great motivator to keep up!
- Alyssa
Laurel responds
All you need is a Wii game console and the Your Shape game- it comes with the camera. Aside from that, you are golden! Your Shape is perfect for the budget-conscious since there are over 400 exercises (so you won’t get bored) and you don’t need to buy any additional equipment in order to do it.
- Lisa
Laurel responds
You should always, always, always stretch after your workout. In fact, I don’t recommend stretching before your workout. Picture this: imagine that your muscles are taffy. If you try to bend taffy when it is cold, what happens? It breaks right? But if you warm it up first, and slowly work with it, then you can bend and twist and create spirals out of it. Stretching cold muscles, before you workout not only sets you up for soreness the next morning, but risks injury. Warm-up before a workout by walking, even walking in place. Do plank pose- it’s a great way to get the blood flowing. Then do your workout. After you complete your workout, stretch for 10-15 minutes. There is absolutely a chance that you will still be sore in the morning if you did a really intense workout. I still get sore the next morning when I really push myself the day before. It’s the lactic acid build up in your muscles that is trying to get out. Drink water- lots of it. If you are still sore, take a warm bath or sit in the steam room. It will pass.
- Megan
Laurel responds
Personally, I like to do something every day. Even if that something is simply squeezing in a 20 minute walk, 3 yoga sun salutations, or 15 minutes of Your Shape. But realistically, you should be working out 5 days a week for 45 minutes to an hour if you are trying to lose weight, and 3 days a week from 45 minutes to an hour if you are trying to maintain your weight. Going to the gym can add not only time but hassle to your workout which is why I find it easier to sneak in my daily workouts at home. Somehow fitness seems so much easier to fit it in when I know that I don’t have to endure traffic, parking, checking in, chatting, and finding a treadmill.
- Emily
Laurel responds
Your Shape absolutely can replace your gym membership. In fact, I gave mine up. The reason many of us go to a gym is for two reasons:
- Motivation
- To change up the regular routine
Your Shape fulfills both needs since it has over 400 exercises, the game motivates you throughout, plus the website www.YourShapeGame.com gives tons of motivational tips and inspiration. But more than motivation and new routines, Your Shape also fills the role of a personal trainer since the game actually tracks your movements, gives you feedback on what you are doing both wrong and right, and offers slow-motion tutorials for every move to make sure you are doing it correctly in order to optimize its effects and minimize your risk of injury. And, believe me, personal trainers can be expensive! Your Shape is a great way to save money while getting the benefits of a gym membership.
- Rachel
Laurel responds
Because Your Shape is completely customized to your specific goals, needs, schedule, and dedication to working out, results are also specific to you. If you work out with Your Shape every day for 45 minutes to an hour, you will absolutely start noticing results very quickly. Within a week you will notice that your body feel more toned, you have more energy, and you feel overall healthier. Within two weeks you will start to notice that your clothes fit a little looser, your butt is a bit tighter, and your arms are more defined. Keep it up, and you can completely change your body with Your Shape.
- Erin
When toning your arms you want to think about all areas of your arms, including those that you see when looking in the mirror (like your biceps and the curve that you can create from your shoulder to your arm) as well as the muscles that you might not see- your triceps. The best way to work your arms is to exhaust one muscle group, then move into the opposite muscle group and exhaust it, then do two or three more reps, in other words, repeat the exercises two or three more times going back and forth between opposing muscle groups. SO, for example, you might do 25 bicep curls, followed by 25 seated dips to work your triceps. You will repeat that two or three times. Then you might try 25 push-ups to work your chest, followed by 25 overhead shoulder presses with free weights to work your shoulders and back. It’s not just about working your arms, it’s also important to incorporate the supporting muscle groups like your chest and back as they all contribute to the contour of your arms.
Your Shape makes strengthening your arms easy since it has a feature where you get to select the area of your body that you want to focus on for that workout, plus if you want to tone, burn, or stretch it. If arms are your main area of concern, just select “arms” and “tone.” To add even more intensity, the game allows you to add equipment that you have at home like free weights, a step or ball. Then the game creates a routine based around the information that you input, catered specifically to your needs so that you can most efficiently meet your goal.
- Sarah
Laurel responds
Your Shape is also made for a PC so you don’t even need a Wii™ to do it! So, instead of seeing your image on your television screen, you will see your image on your computer screen. And the great part is that the motion tracking camera can be used as a web cam to chat with friends when you’re not working out!
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Comments (3):
Bimbi284
Thanks for the input Laurel! My fiance and I just registered for a wii! In the meantime, I'll by running and jumping all over my apartment :-).
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