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Great idea that needs some improvement

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: April 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

You can read other reviews for the good things about this title. Here are a few problems:

1) Sometimes the program just won't do the workout you select. Three times today, I tried to make it give me a core workout and it kept doing upper body (which I just did yesterday and didn't want to repeat so soon).

2) I use other programs or running for cardio, so I'm already warmed up when I start YF. There's no way to tell the program to just get to the exercises. And there's no way to input workout data so the program knows you're doing cardio elsewhere. It will keep suggesting you need it.

3) There's no way to tell the program to not use a particular exercise. If you're bored by a move or it exacerbates an injury, too bad. Chances are, it's a move the program will use over and over for minutes at a time.

4) There's no option to build your own workout. I really wish the program was more customizable, giving me a list of exercises to string together to work the muscles I want to work on any given day.

5) It asks how groups of exercises made you feel, but there's no option to indicate a particular exercise is too much. You can make the whole workout easier, but that's not necessarily a good thing. For example, yesterday's upper body workout kept hammering me with pushups. I simply couldn't keep up. Telling the program to ease up only meant the next few exercises were shown without weights...but those exercises were for my biceps. I needed to tell the program enough already with the pushups.

I haven't decided if I'll keep using the program or not. It's definitely good to have some variety in my workout, but it's not good to feel frustrated by limitations and glitches.

Great idea--fun, but room for improvement

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: January 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've been using Yourself Fitness for 3 weeks now, 4 times a week, and I am still enjoying it. Another review made a great outline of the pros and cons, so I'll just add a few different insights:
1) It really isn't as diversified as I anticipated. Regardless of whether I choose cardio or upper body strengthing, I still get pretty much the same set of 20 or so moves. The duration or frequency may change, but not the action. Since there are 3 of us using the same program, I know this is not just due to my ability level. They get the same moves I do!
2) While it does include stretching at the end, I've yet to see any stretching other than quad and hamstring. It's a wimpy effort to seem comprehensive. I generally do my own stretching at the end to be thorough.
3)The meal plans are great! I don't use them off the Xbox, though, since I don't have it set up with a printer and I'm not sure how to do so. The menus are available online for free, though, at yourselffitness.com.
4) The equipment list only includes 3 things: balance ball, handweights, and heart monitor. I have many other fun items I'd like to incorporate, like a jump rope or bands.
5) When using handweights, there's no way to track the weight used or make recommendations for moving up.
I do enjoy the program and it's interactive nature, and I think the idea is fantastic! The music is fun and I definitely work up a sweat. I just hope they'll update the program with the mentioned improvements. I do recommend the program as a part of your fitness routine, but not as the only source of exercise.

Game has a purpose in an overall fitness program

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This "game" is a pretty neat concept and for a first of its kind workout program is pretty good...better than I had expected. When you first start the program you create a "player". They put you through a series of questions and exercises to see what level they need to start you at. Questions include your weight, etc., what equipment you have (weights, exercise ball, step, heart rate monitor) and then ask you to do different exercises for a certain time to see how in/out of shape you are. Once you have done all of this you are ready for a workout. It asks you how much time you have for your workout. Then you choose what type of workout including cardio, upper body, lower body, yoga type of stretching etc. You choose your location (you get more to chose from the more you work out). It asks you several times throughout the video how you feel in order to give you the right level of difficulty. It gives you a running bar at the bottom to see what exercise you are on right now, what level of difficulty and what is coming up next. These are helpful. Also tells you the heart rate you should be in if you have heart rate monitor. Negatives: When you are doing the warm-up/aerobic part of the routine that begins most of the workouts, the "instructor" does not make smooth transitions from one exercise to the next. I have learned to just watch the bars at the bottom and make smooth transitions myself (thus be out of step with the instructor). Also, there seem to be the same 5 or 6 moves in the aerobic section...they just don't repeat them in the same order. This can be good for someone wanting non-complicated moves with little variety. I am quiet overweight but in better aerobic shape than I look and am able to keep up well with the program.

Has room for improvement

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have been using yourself fitness for two months now, and am generally satisfied. It gives me a good workout at home, makes me push myself, and I'm doing some new and different exercises. If you are looking for something like an exercise video that mixes it up so you don't get bored, I would recommend it. However, it could use a lot of improvement.

The most annoying thing is when you are doing exercises in which you cannot look at the screen and also keep proper form, she doesn't count or say anything such as "right leg, down, left leg, down" to let you know how long you are supposed to hold a position, or how quickly or slowly to move, so you end up either guessing or hurting your neck trying to watch her while doing the exercise. I read somewhere that they didn't want to make her too repetitive, but when you're doing exercises, you appreciate some verbal cues.

Another thing is that sometimes the exercise sessions are a little uneven. I found that the first time I did a lower body strength session it was pretty well rounded. The second time practically every exercise was some form of squat or lunge....so I decided in the future if it's harping on one area too much, I'll just do a different exercise on my own.

There are a couple of other little things, but I don't want to rag on it all day because in the end I'm still using it. I've just been disappointed in some areas. I would recommend it as better than videos, but don't expect too much.

Perfect for Moms or those who don't have time/$ for the gym!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 330 / 338
Date: October 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am a WAHM of one 14 month old; I gaining a LOT of weight during my pregnancy (no thanks to the women who kept saying "You're too small!" as they shoved cake and chips in my face!) and I've had a heck of a time getting it off (even though I eat VERY healthy). I used to be VERY active and loved running and/or going to the gym, but we can't afford a gym membership (or a babysitter on a daily basis so I could actually GO to the gym and I'm too tired after my husband gets home to go to the gym anyway) OR one of those outrageously expensive jogging strollers (for those prices, they should get better ratings!). I've tried baby & mom yoga (a book)- that didn't work for me. I purchased a DVD on Amazon, Pilates for Everyone I think it was called- that was better than the yoga book, but I found that the gap between the beginner and intermediate workouts was WAY too wide for me (the beginner workouts got too easy and the intermediate workouts, yeah, I couldn't even make it through the first five minutes of one). This is the BEST thing I've found so far and I am LOVING it! :-)

So let me break it down.
Things I LOVE about this:
1. Custimization- you enter your weight, target weight (if you need to), resting/active BPM, flexibility, etc, even the excersize equipment you already own and it will tell you what your MAIN goal should be (mine being weight loss, obviously). You enter days of the week you can work out and how much time you can spend working out on those days.
2. Tempo- It doesn't seem to be repetitive at all, like my Pilates DVD was, it never got boring.
3. Scroll bar- There's a scroll bar on the bottom of the screen as you do a work out that tells you what you're doing and shows you what is up next as well. For example, it shows a picture of two free-weights before the next segment if you need to use them during the next excersize. And there is a clock counting down the time (which I REALLY need, I need to be able to see that the time is going DOWN and I'm making progress) and it tells you the level of difficulty of the exersize that you're doing- both under the time and on the scroll bar- one line for level one, two bars for level two, you get it.
4. Tutorial- You can pause and review the tutorial at ANY time, as needed.
5. The Personal Instructor- She virtual and she doesn't look like freaking Barbi, THANK GOODNESS! :-) (In fact, she looks a lot like me BEFORE I had my daughter :-) )
6. Reinforcement- Before you start your workout for the day, you can change what the personal instructor has chosen for you (if she recomends cardio, and you aren't feeling up to it, you can change it to some other area of focus). She asks you how you're feeling both before you start your workout and in between at intermitent points so if you need MORE positive reinforcement, she will do more "rooting". :-)
7. Recipes and meal plans and shopping lists, oh my! - I don't use these, I'm vegetarian, no sugar, and I'm decreasing my intake of dairy products so I have my own healthy recipes customized to fit MY life and budget, BUT these are a great idea and I may actually flip through the 4500 (gasp!) recipes for something new.
8. She KNOWS if you missed a day! Yup, I guess if you miss a day, it will show up on your "progress", which may annoy some people, but I feel guilty VERY easily so if I miss a day I'd feel guilty because not only would I know, the virtual Personal Instructor would know it too, so she'd remind me of it. And that would work to my advantage so I wouldn't skip a day unless I was really sick or something.
9. The "LEVELS" - I think this is so cool. Like most other video games, the more time you spend doing it, the more levels open up to reward you. In this case, the "levels" are the spaces where your personal trainer works out (yeah, I'd like to work out in a field surrounded by green grass and waterfalls for REAL!) but it makes for a nice change of scenery.
10. Calories - At the end of your work out, it tells you how many calories you've burned! That is SO important for me because I need to see improvement.
11. Workouts - I get bored easily, and my target is weightloss so when the personal trainer recomends I do cardio, it's not just cardio- in my cardio workouts there are some cardio weight training exersizes too, which is nice so I don't get bored! There are also water breaks after strenuous steps and stretch breaks after each cardio weight set and the workout time includes stretching at the end. ALSO even though my main goal is weight loss, the personal trainer doesn't suggest that I do just cardio for every single workout. For example, if I do a 30 minute workout, the first 10-15 minutes will be cardio, and the remaining workout could be upper/lower body strength, flexibility, core body strength, etc. So I end up with a very well-rounded week of workouts.
12. The "camera angle" changes throughout the workout so you can see what it should look like from different angles and it changes the back drop behind the personal trainer too, so it's not boring.
13. In addition to the daily workouts, you can also chose "Meditation Garden" and do a roughly 20 minute yoga session. I've been doing this at the end of the day before bed after my daughter is asleep and it's WONDERFUL! It's so great to have yoga in this "game" too! It's like having everything I need in one place!

Things that I would improve:
1. Ok, this is silly, but it'd be fun to change her body type or even her weight, and her clothes/hair color/eye color, etc. But that's more play and less workout and I guess that's really not the point of the "game". :-) That's just the child in me.
2. During the cardio, while you're doing any type of work with reps and weights, I wish that the number of reps would count down on the screen as you are doing them with the personal trainer, because again, I like to see results.
3. I think this is mainly geared towards women, for the very fact that the personal trainer is a woman. But my husband is going to use this as well (for improving his core strength) and he said he'd rather have a male personal trainer than female.
4. When I was setting up my customized section, after I plugged in my height and weight, the personal instructor instructed me that I was over the weight range for my height. Now maybe this is just me being uber-sensitive, but DUH! I'd rather just have it just state at the end that my target goal is weight loss so I will be doing a lot of cardio in my customized workouts.
5. Although I don't have a problem with this because my husband already had an x-box, it would be more versitile if they came out with one that can be played on regular DVD players OR one that can be played on BOTH an x-box AND a DVD player (and for the x-box, they could just have you use the x-box remote that plays movies instead of the controller).
6. Although I LOVE the Meditation Garden yoga sessions, I would like to know how many Calories I've burned at the end of each session- the "game" only tells you how many Calories you've burned at the end of each "Workout" session.

I was a little apprehensive about this at first, I'll admit, I thought it was a silly idea, but I LOVE it now! Once I got into it and started the workout, it was fun and not boring at all! This is perfect if you are a mom (or a dad, I know some dads stay at home or work at home too)/ hate the gym/ don't have $ for the gym AND a personal trainer AND a nutritionist/ get bored easily/ need positive reinforcement/ need a schedule/ need something different in each workout/ need custimization... ENJOY! :-)

Great concept and great "game" gives you a great workout

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 74 / 77
Date: October 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was taken back when I noticed this on the shelves of my local gaming store. So I read the back, came home and did a little on line research.

It was less than 24 hours after that, when I decided to purchase this product.

This is a great "game" that takes getting in shape very seriously. You answer some questions at the beginning and do some exercises to allow the trainer, Maya, to get a feel for your overall health.

Once you've done that, Maya has created your personalized training schedule, eating schedule and I was ready to go!

During my first workout, Maya gave plenty of encouragement (based on how I was answering questions throughout the workout)to keep me going. The bottom of the screen displays the workout that you are doing along with the next one coming up, including rests and water breaks. She can incorporate a stepper, flexibility ball, hand weights and a heart monitor in the workout.

The variety of the workout was AMAZING and I sweating more after 30 minutes with Maya that I ever have doing other videos.

This is definitely worth the $34 price tag just to have your own personal trainer in your Xbox whenever you want one.

Overall, this is only a 4 star product since it doesn't really tell you how much you "need" to lose and how you are going to get there. I also would have liked a BMR calculation with calories taken in so I can see what I need to burn off to lose some weight.

My $35.00 Gym

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: October 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was thinking of joining a gym until I found Yourself!Fitness. This game gave me everything I wanted, aerobics, yoga, and weightlifting all from within my living room, using equipment I already own. I have done 5 workouts and overall I think this is a great program. It is at my level, it pushes me, I can focus the program to my needs, and I feel like it is a great value for the money.

The personal trainer is just right- not too annoying, and the length and intensity of the sessions are challenging but not overwhelming.

The workouts are heavy on aerobics, but so far each workout has included strength training exercises. I'm excited to add a stability ball to vary my workouts even more.

Give it a try, it is suited to both men and women.

good stuff

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: December 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

So Im a college student. Spent a couple years partying, eat bad food and sitting around. Ive never been the lazy type until I hit college and thats when the pounds started adding up.
So yeah naturally Ive been playing tons of video games when Im not studying (yeah...) or partying. Anyways I was just looking around Amazon and found this game on with a couple good reviews. I was skeptical at first but i decided to give it a try. And today I recieved the game (or fitness game thing) and was surprised. Maya is a hottie and she likes to keep you motivated. You start by doing a simple fitness profile where maya asks you some questions and you fill in the blanks. Of course in that profile thing you must do some routines to see what level of fitness you are at. But altogether it took about 20 minutes to do. The cool thing is that you can schedule what days you want to work out and the duration. There is meal planner that helps you count cals. and even gives you recipes for tons of meals. I was impressed.
The workouts were challenging. Although I have only completed one workout since I got it today, they emphasize the fact that no two workouts are the same. Maya uses over 500 different techniques from pilates, yoga, strength, cardio. WOW. you can even incorporate your own equipment in the workouts.
Im excited to see how this will turn out.
The best thing about it is that you get a personal trainer, meal plan and schedule all for about $35. This is a bargain compared to gym memberships, and real personal trainers. So if you have an Xbox and you feel that you have gained some lbs. over the past couple years or if you just want to stay in shape with the holiday season here, i would recommend this product. Quality. It also makes a good gift!!

Fun & motivating, perfect for beginners & intermediates

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: June 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

As a mom of two small children, I was excited about Yourself Fitness. Gym memberships are expensive, and it's hard to squeeze a run in after a hectic day. TaeBo - which I'd used with fantastic results for over 3 years - had gotten a little boring, and I was looking for something different.

Yourself Fitness features Maya, an interactive "personal trainer." Having done a bit of personal training myself, I'll admit that Maya is fairly typical of trainer-client interaction. She's encouraging when you need it, and admonishing when you need it. Example: if you skip a few workouts, Maya will remind you that consistency is necessary to achieve your goals!

The first time you work out, Maya takes you through a brief workout designed to measure your fitness level. After keying in your height/weight/etc., she takes your resting heart rate. Then she has you do jumping jacks for 2 min and takes your heart rate again, to measure your intensity levels. She then tests you on lower body strength (bodyweight squats, up to 40), upper body strength (modified pushups) and core strength (crunches). Based on the measurements, Maya will recommend a focus - upper body, lower body, cardio, etc. Whatever focus you choose will be incorporated into each workout (for example, if your focus is cardio, every workout will have some cardio; if your focus is flexibility, every workout will have a little bit of yoga).

The workouts are fairly basic moves, nothing too complicated or fancy, but also fairly effective. If you're confused about how to perform a move, you can click a button to get a model illustration (this pauses your workout). The illustrations are useful (I've been weight training for 2 years and it was interesting to see a different perspective on things like plie squats). Some of the weight training seems to move a bit fast: Maya tells you to go "slow and controlled" on a bicep curl, but she's curling faster than frizzy hair on a humid day. The rest times between sets are good (and necessary - don't skip those rest times, your body needs them). One note on the cardio/weight loss: they're fairly interchangeable, but the cardio is superior and incorporates cardio weight training at the end (weighted lunges, etc.). Both work for weight loss but in my opinion, the cardio option gives a better workout. You can raise or lower the intensity for just about any exercise with the click of a button.

At the beginning of your workout, Maya asks how you're feeling (not too good, okay, great) and incorporates your mood into the work - if you're feeling great, she might amp it up a bit. After each section of your workout, she asks how that section felt to you (too hard, working it, no sweat) - and adjusts future workouts based on your answer. About every 10 workouts, you will do the "Fitness Challenge" - a repeat of the first workout you did to test your progress. The results are measured in the progress section, which shows your weight, strength, heart rate, etc. on line graphs. You will also be given the option to change your daily focus at the Fitness Challenge based on Maya's recommendation.

Some other things:
*meal plans & recipes (didn't use them, they looked pretty lame to me)
*meditation garden
*times offered are 15 min, 30, 45 and 1 hour
*equipment options are ball, heart rate monitor, step and weights - your equipment is incorporated into the workout. I have a weights and a ball; the weights are almost always used, the ball occasionally

The music .... well, the music. It's OK, nothing special. At different levels (depending on your workout consistency), you're awarded new music preferences. I like Techno and House, but the salsa and 80s sets are fun, too.

The settings are interesting: a dojo, an urban gym (complete with helicopters flying around outside the high-rise windows, occasionally pausing to apparently watch Maya in action), an alpine retreat - outdoors in what looks like a Colorado lodge, a desert retreat, and the beach retreat - outdoors under a huge thatched umbrella next to the beach (this is the last one you "earn" and is definitely my favorite).

If you're just starting out in fitness, Yourself is fantastic. I wish I'd one when I first started out - probably would have saved myself some injuries! Intermediates will enjoy the change of pace YF offers. If you're an advanced lifter or cardio junkie, YF will work as a good motivator. Remember to increase the weights as you get stronger; if you're always using 10lb weights, your progress will be limited. Lifting heavier *will not* bulk you up; it will make you stronger and leaner. The cardio is not high intensity, it's more like low- to medium-intensity for a longer duration. I prefer high-intensity cardio, so I generally use YF for weight training and core work, and then do HIIT (high intensity interval training) on my own.

Overall, it's a great program and a wonderful idea!

Great for the sedentary

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

After months (years?) of ignoring the need for working out, I decided to start working out again and was intrigued by the concept of an Xbox-driven fitness program. So, I bought Dance Dance Revolution, and this. And while DDR is more of a game - i.e., you're competing against other players or the Xbox - Yourself Fitness is surprisingly engaging, motivational, and fun. And the only person you're really competing against is yourself.

What's great is that the virtual trainer, Maya, adjusts the workouts according to how you feel that day, and how you're doing during the workout. It's been just 2 weeks and I've found that it's easy for me to keep coming back to it. I'm up to 30 minutes a day, 4-5 times per week, and I think I may actually be enjoying myself.

Often she'll throw in a move that I haven't seen yet, or something that is yoga or pilates related, and all I do is press a button on my controller, and a tutorial model leads me through the move. Then I go back to the workout and try it myself.

The only problem I've seen with this is that you can't adjust the exercises Maya's telling you to do based on any injuries you might have. (For example, a bad knee keeps me from doing the lunges.) There are no alternatives presented, so I've gotten creative and either repeated other exercises or made something up. Hey, at least I'm up and moving again.

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