Inside My Head: EA SPORTS Active's 30 Day Challenge

Originally, I was going to do a comparison review of Active against Wii Fit, but I figured blogging on a daily basis during the product's 30 Day Challenge would be better. It's also going to be the only series of posts I'll tag for this blog for easy searching.

To start off, this product is hardly a game. The marketing team from EA was right in saying it is a personal trainer in a box. What they don't tell you is that there is some assembly required. Though simple, it is kind of slap in the face to the ill prepared that just wants to jump right into the program.

After all the physical set up is done, I fired up the Wii and was prompted to create a profile. It asked for the same things that Wii Fit asked for. Age, height, gender, but I had to input the weight myself. The product is designed so that it is compatible with the Balance Board but isn't needed. As such, there's no "scale" feature for you to utilize if you don't own a bathroom scale of your own. It's because of this that I've installed the Wii Fit Channel and placed it next to the Disc Channel. That way I can remember to weight myself every day and update Active's profile for me when appropriate. Apparently even one pound in either direction causes a different calculation of calorie burn for the workouts. Go figure math would be involved.

Oh, and today I weight in at 156 lbs.

Alright. Main Menu. It makes sense here, the biggest button here is the Journal where all your information will be saved and recorded. They want you to go there first, so it is the biggest button on the screen. Second biggest is the 30 Day Challenge, which makes total sense. Third is the Preset & Custom Workout button, with the smallest going to the Settings and (much to my surprise) an Info button that essentially functions as an online manual.

The Settings menu is fairly limited. Check to see if you have a Wii Balance Board and if you want to use it or not in your workouts. Create a custom playlist of music that came with the game so that you have something more pleasurable to listen to while you are working out. You can even review tutorial videos for exercises you've done in case you forgot or are bored.

The Preset & Custom Workouts are for those that don't want to do the 30 Day Challenge but still want to work out. You are presented with a slew of options ranging from both easy and hard settings that run the gambit of a 15 minute work out to a whole hour! Surprisingly, you can even access the various 30 Day Challenge lists in all three of their difficulty settings. If you have a favorite set of exercises or you can't find the workout that's right for you, you have the option of creating one. All of the events are unlocked from the start of the game, so no need to play through the 30 Day Challenge (although, I think that kind of helps get you familiar with the program). Simply click on what you want to do and a nifty little bar at the bottom will tell you how effective your workout is. For example, I created a 10 minute demo for my mom that will only burn 50 calories by the end of the session. Very low impact and very short. You know, to gently usher her in.

In any event, the big chunk of meat of this product is the 30 Day Challenge. And the bulk of this series of blog entries.

On your first day, you are given a special video from EA SPORT Active's celebrity sponsor Bob Greene. You know, Oprah's personal trainer? He pretty much gives you some words of encouragement as you start your 30 Day Challenge and hopes you end up living a healthier lifestyle by the end of it all. You then pick the gender of your personal trainer, the intensity of your workout, and what kind of music you want playing in the background while you work out. Don't know why that is an option, but that's probably because I'm paying more attention to the trainer's audio than I am to the background music.

From there, Active takes care of the rest. You are given a 20 minute workout for that day with a goal to meet by the end of the session. Today's goal was to burn 96 calories. Today's session also included the Wii Balance Board, which was a nice first day introduction, if you ask me.

My session began with a warm up of walking, running, and then doing some squats. We then went on to doing some kick boxing and then some inline skating simulations, both of which used the Balance Board. From there we went on to doing some side lunges, bicep curls, and low rowing pulls. The last two on that list involved the supplied resistance band, which out of the package smells like dental floss. From there, we cycled back around to boxing and ended with a jog around the track.

When all was said and done, I actually burned more than what was projected for the session with two minutes to spare. The data was recorded on my Journal, which then was promptly filled with positive feedback about how impressive I performed.

I was then prompted to fill out the various lifestyle surveys in the journal in order to be rewarded a daily medal. These surveys appear to be nothing but a way to keep track of your personal habits like how much sleep you are getting or how many glasses of water you drink verse sodas. It also records and scores you on your outside activities such as walking the dog or the time you spent in yoga class. This was kind of surprise to me, as it gave me a reason to still use Wii Fit. And with the summer weather being as it is right now, getting 20 minutes of walking in won't be a problem until Fall rolls around. The only downside to these surveys is that it asks you about YESTERDAY's events. Who knew that having a good memory was part of being healthy?

According to whatever mystical math this product uses, I scored 88% on today. That score was high enough to get a Gold Medal and even more positive feedback added to my journal.

Tomorrow should be interesting. My trainer said we'll be doing lateral exercises as well as upping the exercises I apparently excelled at today.