Fitness Friday Week 7 - Jillian Micheals' Fitness Ultimatum Reveiew

I got this game about a month and a half ago and I was SOOOOOO excited to try it out.
Here are the game features that led me to wanting the game...

• Uses the Wii balance board
• 4 Workout types, strength training, weight loss, intervals and hill climb
• motion based fitness activities such as ladder climb, rowing and monkey bars
• track personal data and progress
• Unlock lifestyle tips from Jillian

I tried to ignore all the reviews that I had read and I had read a TON of them. I thought for sure that since it was Jillian Michaels it would HAVE to be good. I tried the game out in spurts here and there, but felt like I just could not get into it. I was reminded last week that I was going to be the featured writer for the Wii Mommies Fitness Friday so I said to myself - hey that would be a great topic!

I tried to think of a concise way to do this review so I forced myself to try it over the weekend and I planned out a system to try to get all the features covered. Since you can use the wii board or you can just use the Wii Remote and a nunchuck, I thought I would try it out both ways. First here is my opinion of the features listed above after trying the product out -

• Uses the Wii balance board - so you can use the Wii balance board or not. Some of the games are easier to do without it while others are IMPOSSIBLE to do without it! Grenade Toss was one that I spent a VERY long time trying to figure out what I was doing incorrectly while I was only using the nunchucks and still don't know that answer to it. While when I was using the balance board it was extremely simple to master.
  
• 4 Workout types, strength training, weight loss, intervals and hill climb - while this is true, I could not tell a difference between the workout types. No matter which one you choose the workouts are broken into segments that include running, a randomly chosen exercise, running, another randomly chosen exercise, running etc... until the allotted time is up. You are constantly brought back to the running which I personally HATE more than anything ~ but more on that part later.
  
• motion based fitness activities such as ladder climb, rowing and monkey bars - okay this part I had MAJOR issues with most of these were truly a joke! it was literally as if you could just sit there moving the remote back and forth at warp speed and get credit, but if you actually did it at the pace that was demonstrated for you they did not give you any credit at all.
  
• track personal data and progress - while this part is true the stats (especially the weight) was completely off from what Wii Fit was tracking me at. The calories burnt calculations could not be accurate either since, as I mentioned, it was not accurately reading the motions.
  
• Unlock lifestyle tips from Jillian - these tips that you are enticed into unlocking are LAME! The tips that are given in the little blurbs during the commercials for Biggest Loser are more inspiring than the tips that are unlocked here.

So on a scale of 1 to 10 - 10 being the greatest I have to give this product about a 3. I am not trying to be totally down on the game, but the only thing that I really liked about it was that you had the option to customize your workout and that you did not have to fiddle with controls at all during the workout!

Here is my list of the top three worst aspects of the game:

1. I hate running, hate, hate, hate it and unless you did the custom workout 2/3 of your workout was running the same boring tree lined path. The worst part of the running was that you couldn't even just swing your arms while you were running, you had to have them punching at a speed bag rate in order for it to register.
2. There were no real instructions on how to do anything!!! You got a picture of a person swing there arms a certain way or bending just right, but when you did it the way you were shown you didn't get any credit!
3. For those of you who frequently read my blog, you may remember when my back went out about a month ago - HERE - in this post, I truly felt like it was a great game I was so excited by the fluidity of the program, however now that my back is better and I have retried all the games I realized that the reason my back went out was the GAME!!! The rowing to be specific. The only way to get the game to recognize what you are doing is to move at a very ERRATIC rate. When I started to do the rowing last weekend, I was astounded at how quickly I felt my sciatic nerve pulling again.

So I did Jillian's game Fri, Sat & Sun and then I returned to my regular Wii Fit schedule of at least 30 minutes a day for the rest of the week. I will also admit that Tuesday morning I sent CJ to Gamestop to trade in the Jillian game for ANYTHING ELSE! I was seriously worried I was going to throw my back out again with the things so it HAD to go!

I have completed a body test and at least a 30 minute workout everyday for the rest of this week. I also taught the kids yoga class at our coop on Monday morning and MADE myself sign up for the 6 week session at my favorite yoga studio. I paid ahead so that I am more apt to FORCE myself to go. I love going, I REALLY NEED to go and I just have to remember that it benefits EVERYONE I am around when I do go!

This coming weeks goal is to continue with my 30 minutes a day on the Wii Fit! I WILL HAVE A FULL CALENDAR BY THE END OF THE MONTH!!! I would also like to try to get outside a bit more, as the weather is finally beginning to look like spring might actually arrive!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE AND KEEP UP THE INCREDIBLE WORK YOU HAVE ALL BEEN DOING!!!