Generally I’m a pretty stressed out person. I’m not sure how that is different than anyone else living in modernity, but at least I’m aware that I’m usually pretty jacked up on a day-to-day basis. What’s worse is that I understand that the amounts of stress I consider myself under is not all that healthy; and that stresses me out more.
I’ve tried lots of things over the years to alleviate my stress, but what seemed to work best was alcohol, cigarettes and soccer.
Welcome to my new era. I’ve cut my drinking way back (still not sure if that was the best idea), the smoking has slowed down significantly (but not stopped entirely and that causes even more stress), and the soccer team is on hiatus. That leaves me with the option to implode or to find another outlet.
In the past several years I have noticed that if I don’t get a degree of physical activity during the week, I’m a real basket-case. This was really noticed during a stint where rain halted my soccer season for four straight weeks. Not being able to shake all the aggro out on the pitch for a month made me a not-so-fun person to be around, so this current soccer hiatus thing was a real concern. So concerned, in fact, that I even considered joining a gym (shudder).
While the thought of scaring people at the gym with my glow-in-the-dark pasty skin and total lack of coordination sounds rather entertaining, I was more than willing to try a couple of other things before going to that extreme.
Enter Wii Active from EA.
I’ve not been the biggest fan of the fitness-related games for the Wii. I was an early adopter of the Wii Fit and it did not much more than piss me off. I’m not the best at standing still and having to stand on a little plastic platform while a little Mii version of a Japanese guy berated me for missing days and gaining weight was not my style of motivation.
Wii Active has taken a much gentler approach to attacking my general state of sloth.
Sure, the trainer prattles on constantly about how my cadence is good and dedication and blah blah blah crap, but that actually does a good job of distracting me while I am actually getting some decently led exercise.
I’m currently in the first week of a 30 day regiment on Wii Active that even tells me which days to rest and not bother firing up the machine to work out. Any workout that has built-in lazy days is definitely something I can get behind. Aside from some issues with the stupid sensors not sensing that I’m in that damn lunge and it had better pull up soon before I start breaking things, the Wii Active does a good job of working with my pace and giving me motivation enough to keep it up day after day. I can honestly say that I would recommend this “game” to anyone remotely thinking about starting (or continuing) a fitness regiment.
Granted, if I never have to do another one of the Wii Active’s rollerblading exercises I will die a happy man, but I do recommend it.