Day 11 for Wii Fit

Started my workout in the afternoon today, this entire past work week I did the exercises in the morning. This upcoming week will be a challenge because I will be traveling and out of my routine environment and diet. If I get through this upcoming week staying the course, that will be my biggest success up to this point. Logged 7 hours exactly on Wii Fit to date!

Yoga

• "Deep Breathing" 88pts, shows that working out several hours after I awake that I am more balanced.
  
• "Bridge" - This was a new position, did all right, could tell I was using my neck and shoulders more that I should have. Board and remote not used.
  
• "Half-Moon" - 36pts left, 38pts right, total 74pts 3/4 stars.
  
• "Shoulder Stand" - This was a new position. Basically supporting your upper back while having your legs stretched in the air. No Board or remote used. All Yoga positions have been unlocked and attempted at this point.
  

Strength Training

• "Torso Twist" - 36 pts left, 40 pts right, total 80 pts 3/4 stars
  
• "Push Up and Side-Plank" - 0 Pts. What really prevents me from getting through this is that I am having a really tough time using one hand/wrist to support myself during the side planks.
  
• "Single-Arm Stand" - This was new exercise and really called me out on how I get up when getting up from the floor. Usually when I do exercises on the floor, I usually roll myself over to get up. This does not use the board, it uses the remote taking turns with each arm, you hold the remote in the air and while holding straight in the air you lay down on your back and get up with the opposite arm while holding the remote still in place. Great exercise, and I will practice this from just getting up from other lay down exercises. 20pts left, 30 pts right, total 50ts 2/4 stars.
  

Aerobics

• "Advanced Hula-Hoop" - 3 minutes and caught every hoop thrown at me. 351 pts on the left, and 273pts on the right, total 624 pts 3/4 stars. Up from my previous 192 pts.
  
• "Advanced Step" - This was a fun, basic step with a twist...litterally, lots of side steps involved. 444pts 2/4 stars
• "Free-Run" 10 mins, 2.019 miles.
  

Balance Games

• "Penguin Slide" - after 3 attempts finally scored 111 pts 4/4 stars.
• "Snowboard Slalom" After 7 attempts of missing flags, and sometimes repeatedly the first flag, I finally scored 34.9 secs 3/4 stars.
  

Summary
1 hour and 13 minutes of my time and burned 1341 calories and logged 43 minutes on the Wii
I weighed in at 205.7 with a BMI of 28.8 and my Wii age was 32.
I must note that like every other day this week, I took breaks to do my blog while I did the exercises. So I really need to allow myself an 120 minutes every morning to get both accomplished.

Day 10 for Wii Fit

Did work out this morning, just posting the blog late. Gained 2 lbs, but overall I am still about 6 pounds less than what I was 10 days ago.


Yoga

• "Deep Breathing" 29 pts - Really unbalanced.
  
• "Spinal Twist" - No equipments used. Exercised involved laying down twisting one leg over the other.
  
• "Downward-facing dog - 70pts 3/4 stars
• "Tree" - 1 pt only on the right foot. I had no balance in yoga this morning!
  

Strength Training

• "Rowing Squat" - 93 pts 4/4 stars
  
• "Sideways leg twist" - 19 on the left 40 on the right 2/4 stars
  
• "Jack-Knife" - 100 pts, did all 20 reps to work out abs.
  

Aerobics

• "Basic Step" - 251 pts 2/4 stars.
  
• "Advanced Step" - This was a fun, basic step with a twist...litterally, lots of side steps involved. 444pts 2/4 stars
• "Free-Run" 10 mins, increased to 2.076 miles.
  

Balance Games

• "Soccer Heading" - after 3 attempts finally scored 320 pts 3/4 stars
• "Table Tilt" Finally got past the "S" shape tilt and made it to level 7, still have not completed first level.
  

Summary
60 minutes of my time and burned 900 calories and logged 43 minutes on the Wii
I weighed in at 207.9 with a BMI of 29.10 and my Wii age was 29!

Day 9 for Wii Fit

Still staying committed, worked out this morning, doing the blog this evening.


Yoga

• "Deep Breathing" 86pts - Still unbalanced as compared to when I have been more awake doing this
  
• "Half Moon" - 36 pts left foot and 48 pts right foot totaling 76 pts, 3/4 stars.
  
• "Cobra Pose" - This was a new one and it did not involve either the Wii Board or Remote. This yoga postition really stretched my back.
  

Strength Training

• "Torso Twist" - 36 pts for the left and 48 pts on the right totaling 84 pts, 3/4 stars.
  
• "Push-up and side plank" - I marked on this one today 66pts, did 4 reps.
  
• "Tricep Extension" - Felt the burn from this today.
  

Aerobics

• "Boxing" - I did the 6 minute exercise and I was really uncoordinated only 436pts
  
• "Free-Run" 10 mins, increased to 2.015 miles.
  

Balance Games

• "Balance Bubble" - I tried and I tried, I can't get past the fork in the stream, I keep on popping the bubble.
  
• "Ski Slalom" - My favorite, just tried beating my record from the other day....no success.
  

Summary
58 minutes of my time and burned 935 calories and logged 43 minutes on the Wii
I weighed in at 205.9 with a BMI of 28.83 and my Wii age was 35.

Day 8 for Wii Fit

Posting this blog a little late. I was perfectly centered this morning with both left and right foot balanced evenly.

Yoga

• "Deep Breathing" 82pts - Swayed, did not hold balance well.
  
• "Triangle" - This was new, 25pts on the left, 19 pts on the right totaling 44 pts 1/4 stars again, I think rolling out of bed through me off.
  
• "Downward-Facing Dog" - 1 pt and then 62 pts second try 2/4 stars
• "Dance" - I was horrible on this, this was very difficult, I scored zero points, I need to continue to improve my balance in other ares before trying this one again.

Strength Training

• "Single-leg Extension" - Left foot 14 pts right 37pts, total 51 pts 2/4 stars. Very unbalanced on left foot.
• "Push-up and side plank" - zero pts, this proves to be one of my challenging exercises. I don't have the upper body strength to get some pts on this yet.
  
• "Arm and lift" - This was a new exercise, 43.pts left 47pts right totaling 90pts. This was a good exercise stretching yourself while holding the Wii remote in arm it sense the level balance your arm.
  

Aerobics

• "Hula-Hoop" - 99 Spins 123 2/4
  
• "Free-Run" 10 mins 1.8 miles this morning 3/4 stars.
  

Balance Games

• "Ski Jump" - After a couple of tries I scored 219 meters 2/4 stars
• "Tight Rope" 44.78 Seconds down from my previous time crossing the tight rope at 1:05.80...well new record after that, accidentally hit the "a" button and was forced to re-due it again which I then did it in 42.4 4/4 stars.

Summary
1 hour 10 minutes of my time and burned 1021 calories and logged 39 minutes on the Wii
I weighed in at 209.2 with a BMI of 29.29 and my Wii age was 36 again.

Day 7 for Wii Fit

So here I am at my 7th day on the Wii Fit! For some reason I have not been able to sleep for the past few nights. Must be my excitement 6AM. For the most part, I had a lighter workout than I have had this weekend.



Yoga

• "Deep Breathing" 86pts - Did not balance well getting right out of bed.
  
• "Standing Knee" - 0 pts balancing on my left leg and 38pts for the right leg. 1/4 stars. Once again, I think rolling out of bed through me off.
  
• "Warrior Pose" - 92 pts 4/4. Not much balancing on this one
  

Strength Training

• "Torso Twist" - T
• "Single-leg twist - "39.pts left 28pt right totaling 67pts. This was odd, my right leg had less balance than my left.
  
• "Jack-Knife" - Increased to 20 reps, feeling it in my abs. 4/4 Bodybuilder
  

Aerobics

• "Free-Run" 10 mins 1.517 miles this morning.
  

Balance Games

• "Table Tilt" - Keep on getting stuck at Level 5 with the "S" shaped table
  

Summary
44 minutes of my time and burned 580 calories and logged 25 minutes on the Wii
I weighed in at 208.3 with a BMI of 29.17 and my Wii age was 36 again.

Day 6 for Wii Fit

I had trouble sleeping last night, so I started later than I wanted to. Started around 10AM. I do need to get to be early tonight, because I really need to allocate an hour in the morning before work doing this. Last week, the evening goes by very fast with doing the Wii Fit and the blog.

Yoga

• "Deep Breathing" 92pts
• "Sun Salutation" - 86pts. I am not flexible enough to touch my toes without bending my knees.
• "Warrior Pose" - 90pts. Pretty comfortable with this.
• "Palm Tree" - Scored 74pts for both times I did this today. I am shaky standing and balancing on my toes.

Strength Training

• "Tricep Extension" - This was new item, it does not use the Wii Board, just the Wii remote for doing triceps extensions alternating the right and left arm. At first I thought this was going to be mickey mouse, but I could feel the burn doing this.
• "Sideways Leg Lift" - First time doing this today, I did better balancing on my right foot than my left. 38pts for right, 28 pts for my left totaling 66pts. for this exercise.
• "Lunge" - This is till very tough for me, I scored 0 pts.
• "Single-leg twist - "29.pts left 36pt right totaling 64pts form my previous 39pts on this exercise.
  

Aerobics

• "Rhythm Boxing" 22pts. They key to not missing the targets is to fully extend your arms out on hits. Increased from 3 minutes to 6 minutes on my second try, this routine had dodging involved. I really think that I can be good at this, but it's the whole Dance Dance Revolution coordination I have not mastered yet with my feet and the arms. 449 pts scored on the 6 minute boxing.
• "Free-Run " - 10 mins 1.415
  

Balance Games

• "Lotus Focus" - 52 secs
• "Tight Rope Walk" - after starting off with only achieving 20 yds, I did it again and completed the entire rope in 1:05:80 making 3/4 stars as a professional
• "Soccer Heading" dong better on this, I get tired at the end. First try 120 pts, second try 144 pts On both attempts i got 2/4 stars as an amateur.
• "Ski Slalom" - Ok, so I did this 7 times today till I would make 4/4 stars which is a champion. Did this in 28.36 seconds with no misses!

Summary

1 hour and 42 minutes of my time and burned 1526 calories and logged 53 minutes on the Wii
I weighed in at 209.9 with a BMI of 29.38 and my Wii age was 36 .

Day 5 for Wii Fit

I started pretty late this evening after having a heavy veal parmigiana dinner. I am going to bed now and see if I can do this at 7am tomorrow morning. Today's summary below.

Yoga

• "Breatheing" - my normal yoga breathing workout.
  
• "Half-Moon" - my normal yoga stretch routine
  
• "Chair" - New - On toes with arms out and bending legs holding for 30-40 secondes...Yoga Novice on first try. Designed to stregnthen legs and abs/
  

Strength Training

• "Rowing Squat" I did this one yesterday, buth when I started out today, I only got 13 pts, my balance was off, I watched the demo again and my second attempt I made 93 pts.
• "Jack Knife" - 20 reps, felt the burn in the abs.
• "Push-up and Side Plank" Still can't get past three reps.
• "Single-Leg Extensions" - bumped up to 10 reps per leg. Only scored 2pts first run through, could not settle for that, stayed focus and tried again, scored 43 pts.
  

Aerobics

• "Basic Step" - Moved from 251 from the other days 167 pts. I concentrated more on the patterns in the center of screen as opposed to the last time where I watched the Mii characters foot steps.
• "Basic Run" - Long Distance run...decided to take the shorter run today.

Balance Games

• "Balance Bubble" - First time I tried this today, got as far as 852 yards from balancing my self to go forward up stream avoiding bumbping into the sides.
• "Ski-Slalom" - Did both begginer and Advance level. I have made 3/4 stores on the beginner 1/4 stars on advanced.
  

Summary:
1 hour my time, 32 min on the Wii
Weight 210.1 Wii Age: 40

Day 4 for Wii Fit

I am finally doing my Wii Fit exercises in the afternoon today. I have not had any breakfast or lunch today, so no surprise that I have lost 3.3lbs. My agility test today put my Wii age back up to 40.

Today's exercises and updates:

Yoga

• "Palm tree" - This was a new yoga exercise. I actually did this ok. This involved standing on my toes and stretching with my arms back.

• "Standing Knee" Once again, having balancing issues, but better than yesterday.
• "Tree" - This is as well a balancing issue, but improved since yesterday.
  
• "Half-moon" - as suggested by the Wii with doing in combination with the single leg twist. This to me is just good warm up exercise that should really be done at the beginning of the workout, but instead added it when suggested to.
  

Strength Training

• "Push-up and Side Plan" - finally was able to do 3 reps without cheating...very tough.
• "Torso Twists" - 6 reps, pretty simple, but definitely feeling a burn in the abs.
• "Single-leg twist" - very unstable using my left leg to balance on

Aerobics

• "Boxing" - This was a new thing, at first I couldn't get it down, kind of like the "Steps" aerobics in combination with using the Wii remote and knun-chuck. I repeated the boxing and got better.
• "Basic Run" - Today was the first time I did the "Island Lap" which I unlocked the day before yesterday. It took me 12 minutes to complete, broke a good sweat doing this.
  

Balance Games

• "Snowboard Slalom" - This was a new unlocked item as well, by turning th Wii board in a vertical position, it was much like the "Ski Slalom" just a different balancing act with the Wii board in the opposite position.
  
• "Tightrope walk" - New as well, only got as far as 18yds on the rope on my second attempt. You have to simulate walking forward in place while balancing on the virutal tight rope.
  
• "Ski Slalom" - Seems to be my favorite and I get better at it very time, I am now a professional on it (3/4 stars)

In summary, I worked out over and hour, logged 43 minutes on Wii fit and burned 1170 calories.

Day 3 for Wii Fit

I really need to start doing this in the morning instead of at 10pm like the night before and tonight. Also having a few beers with a co-worker after work today made it hard for me to get started as well. For dinner, I George Formand some chicken and cooked some rice. As usual, I have been snacking on trail mix like a squirrel on speed.

I didn't loose much weight from yesterday, but my balance has improved significantly! My Wii age was equal to my actual age of 32. Maybe all those years of marching band were good for something ;)

The one thing I am disappointed about Wii Fit is that it does not suggest a work out plan, or a way to make yourself a plan. Basically I just decide what I feel like doing and do it, but for some people, this may be draw back because they may find it difficult to push themselves from repeating or doing the more difficult exercises.

Right now my plan is to do a good combination of things in all four different areas. I will write a different blog explaining the exercises in more detail this weekend. I might just create a Wiki for this so all can contribute.

Overall, the Yoga exercises I am increasingly getting better with my balance, although the "Tree" and "Standing Knee" which both require one leg balances are very tough for me now. This evening was my second attempt at the "Tree" and I was much better than last night.

Strength training is by far the area I am the weakest in and I do a lot of grunting. I don't have the strength right now do the proper procedures for the "Push-Up and Side Plank" and same goes for the "Lunge". Rowing Squat was a new strength training exercise I tried, I was not very good at that either, as you can see below :(

Day 2 for Wii Fit

I came home from work today at a reasonable time this evening. I talked to an old co-worker Jeff reminiscing on the good old days from the old Training Axapta ERP training team at Oldcastle. Then hopped over to another call with another co-worker discussing the new CEO designate of CRH the Irish Holding company of my company Oldcastle.

After getting off the phone, I didn't have the best dinner, which was two slices of pepperoni pizza, trail mix and to make myself feel better I had some strawberries. I then meant to lay down for a minute at 6pm and then woke up at a 9:45pm and realized and debated for a minute if I would use the Wii Fit tonight.

I did it though, I dragged myself out of bed, put on my workout clothes, and this time I remembered to put on my Polar Pulse monitor watch.

I started off Wii Fit with the daily check in, I gained 1.8lbs but my stabilization was much better and my new Wii age was 40. I then proceeded to the Yoga training, repeated the same exercise as yesterday and . I had the a real tough time the "Tree", I had no stamina or balance for this work out. I then proceeded to the strength training where I did the "Torso Twist", "Jack Knife" and the "Lunges" which I had the same hard time keeping balance like the "Tree".
For the Aerobics section, I did the Hula Hoop, I got better each time I did it, but I could not capture the Holo Hoops thrown at me from the other Wii Miis I created on my box. I then did a 4 minute jog. I then ended the workouts with some balancing games.

Overall, I spent an hour of time with the Wii, recorded a 35 minute of total exercises with Wii Fit, burned 730 calories according to my Polar watch.

After all that, I still found time to contribute to this blog. I need to start focusing on coming up with a consistent sleep and diet pattern.

First Day using the Wii Fit

So today is the first day that I am going to be a blogger and blog about something. Today was the release date of the new Nintendo Wii Balance Board which is packaged with the Wii Fit program.

I thought there would be a mad rush at the stores today, and maybe there was elsewhere. I lucked out and the Wal-Mart by me is in the middle of remodling the store. The electronics department was in total disarray. The Wii Fit boxes where still on a cart in the cardboard boxes. I was the second one to purchase one today at that store.

This evening after I returned some work emails and ate, I opened the Wii Fit box.

I started up the program and completed the setup. Not to my surprise, the Wii indicated that I am overweight. I have a BMI of 29.54, weigh 211 lbs, and my Wii Fit Age is 43 which is 10 more years older than I actually am. The Wii Fit Age is apparently the approximated age of what my health would be for being a 43 year old male. The Wii Fit Age is calculated on a balance test that I took in combination with my BMI and Weight.

I practiced with all the different areas of the program, first being the Yoga. On the Yoga I trained with the Deep Breathing, Half-Moon and Warrior. I did ok on all of these.
On the Strength Training I had the hardest exhausting time doing the push-ups. The Wii called me a coach potato, which I ironically am typing on the coach right now. In the Aerobics, I did the basic run, which was pretty cool, the Wii Board is not used, the Wii Remote which I put in my pocket is able to monitor my jogging in place. Finally, I did the Balance Games which included the Soccer Heading and Ski Slalom which were both difficult for me.

So I hope I can keep this daily Blog up. I have also created a social network on ning.com for Wii Board and Wii Fitness fans at http://wiipad.ning.com/