Last week EA released Active2, a fitness “game” for the wii, playstation 3 and xbox. The first version of active was only available for the wii, so it’s great to see they brought it out for the other consoles. Mat and I own a PS3, which is great most of the time, however it lacks in the fitness arena, until now. So when I heard that Active2 had been released, I knew I wanted it.

After trying to tell myself to wait another week, I gave in and bought it today. I came home, forced myself to do all my overdue housework before having dinner, then FINALLY got a chance to do a workout. I jumped in head-first and signed myself up to do a 9 week program (no better way for them to make sure you continue to use the game), which means that I’m committed to doing 4 workouts a week. I suspect that depending on the fitness level you choose, you may have more/less workouts. I chose a medium level, but depending on how I feel at the end of the week I might bump it up to hard.

The kit comes with two arm straps (one with an inbuilt heart monitor), a leg strap and a resistance band (for doing all your conditioning exercises). The straps are all motion sensors, so you can do all the exercises without having to hang onto controllers. Later, as your fitness increases you can even buy some dumbells, since your hands are free to use them during the exercises.

So I did my first workout session tonight, and I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it, particularly the mountain biking and the basketball. My physio will be especially pleased, since today during my session we worked on jump squats, exactly the exercise involved in the basketball drills. The workout combines regular cardio sessions with some conditioning exercises. I was amazed to see that I was sweating during the workout, though I never really felt puffed. Based on what the game told me, I burned 167 calories tonight, so I’m pleased.

No doubt there will be different exercises in the session tomorrow, and I’m hoping for a bit of boxing. The game definitely won’t replace my running, since that’s the only way to truly push myself in a cardio sense. But given that I struggle to motivate myself to do any conditioning or work on my core strength, I can see this game is going to be a great addition at home. Can’t wait to see my stats improve!

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