Health Beauty & FitnessHealth, Beauty, Fitness Tips

With the advent of the Nintendo Wii Fitness line of games, many couch potato gamers are finally becoming active without even realizing it.

But can someone who is seriously looking for a power packed, high cardio, and aerobics type workout really benefit from the Wii fit?

Well to be honest the first set of games the Nintendo Wii Fitness came out with will only give the serious workout freak a worm up routine, and that’s about it. For beginners its fine, for those who are just starting a exercise regiment its great, but for the advance fitness buff, it will be disappointing.

So the Nintendo Wii Fitness developer came up with the perfect solution and the answer to the advance fitness user. In recent months Wii Fit has evolved into a set of games offering the user a more intense cardio and strength training workout. Here is a brief over view of the top 5, starting with the least intense workout.

5) Wii Fit Bundle

The Wii Fit bundle package was the first set of games released in 2008, and as the name suggest was a group of games bundled together with the purchase of the Wii fitness gaming console. Depending on which bundle package you wanted, the system came with the controller, balance board and several games. The games ranged form Yoga, Pilates, Tennis, boxing, Balance games, skiing or ice boarding and other low impact, more gaming than workout activities.

These games are great for fun but would not do for a real calorie burn workout. SO I would give this 1 out of 5 for workout and 4 out of 5 for fun. A Total of 5 out of 10

4) Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009

Most people by now should know who Jillian Michaels is, you may not know her name but if you ever watched the Biggest Loser reality TV series, she is the drill sergeant /personal trainer/motivational coach and the star of the show (personal opinion).

Based on the intensity of the character on the Biggest Loser, this game was disappointing and somewhat boring, the only reason I but it higher than the Wii fit is because the workout is more intense and you could really burn some calories with this game.

This game utilizes the balance board, the controller and Nunchuck for a good workout it has 4 Workout types, strength training, cardio, weight loss, stretches. The game allows you to track your progress and save your stats.

I did notice that the controller response time was annoyingly delayed and some of the instructions were not very clear so it was difficult at times getting my on screen character to move or replicate my movements. I think there are a few bugs in the software coding for this game that were not worked out before release.

Some of the games did kinda look like the Wii Fit games repackaged, also the only motivation the game gave you would be Jillian saying “Give It All You Got” which after a while became more annoying that motivating.

I did like the back ground workout music which was motivating and you could select from a wide variety of music styles. The squat exercise workout was great and will make you sweat.

This game will defiantly burn some calories, but I think you will become bored with this game sooner than later.

I give the Wii Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009 game 3 out of 5 for workout and 2 out of 5 for fun. A total of 5 out of 10

3) Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout

Ok, this is the first of the Wii Fitness games to focus more on Cardio workout that mimics the workout you will get in a gym, hence the name.

With this game you will get a real workout. The game utilizes the Wii’s motion controls, the Balance board.

The highlight of this game is the TaeBo like boxing workout routine. This game seems to get the principle of running in place more accurately than the previous game. The sit-ups and jumping rope will give you a great workout. The Cardi Gold’s Gym Workout game keeps great record of your calorie burn and fitness progress, and will automatically increase the difficulty and intensity of your workout to suit.

So overall this is more responsive and offer non stop action for a great workout, the points system is great for motivation so I will give the Wii Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout game 3

Wherever you look, you are guaranteed sight of an ad for a weight loss product or service. It can be a careful pitch from a local aerobics class or an over-the-top claim for a “natural” product that you can eat as much as you like and still lose weight. This evidences a sad truth. As millions of us grow steadily more overweight, there are thousands of companies and tens of thousands of products and services that target us. The intention is to exploit our fears and insecurities, and so extract the maximum amount of dollars from us. This business is worth billions every year and, truth be told, the first thing that gets lost in the marketing is the truth. Although the FDA has a specific department tasked with policing the advertizing of all weight-loss products, it has been consistently underfunded and is completely unable to stay on top of the flood of ads that compete for our attention. Similarly, the majority of states have “false claims” laws that allow action to be taken against any seller or service provider exaggerating the quality, effectiveness or value of their product or service. But states are often reluctant to interfere in the “free market” and leave it to individuals to claim they have been cheated by the companies.

As an example of the problems affecting all of us, let’s look at the activities of Basic Research and ThinCare International. These two linked companies are based in Utah but sell online to all US states. Their sales pitch is simple. If you take two pills before your main meal, you will lose weight no matter how much you eat. Better still, this is effortless weight loss and guaranteed even though you never stir from the couch. Instead of the conventional wisdom, “No pain, no gain!” (or should that be loss?), there’s no need to exercise. The pounds just drop off your body thanks to the chemical wizardry of these companies. What has made this ad campaign so successful has been the presence of Jillian Michaels as brand ambassador. Ms Michaels appears on the reality show, “The Biggest Loser”, as a personal trainer to the contestants as they sweat and groan their way towards cash and other prizes for losing weight. In this role, her reputation depends on a clear and consistent message. If you want to lose weight, you have to be disciplined in exercising and eating healthy food. For her to endorse an “effortless” product therefore looks less than completely honest.

It is significant that the two companies and the FDA are already engaged in court battles. The companies allege the FDA is wrong in rejecting their “scientific” evidence of effectiveness. To that litigation, you can now add false claims actions in California and Utah. Of course, you can take the cynical line that everyone knows ads always exaggerate the truth. Anyone who buys a product based on the marketing deserves to lose his or her money. Except there comes a point when the law has to step in and say, “Enough!” It seems this point has been reached with these products. It will be for Ms Michaels to defend her reputation. All of which bring us to phentermine hcl which has quietly been selling for decades as the best of the real drugs designed to support weight loss. It makes no exaggerated claims. Its effectiveness is supported by real scientific evidence. When you buy phentermine online, you are buying a successful product. Honest!