EA Sports Active
Revolutionize your workout regimen with EA SPORTS Active, the ultimate interactive fitness program that’s designed for you. Get fit with a holistic approach to fitness that combines nutrition and lifestyle factors, with a variety of activities, all from the convenience of your living room. From customized routines that target upper body, lower body, and cardio to a guided 30-day challenge that tests muscle endurance, coordination and agility, stay in shape with fitness made fun and easy.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars why have I been paying a personal trainer?
I’ve paid for a personal trainer for months and honestly this is just as good for a small fraction of the price and no gym membership or time wasted to get to the gym.
I’m over a week into the 30 day challenge and I’m loving it. Its a total body workout in little or no time and is just what I need (dropping over an inch the first week) which took a month at the gym to get same results.
I love the fact that the pre-defined and customized workouts spell out time, calories to burn, and what parts of the body are being worked out. It makes working out idiot proof and eliminates the reason I got a trainer (ie. variety, total body workout,and motivation).
I haven’t had any issues with the controls other than not pausing which becomes quickly evident and I just bought a variety pack of resistance bands as my triceps aren’t in as good as shape as my biceps so I need different bands anyway.
5 Stars Customization equals motivation- a personal trainer in a box EA Active has improved upon the Wii workout experience greatly. I own Wii Fit and several other cardio workout programs. All have an ability to make a simulated character and set specific goals. What Active does that no other program does is let you set your very own workout and then stack them up one after another so there is no waiting time between exercises like in the Wii Fit. You don’t get scores for every segment but have a routine without stops and starts. In 20 minutes, I could do 5 yoga moves on the Wii Fit. In 20 minutes, I can get a complete workout on Active.
I have had this for over a month now and find I really enjoy working out. I look forward to the combinations in the 30 day challenge and can add specific exercises in the custom workout section. This is a fantastic addition for someone like me who cannot do some types of exercise because of medical conditions (for me arthritis brought on by years of running and bad genetics). I am in shape, in my early 40’s and lead a fairly active lifestyle. I simply cannot do every exercise. In the Wii Fit, I could avoid the running and hula hoop which left me only with the step section for cardio. I did step 176 times in one month trying to get at least 30 minutes of cardio. It became routine, monotonous, and didn’t really get my heart pumping. With Active, there are so many options that don’t involve running and jumping that I can have a varied workout experience and still get a great workout. It is a great feeling to need a shower when I finish.
Active suggests you take a rest day after 2 days of working out. I don’t do this. I work out 5 days a week when I am in town, which is about every other week. This brings me to the only downside of the Active program. It is not meant for people who travel. Even though I exercise in hotels, the Active does not count this so I look sedentary on the graphs. I can add other exercise, it even encourages it, but it’s meaningless in making your goals. I have learned to work around this by setting two week goals that include only time I am at home. For instance I set 8 workouts in 14 days. A future improvement would be better integration of multiple workout methods. If runners could add miles, weight lifters could add reps, and swimmers could log laps, it would be ideal.
If you have been working out with weights, even light ones, be prepared to buy your own resistance band. The one that comes with the game is not sufficiently challenging. A $10 band from Giam solved this easily. I am far from muscular but like having some real resistance without having to make layers of plastic banding on the floor like the video instructions. That’s not the game’s fault, making one band for every potential user is impossible. I like that they erred on the side of caution and make something that beginners will enjoy.
Give yourself a few days to learn the techniques behind the moves. I was frustrated the first few days when my movements didn’t register. Learning where to point the Wii remote makes all the difference. I have read a few reviews where this was the main pain point. If you consider it a learning curve instead of a game weakness, you’ll have a better experience. Just as we have to learn new strokes in swimming or gain proficiency in a new sport, this game takes a few days of doing it wrong before you get the hang of it. All said, it is much easier to learn than golf. :-)
If you have special needs, physical limitations, or strong preferences, this is a great game for you. Take time to get to know the system, check and uncheck exercises, make your own workout…don’t be shy. The system is made for everyone. Make it yours and enjoy!
1 Star Just a way to play games The WII Active gives you a nice alternative to walking, running and jumping, but the resistance bands are a problem. The bands that come with the package aren’t adequate for a taller or more fit person. The suggestion is to buy bands that fit your height and resistance need. The problem is that the WII controllers don’t pick up the signal as well, so the trainer gets “stuck,” and you are unable to go forward without bumping out of the exercise. After bumping out of all of the resistance band training exercises, there is no reason to have WII Active unless you need a running companion or the same sports you get on other WII games.
Don’t buy this product until the resistance band problem is resolved (or at least noticed by EA Sports)
4 Stars WOW~ Lives up to the hype! I just finished my first workout with this game and all I can say is WOW! It definitely lives up to the hype. I was sweating more than I have in a while working out, and my heart was pumping. I think my legs are going to be sore tomorrow from all of the squats.
This is definitely better than wii fit for a guided workout with a trainer. Running is 10 times better in this program.
My only complaints are that the leg strap kept sliding off and I would like to see more than one bad with different resistances. I have to figure that out.
1 Star Concept=A+, Actual game play D- The concept and idea of the game is great. The problem is that the techonology cannot make it real. The exercises that work well, running, jumping are fine. The resistance band exercises are horrible. Why- The system is not sensitive enough to “read” what your doing and the controls have to held in the “exact” right position for the game to read your movement, this equals major frustration when your holding the resistance bands above your head for 5 minutes because the game cant read what your doing. Then as other reviewers have reported the resistance bands break. I worked through the easy level and it was bad and during the intermediate level it was intolorable as a 20 minute workout was taking an hour to complete due to the inept reading by the Wii system. This problem takes the fun out of playing this game. I took mine to a video store and traded it off. I cannot recommend this game for working out. Maybe if they remake it using the motion plus system it might work correctly, who knows, but as it is now, its a total waste of your money.
Buy/More Info
Reply