Fitness Friday

I now have fitness shoes!

I went into town Wednesday with the goal of picking up some decent sneakers for walking and my workouts. First stop was a sporting goods store where I nabbed the first attentive sales person I could find. What a way to shop! The sales guy was fantastic. He showed me all the shoes, explained what price point guaranteed quality and why I needed both a runner and a cross trainer if I was serious about my exercising.

Apparently cross trainer are built with support on the sides while a runner's support and strength are built into the length of the shoe. Using one for the wrong activity will wear it out prematurely. Who knew?

Unfortunately, they didn't have many pairs in my price range. I found a pair of $80 Reeboks in clearance for $50 but faced with picking a cheaper pair of runners the sales guy advised holding off until I could afford a good pair rather then ruin my enthusiasm with a cheaper product. Next month!

I've been trying out my marvelous new shoes with my favourite fitness tool, Yourself Fitness.



That's Maya. She's the virtual personal trainer of Yourself Fitness. When you first fire up the game she'll get your weight, height, goals and then put you through some jumping jacks, crunches, etc. to create a baseline for your fitness level. You then get personalized daily workouts that, depending on your goal, target different areas. Since mine is weight loss I get the whole spectrum of workouts - cardio, core, upper body, lower body and flexibility. There's even an option for a yoga workout if you choose. I choose it once. I had NO idea how hard yoga was.

I've been having a lot of fun with the program. The workouts have a lot of variety and having Maya there (even if she's just a virtual Maya) to compliment, chide or push me really helps.What was really rewarding this week was taking another one of her fitness tests and actually seeing the progress. I can do a push up now! And the crunches don't hurt...as much.

The game is available for XBox, PC and PS2 and darn it, I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who wants some variety and some (un)real interaction with a trainer.