Yourself!Fitness: Using Video Game Technology to Achieve a Healthier Lifestyle

Studies have shown that playing video games plays a definite role in the US's culture of overweight citizens. Video games themselves can't be singled out by name really, but rather the "coach potato" mentality and inactivity that comes with gaming. The Dance Dance Revolution series laid the groundwork for games that get players up and actively involved in the experience instead of laying back in their favorite recliner chomping down Doritos and guzzling soda, and a few other gaming products have tried to further expand on that methodology. Though not a game at all, responDESIGN's Yourself!Fitness for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC follows in the spirit of such games, delivering a unique and innovative product that out-of-shape gamers, or anyone looking for a bit of exercise motivation for that matter, should look into.

Yes, Yourself!Fitness is a release for gaming platforms, however there is no game to play here, as I've already said. In a nutshell, Yourself!Fitness is a workout program, personal trainer and lifestyle manager all on a single disc. Upon first logging into the game, you must become a new client and set up a personal profile for Maya, Yourself!Fitness' virtual personal trainer, to determine your workout routine. Creating a personal profile encompasses filling in vital stats (name, gender, height, etc.) and notifying Maya of any owned workout equipment, but you also need to go through a complete fitness evaluation consisting of measuring your heart rate, performing as many squats, push-ups and crunches as you can, and testing your flexibility. Once finished with the evaluation, a primary focus area must be chosen from a list of six workout types including weight loss, cardio, upper body, core body, and lower body strength and flexibility, followed by planning a workout schedule on the in-game workout calendar, and even choosing meal plans for each day of the week from over 4,500 healthy recipes. With these recipes incorporated into your everyday diet in conjunction with the workout schedule, this program will have you on track to a healthier life if you are wholeheartedly serious about shedding those extra "lb's" I think all of us are guilty of bearing.

After becoming a client in the Yourself!Fitness training program, it is time to actually get to working out. Workout durations can be set from 15 minutes up to an hour, and sessions themselves are incredibly dynamic. Containing more than 500 different exercises in fields such as yoga, Pilates, strength training and even more, workout sessions are always different. Maya adapts the program to match your progress and level of commitment, and after every 10 workouts she evaluates your work. Included as a rewards system, showing consistent commitment in keeping up with exercising unlocks new music tracks to listen to and new environments to train in.

Music comes in six genres - hip-hop, eighties, latin, dance, techno and house - and there are six different training locales as well, including a Dojo, Island Paradise and Meditation Garden, among a few others. The music provided is painfully generic, though, meaning it is definitely a better choice to turn the music volume off and play your own (like most people do when they work out anyway), and the included environments are rather plain and boring. On the other hand, Maya is brought to life marvelously with her motivational urges and instructions, realistic animations, and a realistically designed character model.

At the end of the discussion, Yourself!Fitness and its creators, responDESIGN, should earn all the praise in the world for revolutionizing fitness training and setting the benchmark for what is clearly going to be the future of home exercising. Only time will tell if there is indeed a significant audience for these types of applications, but for its time Yourself!Fitness is a one-of-a-kind product that deserves unlimited recognition. If you're tired of watching the same aerobic videos over and over, or need some motivation to get in shape, give Yourself!Fitness a try and actually use your console or PC as a path to a healthier lifestyle.