Heading into Summer: Time to Get Fit & Fabulous: Wii Fit and Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009

If you haven’t gotten into Wii Fit, it’s probably because 1) the cost or 2) the fact that it sells out so fast– though at my local Target & Best Buy stores in So. CA, there were stacks of these boxes o’ fitness toys to be had.

As an avid fitness person, I had to try this out and I have had mine for about a year and gone through the basic Wii games and also Wii Fit which is pretty fun. While some of the parts ot Wii Fit are on the slow side (moving from section to section and through the body test), it is fun and it does give you a way to measure progress..
Part of the beauty of the Wii Fitness is the Balance Board and Numchuk to incorporate a range of different activities.

Being the fitness addict that I am, I got this and went through the moves- and boy did it challenge me. The exercises are broken up into yoga, balance, strength, aerobics and favorites with beginner and advanced levels that are reasonably easy to be achieved. You can customize your avatar as well as track your progress as you continue to use this program to improve balance, fitness and weight.

My biggest complaint is that there are too many screens and some lag time between screens to get actually into the tests or workouts. Also the yoga moves aren’t entirely correct and I know of 3 moves that are definitely adjusted so that the hand held device is registering but the form is incorrect for that move. I wish the step workout in the aerobics section was more challenging and interesting and that the boxing was paced a bit faster.
However the balance, yoga, and strength moves are pretty interesting and the balance section is extremely challenging!

Want something that everyone in your house can be involved in– then try this! Not inexpensive but considering a lot of workout DVDs are from 15-20 bucks a pop, and you multiply that by the yoga, strength, aerobics and balance sections, that just about pays for itself. Plus you have the option of using other games with the Wii basic system that has to be purchased along with the Wii Fit Balance Board.

Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009 is one workout that based on her reputation should have been something special. All the Wii games/equipment I purchased, as opposed to getting some freebies to evaluate.

Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009 trailer
Based on this trailer and the introduction on the disc, this should be a pretty straightforward workout program. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Rather than building on the options that Wii Fit started with (customization of the Mii avatars, the different fitness levels, variety of activities in the various fitness area), it seems Michaels program has taken a huge step backward in making something almost impossible to do to get a workout in– except you do get an excellent workout in frustration!
The various demos are without verbal cueing and the actual activities lag between doing them and then them actually showing up on the screen. Some didn’t show up for me at all. The kayaking was fine– but a variety of the really more interesting activities (the canon, the grenades, the tire hop) were so difficult that no matter how many times you repeated the illustrated actions to activate the avatar, it was impossible to successfully complete the activity and even build up a sweat.

Character creator from the dvd
If you check out the reviews on Amazon.com, you will see a profound number of boo/hisses over this game. I am so sorry I wasted my money on this because it works better as a frisbee than it does as a fitness workout.
It’s almost a rip-off, though the fitness and eating tips were great, that’s not worth the price tag of the disc because you can read those in a book.
Skip this one entirely and check out some of the Wii fitness games and also check out videofitness.com for more reviews.
Stevie Wilson