Yourself Fitness

Rating:
Summary: Decent for someone starting Yoga
Review: I purchased this to help improve my yoga (I just started learning) and not for the "workout" parts. I will therefore restrict my comments to that part of the product dealing with yoga.

Summary:

Nice tool. Probably worth it if you are care about very introductory yoga. Would purchase the next version because I think this has a lot of potential.

Pros
- No competition
- Develop did a decent (but not great)job thinking out the product and how it would be used.
- Useful motivation tool. Doing a few minutes of this is better than watching TV.

Cons

- Weak graphics. The artwork of the instructor on the box and in the pre-rendered movies is excellent. "In-game" she appears pixelated and rudmentary. There's no excuse for this. There's not much complicated to be rendering compared to a number of other games (all of which accomplish a better visuals and real-time action). They have one character in a room. They should be able to optimize the visuals for this.

- Maya is not aware that it real humans sometimes take more time with poses. Not everything can be done in three seconds. She she transitions impossibly fast. She engages in and switched between poses impossibly fast. She needs to slow it down.

- Maya needs to provide more instructions about the basics: Breathing, posture, pelvic tilt, etc. A real yoga instructor tells you far more about what to think about in order to successfully achieve the pose.

- Maya has not figured out that while I am trying to achieve the pose it's enourmously difficult to watch her at the same time to verify I am doing it correctly. Maya should verbally instruct the viwer on entering the pose so that we can listen and focus instead of craning our necks out of the pose to see what she is doing.

- Music of mediocre quality.

- Maya's lips not synch'ed closely to voice. I expect better.

- Personal nit: I find the choice of rooms (environments) in which Maya does here thing to be weakly designed and tired. Personally I would prefer if just just demonstrated the poses in under a white sky on white floor with the walls infinitely far away. (If you've seen "The Matrix" you know what look I am talking about.)


Rating:
Summary: The novelty alone will keep you interested!
Review: I've been an on again/off again exerciser. I get frustrated with the time spent going to the gym, checking in, changing, etc. so I'd rather work out at home. I've got several videos, which I've stuck pretty well to, but Yourself!Fitness has allowed me to go a step further by keeping me exercising daily for 20+ days. I know that may not sound like much, but I'm very pleased with the committment I've been able to keep. Perhaps it's because Maya (the virtual trainer) responds so "humanly". I missed a work out one day last week, and when I logged in the next day she said "Hey! I missed you last time!" , almost as if she was really disappointed that I stood her up. Additionally, she sounds human, looks human and does human things...such as straighten her shirt between exercises, or tie her shoe, or tighten her ponytail. Again, this sounds a bit goofy, but the real-ness of her helps to make me feel like I really DO have to show up, that I'm letting SOMEONE down - videos and DVDs don't hold me accountable.

As to whether or not the fitness program is working or not - I can tell you yes. I really don't know how much weight I've lost, but I know it's enough that my pants fit differently, and that little "thing" on the side of my thigh (do we call those saddlebags? Yuk - such an UGLY word!) has dissipated. My shoulders and arms are changing shape, my calves are becoming more defined and I have lots more energy than I used to.

I typically work out with Maya everyday for 30-45 minutes, and I usually choose the workout she suggests for me. I toss in a flexibility workout once or twice a week, and the meditation garden (yoga) once a week or whenever I'm feeling particularly lifeless or taut from earlier workouts. I like the fact that in the Meditation Garden, Maya repeats the instructions the first few times - it helps get the moves right and puts the particular move into muscle memory so that it becomes easy to do it without her narration.

Note that throughout - and at the end - the program asks how you felt about the last section. Depending upon your answer, the next workout is modified to either slow it down or challenge you even more. I appreciate that it reflects my "mood" while keeping inline with the goals I've set.

The recipes that are provided are tasty and easy to prepare. I haven't yet found anything that requires a trip to a specialty store. The menu plan is easy to set up and follow - I'm doing a bit of a modified plan since I have a family who aren't all dieting. And there is plenty of variety so I don't feel like I'm only eating chicken and brown rice with a small salad day in and day out.

I seriously think that this is a wonderful program. I'm giving it great word of mouth among my friends. As I mentioned at the beginning, if nothing else, the novelty and freshness of the program will keep me interested for quite a while to come!

Rating:
Summary: bye bye gym membership
Review: Tried YF this morning and loved it. bye bye gym membership!

Its been 5 years since i last did yoga and 3 since I have done any aerobics classes. So I elected for the 'guest pass' feature to get a quick idea about the program and get my footing. Chose to focus on 'weight loss/30 minutes/hip hop/no equipment/in the city.'

Got started with some basic movements then 10 minutes into it... I am sweating like I would after 20-25 minutes at the gym on the eliptical machine. the music was good... and I like the little bar at the bottom that tells you the next exercise move coming up. after a bit, i was transitioning into the next move right on time (which has never happened in gym classes). 14 minutes into the 30 I am thinking I should have opted for the shorter workout... but I hung in there and got my self moving and really made myself proud.

Managed to do the whole routine and am excited to try another tomorrow. I have 15 lbs to lose and am looking forward to it!

(...)

Rating:
Summary: All I can say is -=wow=-
Review: Yourself fitness is probably the best purchase I've made in 2004. I have always had a problem with fitness and exercise (I get bored quickly) but Maya (the yourself fitness mascot) constantly keeps me motivated, and makes me want to push myself to become even better. This `game' is excellently done, and the graphics (especially the backgrounds) are superb. If you want something to push for, there are different workout locations and music you can unlock the more you workout. I find pro/con lists in Amazon.com reviews really help me, so I'll add one.

Pros:
1. Maya constantly keeps you motivated to do your best. She will ask you how you are feeling, and then adjust your workout accordingly.
2. The music is great, and really helps you to get in the `workout' mood. Only 3 are unlocked at the beginning (Latin, 80's, and hip-hop) - not my favorite choices, but 80's seems to be a good mix of fast dance and energy, and once I unlock the rest of them, I'll be a happy camper ;).
3. Workout schedule - you can program how much you want to work out any given day of the week - Maya will remember that and program your workout according to your internal computer clock, which saves you time.
4. You can focus on the workout you want to do. So, say Maya suggests upper body strength (from your fitness evaluation), but you want to do weight loss instead. You just chose weight loss and Maya will do that instead.
5. Meal plans - you can print off meal plans from the yourself fitness CD, benefiting your overall health.
6. Tutorials - If you have no idea how to do an exercise correctly, you can enter a tutorial mode, where a person made of muscles will show you how to do the exercise, and Maya will verbally walk you through it. You can zoom or rotate around the person to make sure you are doing it right.
7. The obvious feature of being able to do a workout with a personal trainer anytime anywhere (I suggest hooking a laptop, if you have one, up to your TV. It is much easier to do a workout on a larger screen)
8. Great graphics, especially the backgrounds. And I LOVE the opening movie!
9. Works on even old systems. My system is pretty old, but still meets the min requirements, and runs beautifully on my computer.

Cons.
1. The Meditation garden is pretty hard, especially if you've never done yoga before. Maya stops talking after a while, and just does the actions. (not a bug, the company said they didn't want to make her sound repetitive, so they made her stop after awhile). This is very hard when your doing `plank' (your face is on the floor) because you have no idea when Maya will change position.
2. You can't use your own music, which would be pretty hard to do, because Maya would have to sync up to the music. But if she could, it would be awesome!
3. No male trainer. Now, I'm a guy, and I still love this program, but it would be cool to have your choice of trainer (Maya or Maya's male counterpart). However, this program can be used by both males and females, so Maya will choose a workout specific to you.

In conclusion, if you want to make a commitment to yourself, and get in shape, you should buy this software or Xbox or PS2 game right away. You won't regret it one bit. I can't wait till tomorrow so I can do my next workout with Maya!
Good luck!
(also, check out the yourself fitness website for a workout preview)