My Personal Nike Trainer in My Family Room

by Lori Cunningham (@wellconnectdmom)

 Editor’s Note:  Only 3 more days to Win a $99 Breville Immersion Blender and a Pressman iPieces pool table, complete with cues…for your iPad!

When Microsoft asked if I was interested in taking part of a 30 workout day challenge using the new Nike + Kinect Training game, I jumped at the opportunity.  I love fitness and even though I haven’t formerly worked out in a gym for one year (I used to do a high intensity extreme boot camp 3 days a week), I have been walking 50 minutes 4-5 times a week, complete with hills.  I have also been enjoying my Zumba class in the mornings in my family room 2 days a week with Zumba Fitness.  Zumba is fun but I know I need to strengthen up and tone up my muscles, especially my arms and core, so as of last week, I started Nike + Kinect Training.  Yeah me!

Nike + Kinect Training uses Nike trainers who help train professional athletes to teach you the basics and coach you.  You can choose either a male or female trainer.  I chose the female, Marie Purvis, who is depicted in the game in the picture below.

As you can see above, I selected the workout days I intend to use the Nike+ Kinect Training on.  It comes preset at 3 days, however, I changed it to Tuesdays and Thursdays for me.

Having the Right Form

The Kinect sensor helps to identify when you are doing an exercise wrong and the game instructs you to get your form right.  I love this feature.  Even in my boot camp, I didn’t receive this type of personal training.

Nike Fuel Print

Before I could begin, the game had me go through a series of exercises to determine my Nike Fuel Print.  The Nike Fuel Print determines your fitness level and Athleticism ability.  I did push ups, running in place, balance exercises, jumping jacks, and a number of other exercises so Nike + could evaluate my balance, endurance, strength, and more.

My Fuel Print came out to 45/50 which means I scored 45 in Fitness and 50 in Athleticism.  This score means more when you compare it to others my age in the community.  The average Athleticism for women aged 40-49 is 21, so I guess that means my athletic ability is a pretty good score.  Athleticism has to do with speed, power, agility, reaction and quickness.

  It looks like I’m in the 86th percentile for my age range in Fitness which measures endurance, flexibility, and strength.  So even though 45 seems low, I guess it’s not so bad.

Just for kicks, I compared myself against women in the Nike + Kinect Community, aged 20-29.  Hmmm, I’m feeling pretty good now!

After my assessment and determining my strengths and weakness through the Nike + Fuel Print, Nike + Kinect Training went through all the available drills and selected the key drills I need to work on in my workouts.  Every time I turn on Nike + Kinect Training, I will be given a different workout based on my level and goals.  My goal is to lose weight and tone.  So much of my workouts will have cardio in them.

I was too busy working out to take pictures of the workout itself, so I found a video online that shows you more of how Nike + Kinect Training works:

The Nike + Kinect Training sells from Amazon.com for $49.96 plus Super Saver Shipping.

A Mom’s Perspective

My first workout lasted 15 minutes and boy, I tell you, I was beat.  No wonder why I enjoy walking so much, I don’t get all tired like I did with this Nike + Kinect Training workout.  But this “game” is just what I needed to boost my cardio in a short time period while toning my arms.  I had a personal trainer before and I’ve done expensive boot camps.  Both are great but very expensive.  With Nike+ Kinect Training, I love the fact that I get very personalized feedback, a measurement of my progress, and I don’t even have to get into my car to drive somewhere, adding time to my limited morning time.  When I went to boot camp, I had to leave at 5:15am to get to my 5:30am class.  Now, I can roll out of bed at 6 or 6:30am and still have plenty of time.

Nike + Kinect Training also includes an online element where you can actually workout with friends or the various members of the Nike + Kinect Training community.  You need to have XBOX Live to do this, but a free 14 day XBOX Live Gold trial comes with the game.  I plan on testing it out, it sounds like fun.  I’ll just turn my lights down low so they can’t see me!  🙂

I have to say, so far I’m pretty impressed with Nike + Kinect Training.  It provides intense workouts, but they vary them with fun activities like playing dodge ball (you have to dodge the balls thrown at you) and making it through wall openings (a wall with an opening comes at you, you have to dash, duck, or jump to get through the opening without crashing through the wall).  I was very sore the next several days, having trouble climbing steps, getting out of a chair, even walking!  This is exactly how I felt many times after my bootcamp workouts.  The soreness eventually subsided but I anticipate more will come as I stretch out muscles I haven’t used in a while.  Nike + Kinect Training will certainly stretch me.

I’m tired but I can already tell, this workout will be giving me results…calculated results.  I can’t wait to try the assessment over again in a month and see how my Nike Fuel Print has grown.

*  I was given a copy of Nike + Kinect Training in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions and more sore muscles are my own.