The Active Rest Day

Last week, Chris and I picked up the Wii Active.  It’s yet another exercise program similar to the Wii Fit, except so much better.  It comes with a strap to put on your leg and a big fat rubber band thingy for resistance training.  The first day I used it, I thought it was pretty easy.  I worked up a little sweat, so I was happy with that.

Then the next day, my butt and thighs ached.  I had trouble walking up the stairs.  I shouldn’t have squatted that far down on my exercises.  But the thing is, you have to do it again the next day.  Luckily, the next day wasn’t all about the squats.  It was upper body work, so I was saved from crying to the television.  The third day was a rest day, and boy, did I need that.  I didn’t think that it would help at all, but by the fourth day, my muscles didn’t ache anymore.

I like this better than the Wii Fit because it’s continuous.  You set it up for the 30 day challenge and it’ll go through a set of exercises with you.  It takes about twenty to thirty minutes to go through an exercise depending on if you watch the tutorials or not.

For someone who’s sedentary most of the day, it works well for me.  Since I work from home, I don’t have to travel anywhere to exercise.  I just turn it on and go.  I’d start with the low setting first just to see if it’ll be ok for you.  You never know how athletic you are until you’re tested.  You can always ramp it up without feeling discouraged.  If you start high and go down, you might feel like a fat slob.

You can also do these workouts with someone else.  It’s a 2 person game, but I haven’t tried it.  Chris does his in the morning and I do mine in the evening.  Plus, we don’t have enough room in our living room for both of use to do side lunges.

But for you couch potatoes out there, I think this is a good investment and a good start to getting into better shape.  Now it’s my turn to do the Active.  I’m pre-whining about the squats.

Crossposted to Samantha Ling, Dreamwidth and Livejournal