Already on week 6 of my Wii Fit Plus and EA Active More Workouts exercises, using my Nintendo Wii Console. My weight loss hasn't been substantial so far. I weighed 177lbs starting, and now I'm a floating number between 173-177lbs. However, I absolutely gained some muscle during this, which may be contributing to my weight. I believe my arms got bigger with muscle, and stomach smaller with less fat. It isn't exactly going as fast as I'd like, nor even as fast as the last time I did this but... I am not eating as healthy as I was last time; a lot less vegetables. Also, my metabolism probably slowed down. I still am eating in reasonable portions and eating less fatty foods, plus multivitamins, but just not getting balanced meals. It also helped that some years back, I had access to an arcade not 5 minutes away from me which had In The Groove and Dance Dance Revolution to play whenever I wanted to for hardcore cardio work outs. Now, that only happens once every few weeks at best.
To help things out, this week I'm listing common exercises that I use. Anything that deviates from it, or isn't a set work out will be listed on days I do them. Hopefully this will become a habit for future entries. Also, except for the EA Active videos, none of the videos are mine, but found around on YouTube.
My Usual Warm Ups
The first 4 warm ups are done on my own in my room and not on Wii Fit Plus. The reason is because the Wii is in the cellar which has a low ceiling, and the first 4 Yoga poses require me to fully stretch upwards. Exercises in italics are yoga poses, and those in bold are strength exercises.
- Sun Salutation
- Tree
- Half Moon
- Palm Tree
- Standing Knee
- Chair
- Warrior
- Triangle
- 10 reps of JackKnives
- Downward-Facing Dog
- Grounded V
- Cobra
- Bridge
- Spinal Twist
Exercises in Italics are "warm up" exercises. Those in bold are "cool down" exercises. Rest are normal strength exercises unless otherwise noted.
- Knee Tucks
- Split Squats with Reaches
- Windmills
Good Mornings- I omit it because it requires me to reach straight up, which I cannot due to cellar's low ceiling.- Bent Arm Side Planks
- Reverse Crunches
- Stride Jumps
- Push Ups
- Mountain Climbers
- Fitness Trail - Sprint (Medium)
- Boxing - Combo Station 1
- Straight Arm Plank
- Crunches with Punches
- Skipping
Bent Over Rows- Omitted because I don't like exercises that require a stretch band.- Mountain Climbers
- Fitness Trail - Sprint (Medium)
- Boxing - Combo Station 2
- Reverse Crunches
- Leg Raises
- Stride Jumps
- Push Ups
- Mountain Climbers
- Fitness Trail - Sprint (Medium)
- Boxing - Combo Station 1
- Straight Arm Plank
- Bent Arm Side Plank
- Pretzels
- Heel Drops
- Figure 4's
- Sideway Ankle Pulls
August 14 - Tuesday (Strength day)
After doing my usual warm ups, I went ahead into EA Active's "Crunch and Core - Easy" exercises. I left in the "Good Mornings" exercise and just did some toe touches. managed to actually touch my toes for a brief second without ending my knees!
I did well with my Push Ups on both occasions they came up, even if on the second set of ten, I had to take a break before enduring Mountain Climbers. Speaking of which. I can do a little more than 40, but have a hard time not moving my hips for Mountain Climbers. Maybe I should wear shoes while doing it so my feet don't slide, and won't have to keep readjusting my stance each time I slip some.
The Fitness Sprint didn't feel like too big a bother either, though i still took a water break after them out of habit. The only thing I cheated at was Leg Raises. I ended up turning them into JackKnives, which still gives me an ab workout, but I really should try following the game's exercises for better results.
After finishing up, I then put Wii Fit Plus back in and did 20 minutes of Free Step. After that, I busied myself with other things.
August 15 - Wednesday (Aerobics)
Did my warm ups before jumping into my aerobics for the day. It mostly was a repeat of last aerobics day; Super Hoola Hoops were first as usual. This time, spinning left was perfectly fine. I didn't get a nice ab burning feeling this time around though, so I wonder if I could have burned more calories/gained more muscle had I found the sweet spot.
My ankles were hurting a little, so I did Bird's Eye Bullseye (10:22) on expert mode to rest my legs and get my arms working. I got to a lot more targets and could have probably got a pretty good score had I hit the final bullseye at the end. Alas, I hit the 50 instead, giving me a total of 328 points.
Next was a Free Run for 10 minutes. Nothing to special, though my right shin started hurting here. Not serious pain, just was tight. I wonder if a vein is getting jabbed with my shin bone or something. Next I did Rhythm Boxing on Advanced. I did better this time, though still got confused when it came to stepping forward then stepping back in different combinations. I'd often move back the wrong leg or throw the wrong punch. I did get better at the dodging though.
Skateboard Arena Advanced was my next exercise, but I seriously messed it up this time. I kept leaning back and forth too much, nearly losing my balance often. That in turn, messed up my directions, causing me to miss a lot. I still got a good lower body work out, just scored a measly 92.
For a breather, I did Snowball Fight Advanced, scoring a 46. I didn't feel like bothering with Expert Mode this time since, as I mentioned last week, I don't like gambling for a longer workout; the whole "one hit and you are out" isn't as much fun.
To wrap things up as usual, did a 30 minute Free Step while I watched TV. Apparently Shark Week is now, so I had fun with that.
Tomorrow, I'm debating on checking EA Active's other exercises or maybe just dumbbell and abs exercises... We'll see what happens this time for Wild Card day.
August 16 - Thursday (Wild Card Day)
For today's wild card, I decided to try a few different Yoga poses that Wii Fit Plus offers. After doing the usual warm ups, I jumped right into them.
Gate pose was first. Unfortunately, I just can't do it. just getting into the starting psoition had my knee starting to hurt. I did try leaning anyway, but it was too uncomfortable.
I thought Spine Extension would be good for me, but I can't go down far enough to get recognized on the balance board. Well, I get recognized, but can't put enough weight on it without cheating. Maybe I'll start to cheat until I can naturally do it? Not sure.
Now the Dance pose (also known as "King of the Dance") is much more within my range. I Can't lift my leg that high behind me, but I'm not uncomfortable doing it. I might include it after doing my usual warm ups to see if it works out or not. As it is, the Grounded V pose I'm not doing exactly perfect either since I have to bend my knees, but practice makes perfect.
Shoulder Stance (Note on video; couldn't find a Wii Fit explanation of it) I actually can do, but I can't hold the pose as long as the game wants. I also feel a little nervous doing it, afraid I may slip and hurt myself. I may do this, but not regularly, and only with someone like Sierra in the room to watch me in case I injure myself.
After trying all those poses, I thought about what to do next. I ended up doing the JackKnife Challenge of 100 reps! I think I ended up doing this wrong somewhere, as I was not feeling all of the burn in my abs, but part of my lower ribs too. After some though, I believe I'm lifting my legs more than my torso, thus giving uneven jackknives. I'll need to work on that as I do my warmups. But I am glad I made it, though I considered giving up in the 80s. I probably was sloppy past 40 reps, too, thus the lower rib pain. Before doing this again, I'll wait till I feel a better burn from doing the 30 rep Jackknives 3 times each strength day with the wii fit plus.
Tomorrow, I'm supposed to do strength training with Wii Fit Plus, but tomorrow starts my weekend of going out where I rather not overdo things, so I probably will just do some dumbbell lifts after my warm ups.
August 17 - Friday (Strength)
Due to actually going out at night this weekend, my exercises will likely be tweaked for less strenuous exercises. Today, I did my usual warm ups, plus attempted the Dance pose. Unfortunately, I didn't do it so well this time, and had to rebalance myself while doing it. I'll try it for a week before dismissing it as a bad fit though.
August 18 - Saturday (
I didn't do any Yoga tonight. I did walk and stand around a LOT during the night as I cheered friends on at the arcade tournament. I suppose I got a lot of walking done in this case. My meals were not so balanced however, mainly eating bagels, some chicken, and a little bit of carrots.
August 19 - Sunday (Weekend plans)
I did my usual warm-ups before heading out. Attempted Dance pose on my own, but just couldn't do it completely right. While I got myself weighed in, however, I found out I had lost 2lbs since Friday! I even met my Wii Fit Plus goal of losing 5lbs! Granted it's likely water weight, I think being active this weekend really helped with my weight loss! Now I just need to hope it sticks...
At the arcade tournament, I ended up running around a lot since I helped out with a tournament. I also played some games of In The Groove and even Pump It Up! I think I got a nice calorie burn for the overall night, though towards the end of the night, I was starving and ate really late. Good chance that'll be put onto the fat count, but we'll see tomorrow!
August 20 - Monday (Er... Aerobics?)
I was a bit puzzled on what I should make today. I considered just starting from the beginning and making today a strength day, but my friend said he was going to go to the arcade again for quarter night, so I'll make today either aerobics or a wild card day.
When I measured myself today, I had lost more weight. To be honest, I believe it is due to having abnormal eating periods. Good chance I wasn't eating enough this weekend, but I didn't really feel any hunger pains except once last night, which I rectified with some fruit snacks. Right now, I'm about at ~171lbs. I don't expect it to stay once I get back to my normal routine, but hopefully it won't bounce all the way back up. That said, I will try to be more active at night when there isn't an arcade to go to. Wondering if perhaps last time I lost all that weight 2 years ago, it was mainly due to the arcade with muscle definition made from the Wii games. I also wonder if that was healthy weight loss or just not eating enough.
I did my usual warm up today, plus a modified Dance pose. I really felt comfortable with the Tree and Sun Salutation this time; usually, it's a struggle to reach for those toes on sun salutation, or my foot begins to slip, making me lose some balance on tree pose. Not this time! In fact, all of the poses were rather better, and I wonder if it's due to a slightly smaller belly or just constant Yoga training. Granted, I still couldn't do the Dance pose completely correctly-I can't get a leg so far behind and above me like that-but it didn't feel like as much a struggle.
I do need to get my sleep schedule back in order, since I been up late and sleeping late since this weekend.
Played a lot of In The Groove, some Pump It Up, a game of DDR, and even Guitar Freaks! Got my exercise and felt great for it!
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