OMG!

So I got it. "My Fitness Coach" arrived.

I fired it up and it takes you through a series of tests to determine your current fitness level. One of those tests is two minutes of jumping jacks. I made it for 30 seconds. Tried twice, just can't do it.

I don't get it. I've been walking with 4 minute spurs of jogging. 2.5 to 4 miles per day, five days a week. I've been doing Wii Fit yoga, jogging, etc. But I can't do 2 minutes of jumping jacks? I don't think I'm able to be assessed

I am more out of shape that I thought.

Pathetic.

When I first bought MFC, I was pretty excited to open it up and check it out. Unfortunately it wasn't until 12:30 AM that I was able to finally put it in the Wii.

OK, create new profile, I can do that. Then....what? I have to measure stuff? Ug. Ok it's late, but I can do that and it's a pretty quiet activity (to not wake up the house - our bedroom is right above the dojo, I mean family room).

Take my pulse. I can do that. Then Maya wanted me to do Jumping Jacks! Yeah, it was late, but I did it anyway. Not only was it extremely loud, but our basement door doesn't latch entirely, so every time I would jump, the pressure from the floor would cause the basement door to bang open and shut every bounce. BANG BANG BANG!

My kids slept through it, not my wife. I wish it was the other way around.

THEN Maya wanted me to do pushups. That was the end of that. For the stuff at the end - pushups, squats, and crunches, you can bypass it. I did it another time. ( I think it tests you every 10 workouts or something***)


Steph, the purpose of the jumping jacks is to get your heart rate up so you can measure your elevated heart rate. Just do the 2 minutes of jacks as you can, and rest as needed throughout. Just make sure your heart rate is up at the end (meaning, don't make your rest at the very end). Then you'll start the timer and measure your pulse and enter it in.

I believe the higher your heart rate, the easier she will make the workouts Since you're beginning on MFC, you'll want to take it easy at first, so you really want to shoot for a higher rate.

Or, since you've already done the jacks a couple of times and don't want to do it again, you could also cheat. It'll want you to enter in the number of heart beats in 10 seconds, so put in a number around 27 (27 x 6 = 162 beats per minute). Maya (hopefully) will lighten up a bit with that.

The profile set up is intimidating, for sure. Don't let Maya bully you!



*** I skipped the tests for the pushups, squats, and crunches the first time I set it up. Every 10 workouts you are required to do another Physical Challenge, which is basically the same thing all over again. So I did go through everything the second time.

The thing is, if you enter in exercise that you did outside of MFC, it counts as another workout, so I was getting the Physical Challenge about every 1 1/2 weeks. That's just silly. So I've just entered in the same info every time since.

My next workout will be the last before my next P.C. I intend to go through it all again just to see if anything has changed.

Also, I don't report workouts outside of MFC to Maya anymore.

Hi Steph, My wife and I have had it for 7 days of torture. The jumping jacks in the evaluation are so slow I had to stop and just run in place. I think there are some things about MFC that are simply stupid crazy. We had music today that held no beat at all, it was like soothing synth, in the dance choice. I like to work at my pace and I don't always follow everything she does to the letter. The choices when she asks you what you think of the workout will effect the level. A high level answer and you will be stressed greater than the bottom weak answer. Also 15 minutes at a time is good for us instead of an entire 30 minutes at once. That was a pounder. It is fun, I hope you do well with it.

Thanks everyone..... I just assumed that I would not be able to complete the test and had planned on shelving MFC until my fitness level increased.

By the way, I have a great book "Dump Your Trainer". It gives instructions on how to find your target heart-rate based on your current fitness level. It's easy and so I'll go with that number and use it for MFC.

I hope Maya goes easy on me. I'll report back later.

I swore at the TV when I had to do the jumping jacks test. I thought it was just too brutal. And, after my first workout, my quads were so sore that I couldn't hardly walk. That went away pretty quickly and now I'm pretty used to Maya and her ways. Have to say, it is working. By the way, I've been through two test periods since and pretty much just "skip" most of it. I'll probably do it for real only around once a month or so.

Steph wrote:

I hope Maya goes easy on me. I'll report back later.

The pause button for MFC is the " - " on the Wii-mote. You get a menu, and two of the choices are to increase or decrease difficulty ***.

Maya will also ask you how you're doing after each segment (about 3 per session). "No sweat" will increase difficulty that portion next workout, "working hard" will do nothing, and "I can't keep up" will decrease the difficulty next time.

So, you can still adjust the level of intensity you are experiencing, even after completing the physical challenge.


*** When you increase or decrease the difficulty mid-game with the " - " button, I'm not sure exactly when the adjustment takes place. I don't know if it's immediate, or for the next segment, or what. Maybe it doesn't really do anything.

I just did the PC again last night. Either while you're doing it, or just before, Maya says that if you can't go the full 2 minutes that it's ok. When you poop out, there is a button in the lower right corner to end the 2 minute timer so you go to the next screen to start the 10 second timer to take your pulse.