Challenge Completed

On Saturday, I finished the 30 Day Challenge on the Wii Active. It consisted of 20 days of exercise with a day of rest every third day. Overall, I am very pleased with it. For a home exercise program, I thought it was fairly effective for something that doesn't require thousands of dollars worth of exercise equipment. Now, I know you are wondering one question so I will get it out of the way. I did NOT lose a bunch of weight. I think I lost a few pounds which isn't really that bad for a 30 day period. I actually think I might have even lost even more, but there were some days I feel I could have been a lot smarter with my food, the biggest culprit being an eat-fest between the Thursday and Sunday that surrounded 4th of July. Additionally, this is not really a cardio program. This is more a strength training/muscle workout type program. I probably could have lost more weight by simply going running every day, but that would have just shed weight, and I think, given me an easier chance of gaining the weight back.

It really did kick my butt the first half of the program and at the halfway point, the trainer said they would start stepping up the intensity of the program, but I feel it actually got easier. That could have been my body finally adjusting to the exercises or perhaps they actually were easier, I am not sure. I do know that the exercises that focused on arms were considerably easier than the exercises that focused on the lower half of my body. Arm workouts were mainly done using handles attached tension straps. Not really the same as using a dumbbell, but good for the layman. Leg works focused a lot on lunges, jumps, and squats, and there were many times my legs tried quitting on me. The only thing I felt the program was lacking in was exercises which focused on my stomach. Some crunches or something similar should probably be added in.

In the end though, I was very happy with it and I felt it was a big step up from the Wii Fit. It is nice to have a whole workout routine planned out with only a couple seconds in between each activity rather than the couple of minutes it almost took between activity on the Wii Fit. It was also nice to have a guided workout rather than taking a guess and doing random exercises on my own. A guided workout gives you a start and finish point where the Wii Fit almost seemed like a, "I'll just keep going until I'm bored." Today I started a new 30 day challenge and I stepped up the intensity by switching my exercises to high intensity. I did the first 30 days at medium intensity and I must say, today absolutely kicked my butt. If it was any harder today, the ability to finish the exercise might have come into question. Here is to 30 more days.