Finally a new kind of workout that is more dynamic than the usual workout video.
User Rating: 8.5 | Yourself!Fitness XBOX
Before you read this review, you must understand something very important about this title: THIS IS NOT A VIDEO GAME. So if you think this title is a game about fitness, yoga or worse, about dating, stop reading and get a life. This title is a TOOL to help you workout. With this in mind, let's start the review. In any fitness program, the first step is to evaluate your present condition. When you create your profile, the program asks you to perform a series of exercises and then enter the result in order to evaluate your present state of fitness. Based on the information you enter, the program will "shape" the workout to match your specific goal. After that, you decide how you want to workout on a weekly basis, by setting the time you want to spend working out each day (with a day off). You can accept what the program decides for you or change the schedule to reflect your lifestyle. You can change your workout goal or your schedule any time you want. After that, you are ready to work out. You first choose your profile, and then start the workout. The workout begins with a warm-up period (3 to 5 minutes), followed by the main exercises (the time depends on the commitment you made) and generally ends with some stretches (1 to 1.5 minutes). During the different work out sequences, the program will ask you how you did during the sequence and adjust the difficulty in future workout accordingly. If it was too easy, the next workout may be more difficult. If it was too tough, the program will make it easier next time. If you find that a particular sequence is too difficult (or too easy) at one point, you can pause the workout and ask to change the difficulty. The program will rebuild a new workout and continue with new exercises. If a particular exercise is too complicated, you can pause and enter a tutorial which will explain in detail how the exercise is performed. You state of fitness will be reviewed periodically in order to evaluate your progress. If you possess hand weights, stability ball or step bench, the program will integrate them into the workout. I don't have any of those, so I cannot say how effective it will be. But based on what I experienced so far, my guess is that they will be well integrated. The environments in which the workout takes place are nice and do not take the focus away from the most important thing: the workout itself. In fact, I rarely change the workout environment. I like the Dojo environment pretty much so I always use it. The camera movements helps in making the workout more dynamic and more energetic. It helps you understand how a specific movement is made by showing you different angles. It also gives you the impression that something is always moving around (even during a pause). The fluidity of the movements is very good, which is important in this title since you will try to mimic the movement of the character on the screen. The voice work is also very good, much better than what you find in a normal workout video. (Although you may find it strange that the character on the screen is never tired no matter how hard she is working out). The workouts are never the same from one session to another and the exercises change constantly during one session to keep you going, and going, and going.... I cannot judge the quality of the exercises themselves (I am computer programmer, not a fitness trainer) but they feel pretty good. A level is given to each exercise. Level 1 is easy, Level 5 is difficult. Push ups for example, are level 3. It would have been great to have different characters to train with instead of just one, and also to be able to use my own music… maybe in a future version. Conclusion, this is a great title for anybody who want a different experience in home fitness. And it's not too difficult to respect the commitment I made to myself. I am used to turn my Xbox on every night to play something. Now, before playing anything, I just insert this title and workout a bit (30 minutes). Believe me, it feels great (although it did not improve my accuracy in Halo). And because of the dynamic nature of the workouts presented on screen, I find it revolutionary compared to normal workout video. I hope the workout industry will take a more serious look at the game consoles to offer even more dynamic products in the future. 
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