So I had a couple scares this week. As you know, for most of the month of January, we were in Marshfield, Wisconsin for Nick's work and I fell behind in my WLJ...aka jumping back up to 196.6. Well, as much as I promised myself things would improve as soon as I got home, they didn't. A random mid-week WI on Wednesday showed a 2 lb gain. A mere 1.4 lbs away from 200.
Hecks NO! Get your butt into gear, girly!
OK!
Then I weighed myself yesterday to prepare myself for today and I saw 200.6. My hubby then informs me that the scale sometimes isn't zeroing out and low-and-behold, when I tapped it, it showed 3.2. I kept tapping until it zeroed out and weighed myself at 197.4.
Whew...
Weighed In today at 196.6, which means I maintained from last week and lost 2 lbs since Wednesday. I've been keeping to my calories and working out hard. 1 hour of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, 1 hour of Dance Central, and 30-60 minutes of stationary bike at a moderate to vigorous pace.
WORKOUT GAME REVIEW:
Just Dance 2, Just Dance Summer Party, & Just Dance 3
These games are tons of fun and a great burn if you're doing it right. I can't give a review for the original Just Dance because I've never tried it, but the subsequent games are revolutionary in the genre of Dance Gaming and offer a great way to kill some calories.
Dancing in general is an amazing workout because it involves a full-body workout. The Just Dance Series has songs for the beginner and songs for those who have been dancing a long time. There were about 2 or 3 songs in Just Dance 2 that I couldn't get 5 stars on. However, I managed to get 5 stars for all the songs in Just Dance Summer Party and Just Dance 3. Each song shows its level of difficulty (1-3 gears) and the level of exertion you'll put out in the song (1-3 sweat drops). So some songs may be really easy, but a hard burn or vice versa or any other combination.
Most of the songs are well known in our culture, but there are some obscure songs and some multicultural songs as well.
People of all ages will find enjoyment in this game unless they hate dancing...if they hate dancing, that is sad for them. :'(
There is a Just Sweat mode where you set a weekly goal for sweat points earned and it will track your sweat points for you. More on sweat points later in the Cons section.
PROS: Fun. Fun. FUN!!! The game is fun and you will be through an hour of dancing before you even know it. It has enormous replay value. Like any dance class you may have taken, the more you dance, the better you get. After having played Just Dance 2 for several months, I picked up the dances in Just Dance Summer Party and Just Dance 3 rather quickly. These games are also a blast either alone or with lots of people (up to 2 players in Just Dance 2 and Just Dance Summer Party and up to 4 in Just Dance 3). Just Dance 3 is offered on Xbox 360 (with Kinect), Wii, and PS3 (with Move). I own it on Wii and love it and tried it on the Kinect in a store and loved it more. The Kinect version has the benefit of being hands-free, which is all I really got to try. If there's a Just Dance 4, I will be purchasing it for the Kinect.
CONS: It's super easy to do a half-butt job with the Wii. You could technically stand still and just move your right arm and you'll get a great score with great sweat points. (This could be viewed as a pro as well if someone doesn't have the ability to use their legs. My mother-in-law and her mother are going to be trying it out with just hands pretty soon, so I'll review it for that purpose when it happens.) That brings me to sweat points. My biggest complaint about these games. It's the game's way of determining how hard you're working. It is not a direct sweat point to calorie burned ratio! I tend to do a 10 sweat point to 1 calorie burned when I track it, but even that is more of a guesstimate. The game doesn't know your weight or heart rate, so it's guessing. If you want to know how many calories you're burning, invest in some kind of heart rate monitor. Just Dance Summer Party is pretty much all the DLC songs from Just Dance 2, which makes me not want to purchase any for Just Dance 3 lest they release a game this summer with all the DLC songs on it. Also, if you're only going to buy one, don't make it this one. The songs are simpler and do not require much exertion to do, so your workout will be longer to get the workout you want.
Overall, I recommend this game series. Like I said before, I can't say anything for the first game or much about the Kinect experience (nothing of the PS3 experience), but on its original platform it's great fun. If you become tempted to not move your feet or left arm, remember, your cheat may get you a better number in the game, but it won't give you a better number on the scale.
May the fourth be with you!
No comments:
Post a Comment