Strike a pose with supermodel Anja Rubik in Yoga for Wii.
If you’d rather do your salamba sarvangasana, parsvakonasana and sun salute poses at home, we understand. There’s plenty of yoga DVDs on the market. But why not go one step farther with Yoga for the Wii? The interactive version features four levels with a number of yoga rooms and Asian-inspired settings. Model Anja Rubik shares her yoga expertise with tips and videos as she advises you through your progress.
Yoga for the Wii adds the Wii balance board controller as an option, so you can get feedback on how you’re doing on some of your poses. The console version advances at home Yoga by adding interactivity, letting you take your time on your poses and telling the Wii when you’re ready for the next one, and getting coaching and feedback based on your progress.
Video games such as Rock Band allow players to go on a virtual world tour, even if they’re not jamming in the same city, and first person shooters let players squad up from around the globe. These are just of the advances that gaming has brought to the social experience of virtual reality. Soon you might be able to take part in the Tour de France, or go on a bike tour in distant lands, and instead of faking it ala a game, you can get your sweat on while actually spinning.
At this year’s CeBIT in Germany, Paul Zernicke, a research at the Technical University in Berlin, demonstrated technology that combine an exercise bike with a wall-sized 3D Google Earth map that offered riders to take spins through Beijing’s Forbidden City as well as past the Great Pyramids of Egypt and even to the first stage of last year’s Tour de France.
The bike part offers the usual stuff such as tracking heart rate, calories burned and distance traveled while the VR part offers better scenery than just a TV show or the living room wall. Better still Zernicke promises that this can be more than just a visual travelogue from a bike seat, and offers that a competitive element could be added. So far he’s tested the system with up to six riders at a time.
The CompuTrainer Pro 3D
There are still questions to answer, such as whether you’d actually see your competition – or at least a generic version – added to your screen. And how much flexibility will it offer in where you ride? Otherwise, you’re just racing a clock and a fixed video. Still, this sounds like a great way to see the sights while getting a workout.
In the meantime, there are solutions available today such as the CompuTrainer Pro 3D by Wired Bike.com. It might not be quite as impressive as the technology shown at CeBIT, but it beats just ready a magazine or watching cartoons while you put in the in-door miles.
Remember that very early episode of The Flintstones where Barney invented the gyro-chopter that he had to pedal to get off the ground (and for those who care, Fred had to flap his arms)? Well that’s sort of what the iTech Fitness Flight Simulator brings to mind, except of course you can pedal without ever actually taking flight (and no one needs to flap his or her arms).
But if you’re looking to get a workout with your games, the company offers a line of products built around the concept of adding fitness to gaming. In the case of the iTech Fitness Flight Simulator players can dogfight against others, fly a variety of aircraft and even get a bit lighter in the process.
What does a turntable, a bar, and a padded cushion do for your fitness? If it’s the Frank Sepe Fitness Disc, it provides cardio and strength training, and maybe even some toning to your core. The system’s foundation rests on its turntable. Not unlike the lazy susan you might have in your kitchen cabinet. This one is much stronger, with the capacity to hold up to 300 pounds. Stand on the turntable and twist back and forth for the foundation of your workout. To aid in resistance training, the Fitness Disc also comes with a bar that is weighted at 4 pounds, and can be separated into two- two pound batons. The bars count as part of the Fitness Disc workout, but also aid in balance while twisting.
It’s not just a twist, it’s said there’s over 100 exercises you can do with the Disc, and there’s four DVDs included in the box, along with a padded disc that you can use for floor work such as crunches. The Fitness Disc, like many home workout equipment, is gimmicky. This one just may have some strength in that it’s a low impact cardio and strength workout. A quick demo with Frank Sepe showed what you can do with the bar, and got our heart rates up. We look forward to spending a little more time with the Fitness Disc at home to try its effectiveness.
Frank Sepe Fitness Disc the Premier Workout System information page
Frank Sepe Fitness Disc the Premier Workout System product page on Home Shopping Network
