I’m going to put it out there and say that I have to be one of the least fit people that I know. I hate to exercise, I’m not really into sports and I’m incredibly uncoordinated. If you don’t believe me, my physical therapist (muscle spasm in my back/shoulder, apparently) told me yesterday that I have the strength of a kitten. He added, “Oh, I’m sure people think you’re stronger than you are, don’t they?” Which may be a new euphemism for being overweight and out of shape. That’s ok, I’m not having any delusions here.

The challenge is (and always has been, I suppose) that it’s much harder to get in shape if you’re really out of shape. The basic things you need to do become harder. When I try to start a fitness routine, I feel like I’m going to die after 5 minutes. I need a lower intensity starting point than is generally available so I can build up to where I need to be. When the perky aerobics lady says, “work through the burn,” I want to throw something at the TV. [And no, Super-Fit Readers, I will NOT go to a gym and have to work out next to you!] Lady, I’m giving it all I’ve got!

We got a Wii Fit for Christmas as a way to encourage me to work on my fitness level. And I love my Wii Fit, but I’m having two problems. First of all, the activities that I CAN do are generally not challenging enough for me (i.e. step aerobics). The hula hoop activity, which does provide a nice aerobic activity, is rough on my knees. I love the boxing, but you can only box the same moves so many times, you know? I need more of the strength building exercises as well, but most of them are just too far beyond my scope right now.

So, I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of my EA Sports Active. I’m sure the lovely ladies at EA Sports would agree that I’m nothing if not eager! They kindly sent me a unit to review and it arrived today. With all of my excitement was a certain amount of trepidation that the activities would be too difficult for me, right off the bat. Nonetheless, I set up my gear and turned on the Wii. I didn’t have a lot of time to do a full routine (starting out, the intro videos for each exercise add to your time), so I set up a short customized routine with some activities that looked like fun but that would be easy on my back/shoulder (a la the aforementioned physical therapist). I set each and every activity to the “easy” level and assumed I would still struggle on each one.

And guess what? I did every single activity for the full duration. In fact, I was surprised when they were finished because I made it through without having to stop! My heart rate was up, I was starting to sweat and I could feel that I was getting a good work out, but I didn’t feel like I was going to die and I didn’t want to lay down on the floor in a ball (take that, Jillian!). I feel pretty confident, that when I start my full work-outs, I can put some of the activities up to the next level (some will definitely stay on easy… ahem… inline skating). There are harder levels and activities for those of you who are ready for something fierce, but it was nice to find a balanced workout that I could do!

So… to all of my fellow exercise haters, you can do it, too! If your knees or ankles bother you, there are still plenty of things you can do. If you can’t put a lot of stress on your shoulder, there are still things you can do. You can just skip those built-in routines and build your own. Heck, you can spend 30 minutes doing basketball drills if you want. [Obviously, you should talk to your Dr. before starting any new fitness routines and yada yada yada. I am CERTAINLY no fitness coach.]

I’ve got some more thoughts on my EA Sports Active, but I’ll post those separately. I’m also going to track my progress in a separate EA Sports Active category. It will help give me some accountability.