Wii Workout Games vs. a Personal Trainer

What follows are two perspectives--that of an an over-the-hill, out-of-shape Average Joe gamer (me), and Hornsby's professional opinion--to help you select the best-bet at-home game workouts for you.

Average Joe: The first workout for me--the lateral eye-rolls. Jeez, the production's a little cornballish as Jillian Michaels (of The Biggest Loser fame) welcomes me to this digital boot camp in her own sassy idiom. The deal here is to get sweaty with nontraditional activities. That is, unless your average day includes throwing paintball grenades and log-jumping while on the river. As you exercise, you're treated to music that'll make you want to run away from your TV. Hey, so I guess that means its working, right

The Pro: "I'm very impressed with the fact that the game offers cooking tips, food substitutes...I think this is a great thing to do and a smart way to disseminate this information. I like that the tips seem all-inclusive," says Hornsby. Obviously Jillian picked up a couple of ideas from being on the show. Hornsby adds: "I'd hope that there's something on heart rate training, fat burning, and specifically how it works--because without a heart rate monitor, measuring calories burnt is a guessing game." (We didn't have time to exhaustively unlock all of the fitness tips.)

With the balance board plugged in, he was a little down on running. "When you're trying to simulate running, you shouldn't bother using a balance board. The issue with running in place is that you're only really calculating moving up and down as opposed to that and going forward. It's not going to give you the same degree of exercise, as a general rule". And "running" on a balance board is even less effective. When Hornsby tried the kayaking exercise, the game didn't recognize his movements until he began wildly flailing to get its attention. So...it's the tantrum-throwing workout