ea sports active 2 question

I think you can choose which days to work out, can't remember if it's limited to a certain number. If you miss a workout it gives you an option to go back and make it up.

I did the 3-week challenge, which had me working out 4 days a week, my choice of days. The workouts on the medium difficulty setting were around 18-20 minutes, and on hard between 22-26 minutes. Don't know about easy difficulty.
If you miss a day, when you go to the workout screen where your calendar and such are, it will have a button that says "Missed Workouts (#)" with the # being the number of missed workouts. You can make those up any time before the end of the program. I was away from home for a while and had to do 2 hard workouts 2 days in a row...I almost died, I think.

If you start a workout group let me know, I'll join!

You will answer most of your questions yourself once you set it all up.

I finish the 9 week challenge on the ps3 tonight, and everything said before is accurate at least for the ps3 version.
On the 9 week challenge the workouts started around 20-25 minutes depending on intensity level, but by the end you've built up to 40-50 minutes. It's important to note that the time listed in the game is "actual workout" time - and does NOT include the loading time or demo videos etc, nor does it include any actual stoppage for water breaks if you take them (by pausing when suggested by the trainer) - I typically averaged around 20% longer than listed for the workout.
The workouts start out easy and get progressively longer, with higher rep counts on each exercise as well as new exercises salted in throughout the program.
The differences between easy/medium/hard are usually addition or omission of a 2nd or 3rd or 4th set of something (IE easy might have 2 sets of mountain climbers in a workout, while medium has 3 and hard has 4 or else modification of the exercise - easy might have "pushups from knees" while hard has "pushups").
You can indeed select your workout days, but you are limited to 4 and only 4 days a week which "count" toward the programs. You can do other trainer-generated workouts on off days or as mentioned before play catch-up and make up your missed workouts.

I know you didn't ask, but I'm a sharing kind of guy so here's my one gripe: it apparently doesn't actually use the heart rate signal for calorie burn calculations (I always have problems w/ the sensor failing to read my heart rate during sprinting runs but the calories just keep ticking up), nor does it appear to utilize the amount of resistance you're working with (same estimated calorie burn if you tell it you're using a very light band or a very heavy band or 25lb dumbbells etc). I always totally disregard the calorie burn reported by the game and instead log what my Polar HRM says, which has shown itself to be accurate for me over the 70lbs I lost pre-MFP and the 6 or so since joining. Incidentally, the Polar always shows at least 30% higher calorie burn for me than EASA2 does, and in the more cardio intense days it's closer to 3x as high. Last night for example the game said 306cal but my polar FT60 said over 700, so if you've got a chest-strap HRM, use it too!

Thanks for the info!! I'm definitely going to try it out next pay day!

It does use the HRM for burn calculations. It just doesn't happen to calculate calories burned while you're waiting during the loading screens. I'd bet if you used your Polar to measure just during the exercises and not between them, it would be darn near the same number.

I would respectfully disagree.
In order to confirm what I've observed, I performed a little test this evening.
After my normal workout, while I was still warmed, I had the system build me a 15 minute trainer generated medium intensity cardio workout. I then disabled the warmup and cooldown exercises since would have been pointless (I was already warm and had no intention of cooling down/stopping after these tests). Then I put a piece of black duct tape over the inside of my left arm where the HR sensor in the game sits. I confirmed that it did not read any heart rate (--- shown on screen) and completed the workout at a typical level of effort while recording on my polar hrm (pausing the watch recording during the load screens - there were no demo videos or other delays since they are all exercises I've done before and the workout was not long enough to warrant water breaks). I logged the values the game showed (took a picture of the screen) and ended my polar exercise session. I then removed the tape blocking the HR reading, waited for my HR to stablize at ~100bpm on both the polar and the game. I then repeated the exact same workout at as close to the same intensity as I could manage, again pausing the polar record during load screens.
Here are the results:
Session 1 (WITHOUT HR in game):
EASA2 time: 8:02
Polar time: 8:41
EASA2 Calories burned: 85.4
Polar Calories burned 159
EASA2 Average HR: 1bpm
Polar Average HR: 149bpm (peak 175)

Session 2 (WITH HR in game):
EASA2 time: 7:45
Polar time: 8:22
EASA2 Calories burned: 85.8
Polar Calories burned: 163
EASA2 Average HR: 137bpm
Polar Average HR: 154 (peak 176)

Note that the "with HR signal" calorie burn reported by EASA2 is within 0.5% of the "without HR signal" value.
I don't think deeper analysis is really needed, but I do think no matter how you slice it you'll see that the HRM in EASA2 is at best a motivational tool, and at worst a marginally accurate toy... Now, having said that, I DO like the game, and the presence of the HR on screen (when it's working) is very motivating, and I have every intention of keeping it in my workout rotation, I just make sure I use a real HRM and log THOSE values.

I'd love to see some other datasets from other users who perform a similar test.

That is interesting about the heart rate monitor. I was just thinking this morning while do a custom work out (today was a rest day) that the games HR wasn't working properly. It kept telling me that my heart rate through a whole 30 min cardio workout never got past 130 bpm??? I find that very hard to believe when i was sweating and could clearly feel my HR was higher. At one point during a sprint (medium length) my HR actually DROPPED to 90 bpm and stayed there... haha

I don't have a HRM other then what the game provides. and I have heard people say you actually burn more then what the game tells you anyway. I just figure at least I'm not over estimating calories burned then :laugh:

Other then the HRM I love the Active 2 game. Its been great so far in my weight loss and fitness journey :drinker:

The EA Support forums are filled with people reporting that problem - HR dropping down or out completely during running exercises - the solution almost always seems to be to adjust the placement and the tension of the strap on the left arm sensor, as well as making sure you keep your shoulders loose during the running.. apparently when you tighten the strap too far or clench up your shoulder muscles you cut off circulation in the arm to the point that the sensor can't read your pulse any longer. I've only had mixed results w/ that, but my veins in that arm are deeply hidden away and hard for medical professionals to find/stick for blood tests or blood donations... it's worth a try anyway, the EA forums have a FAQ that details a lot of steps to take to try to troubleshoot the HR sensor issue. Hit me w/ a message if you can't find it on your own & I'll dig up the link or the steps to take to troubleshoot it.