ea sports active 2 question

Options
melodydenise
melodydenise Posts: 9
in Fitness and Exercise
I just got this game. If I try the 3 or 9 week challenges, how many days per week will I work out? How long are the workouts? What happens if you miss a day? TIA

Replies

  • LeAnn_Mae
    LeAnn_Mae Posts: 263 Member
    Options
    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.
  • sillygoose1977
    sillygoose1977 Posts: 2,151 Member
    Options
    The workouts are 4 days a week. They start at about 25 minutes and gradually get longer and harder. If you miss a day you can go back and make it up on one of your "off" days. Good luck! I love mine.
  • brittanymonster
    brittanymonster Posts: 58
    Options
    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! :D
  • melodydenise
    melodydenise Posts: 9
    Options
    Cool, thanks everyone! I'm going to set it up tonight
  • AbbyLu
    AbbyLu Posts: 29
    Options
    You will answer most of your questions yourself once you set it all up. :)
  • nsueflorence
    nsueflorence Posts: 295 Member
    Options
    Have fun I just finished the 3 week. The only thing is I missed a few work outs then when 3 weeks was up I could not go back and finish them! I was trying to get caught back up but it just didn't happen in time.

    Sometimes It just doesn't work out for me to it 4 days a week. I was out of town. Or stuck at work with the snow. So now I am just doing trainer generated work outs when I can now.

    I love how its sometime different everyday. Also that you can put your own music with it, but I also wish it would shuffle through the songs. It doesn't see to.
  • melodydenise
    melodydenise Posts: 9
    Options
    Yeah, I definitely can't work out at the same time/same days every week. I have a 6 month old and work full time so basically I have to squeeze it in during his nap time or get my hubby to watch the baby...not always possible. I'll try to do it as much as possible though. I also take long walks with the baby in the stroller and that has started to make a difference :)
  • sharper43
    sharper43 Posts: 109
    Options
    Oh, while we are on this topic-
    I want to get a Wii workout game but I'm so undecided. There are so many out there! I know that the game that came with the Wii Fit board DID NOT make me sweat or anything. I couldn't get my heart rate up and was so disappointed.

    Can anyone tell me if the EA Active or any other recommended games really get your heart rate going and get a good workout out of them? I don't want a wussy kid activity game. Or do I just get a better workout from DVDs?
  • pyroxian
    pyroxian Posts: 99
    Options
    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!
  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
    Options
    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.

    Sharper43 -- Yes, this game is good for working up a sweat and getting your heart going. It has 3 intensity levels so you can change it to suit your needs. You can do the 30-day program or the 9-week program, both of which are cool, and/or you can do your own workouts that you can build based on what you want to focus on. It's a good choice, IMO. My biggest gripe about it is the resistance band that comes with it. It kind of sucks. The handles hurt my hands and the band itself doesn't offer enough resistance, even for wimpy me. Well, I guess it depends on the exercise -- there are some things that are hard for me with it. But anyway, you can customize the game settings to use with hand weights or a different band, so that's fixable.
  • melodydenise
    melodydenise Posts: 9
    Options
    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!


    Good information, thank you
  • lucky48
    lucky48 Posts: 65 Member
    Options
    I have EA Sports Active 2 for the ps3 and although I like it, I use it only when I get really bored. I tried doing the workouts but I found that I was only burning about 250 calories when I did them. In order to get more out of them, I had to set custom workouts on the hardest difficulty which killed me.

    I'm also not very fond of the resistance band that came with the game as I find it to be a little too short. The knot around the handle once came loose and snapped me in the leg when I had it fully outstretched. Man that hurt. I do the exercises with 10 lb hand weights now.

    I love Zumba so a few weeks ago, I got the Zumba game. It's difficult if you haven't done Zumba before as it quickly switches from one move to the next, but I've found that Zumba burns almost 600+ calories for me whenever I workout for an hour. I love doing it and find I'm playing this game more than EA2.
  • sharper43
    sharper43 Posts: 109
    Options
    Thanks for the info!! I'm definitely going to try it out next pay day!
  • sharper43
    sharper43 Posts: 109
    Options
    I love Zumba so a few weeks ago, I got the Zumba game. It's difficult if you haven't done Zumba before as it quickly switches from one move to the next, but I've found that Zumba burns almost 600+ calories for me whenever I workout for an hour. I love doing it and find I'm playing this game more than EA2.

    I've never done Zumba before. I've heard of it, and it's like a dancing workout, right? I really suck at dancing workouts. lol
  • pyroxian
    pyroxian Posts: 99
    Options
    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.
  • Dom82
    Dom82 Posts: 235
    Options
    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:
  • pyroxian
    pyroxian Posts: 99
    Options
    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.

Categories