beatricehamp74: Is the Nike+ Kinect Training Program the Personal Trainer You’ve Been Looking For?

Saturday, 1 December 2012

Is the Nike+ Kinect Training Program the Personal Trainer You’ve Been Looking For?

(CC) Fast Company/Nike+ Kinect

Are you envious of celebs who have the monetary means to hire a personal trainer to stop by their house at the flip of a switch? Sure, that would be a nice perk to have in life, but there are other options for the rest of us. The Nike+ Kinect Training program might just be one of them.

The gym isn’t for everyone. Some of us prefer the comfort of our own home, where we are free to be as silly and free with our bad selves as we’d like. If you have an Xbox 360, you might want to check out the recently unveiled Nike+ Kinect Training program. It acts as a virtual trainer using motion sensing technology to guide your movements and challenge you to push harder.

The program retails for $49.99 and comes with customizable workouts. It doesn’t matter if you’re a new mom looking to get back in shape, someone in your 50s who has never been very athletic, or a pro who can’t get by for even a day without a workout: The Nike+Kinect adjusts to anyone’s current level of fitness. Nike does recommend, however, that anyone who is just beginning the program go through the Fitness Challenge at the beginning to get an assessment.

If you do the Fitness Challenge every four weeks, you will receive a Fuel Print to track your progress. It can let you know what you are doing wrong and what you are doing right. It can identify your strengths and your weaknesses. In addition, it allows you to compare your stats and/or progress with that of the greater Nike+Kinect community, including its own personal trainers. There’s nothing like a little bit of healthy competition to keep motivation at a prime level.

As with many programs of this nature, there is also a mobile companion app available for iOS and windows devices.