Yourself! Fitness

by RESPONDESIGN

Product Features

• Unlimited access to a virtual personal trainer
• Meal planning and nutritional guidance
• Dynamic workouts to keep you motivated

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0006HHI3E
• Item model number: 189313000010
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 4, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,552 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #29 in Software > Home & Hobbies > Cooking & Health
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Make a Promise to yourself today and begin a commitment to your health for life with Yourself!Fitness. Maya, the Yourself!Fitness personal trainer, wi ll help you choose your health and fitness goals and then she will work with yo u to achieve them. Maya will guide you through dynamic workouts featuring over 500 unique exercises--ensures no two workouts are ever the same. Choose your mu sic, your mood, your focus, and Maya will take care of the rest.

Interactive
With Yourself!Fitness you will be in a one-on-one training situation with M aya. Maya will respond to your needs and guide you through your workout giving you step-by-step coaching from warm-up to cool-down.

Personalized
Maya will create a unique, personalized exercise program driven by your spe cific health and fitness goals. When you are ready to workout, choose the place and the music that fit your mood and start on the path to a sleeker, stronger you.

Responsive trainer
By tracking your effort (through perceived level of exertion ratings), Maya is able to alter the course and difficulty of a workout as it progresses to ma tch your personal needs for the day. Maya will keep track of this information f or each workout and modify the long-term fitness program to match your performa nce over time.

Tutorial
If you are ever unsure of how to perform an aerobic routine or you just can 't figure out how to properly perform a certain exercise, simply activate the t utorial feature and Maya will take time out of the workout and teach you what y ou need to know. In the tutorial, Maya explains each step in detail with the he lp of an animated model. While in the Tutorial Mode, you can control both the c amera and speed to focus on the part of the move that is difficult for you. Onc e you understand, simply return to the workout and Maya will pick up where you left off.

Fully customizable workouts
You can customize your workout by selecting one of six focus areas for the day (weight loss, lower body, core, upper body, cardio, flexibility). Maya will take your choice into account as she builds your routine, integrating your cho sen focus area with your long term fitness goals. By combining your daily focus with your long-term goals, Maya keeps the workouts interesting and fun, but al so makes sure you achieve your desired results.

Personal profile
Before you begin the Yourself!Fitness program, Maya will guide you through a series of strength and flexibility tests and ask you to build a personal prof ile including basic information such as age, height, gender, and weight. She wi ll use all this information to build a health and fitness program that fits you r body, your mind, and your schedule.

Multiple workout locations and music options
Join Maya for a workout in your choice of six locations depending on your m ood and what will motivate you toward your goals today. You may choose to compl ete a yoga routine in the serenity of the Meditation Garden, push through a hig h-intensity cardio set at the Alpine Retreat, tone and strengthen your core und er the palms at an Island Paradise, sweat out the stress of the day in the dry heat of the Desert Springs Resort, or bounce through a step aerobic dance serie s while enjoying the panoramic views from the top floor of an Urban Oasis or Em press Dojo.

Customizable meal planner
Based on your Personal Profile, Maya will recommend a weekly meal plan comp lete with recipes, preparation instructions, shopping lists, and over 4500 reci pes. You are able to adjust your weekly meal plan and your daily menu so that i t fits your taste preferences as well as the number of servings you need to pre pare.

Goal oriented
Maya helps you choose your health and fitness goals and then works with you to achieve them. She will monitor your progress toward your goals and motivate you to keep pushing until you look and feel your absolute best.

Progress monitor
By keeping track of your performance during each workout, Maya is able to c reate a record of your progress toward your goals. At the end of each workout M aya will review your achievements with you and show you a graph of where you st arted, where you are today, and where you are going.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All I can say is -=wow=-, December 31, 2004

By 

holodoctor1 (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yourself! Fitness (CD-ROM)

Yourself fitness is probably the best purchase I've made in 2004. I have always had a problem with fitness and exercise (I get bored quickly) but Maya (the yourself fitness mascot) constantly keeps me motivated, and makes me want to push myself to become even better. This `game' is excellently done, and the graphics (especially the backgrounds) are superb. If you want something to push for, there are different workout locations and music you can unlock the more you workout. I find pro/con lists in Amazon.com reviews really help me, so I'll add one.

Pros:
1. Maya constantly keeps you motivated to do your best. She will ask you how you are feeling, and then adjust your workout accordingly.
2. The music is great, and really helps you to get in the `workout' mood. Only 3 are unlocked at the beginning (Latin, 80's, and hip-hop) - not my favorite choices, but 80's seems to be a good mix of fast dance and energy, and once I unlock the rest of them, I'll be a happy camper ;).
3. Workout schedule - you can program how much you want to work out any given day of the week - Maya will remember that and program your workout according to your internal computer clock, which saves you time.
4. You can focus on the workout you want to do. So, say Maya suggests upper body strength (from your fitness evaluation), but you want to do weight loss instead. You just chose weight loss and Maya will do that instead.
5. Meal plans - you can print off meal plans from the yourself fitness CD, benefiting your overall health.
6. Tutorials - If you have no idea how to do an exercise correctly, you can enter a tutorial mode, where a person made of muscles will show you how to do the exercise, and Maya will verbally walk you through it. You can zoom or rotate around the person to make sure you are doing it right.
7. The obvious feature of being able to do a workout with a personal trainer anytime anywhere (I suggest hooking a laptop, if you have one, up to your TV. It is much easier to do a workout on a larger screen)
8. Great graphics, especially the backgrounds. And I LOVE the opening movie!
9. Works on even old systems. My system is pretty old, but still meets the min requirements, and runs beautifully on my computer.

Cons.
1. The Meditation garden is pretty hard, especially if you've never done yoga before. Maya stops talking after a while, and just does the actions. (not a bug, the company said they didn't want to make her sound repetitive, so they made her stop after awhile). This is very hard when your doing `plank' (your face is on the floor) because you have no idea when Maya will change position.
2. You can't use your own music, which would be pretty hard to do, because Maya would have to sync up to the music. But if she could, it would be awesome!
3. No male trainer. Now, I'm a guy, and I still love this program, but it would be cool to have your choice of trainer (Maya or Maya's male counterpart). However, this program can be used by both males and females, so Maya will choose a workout specific to you.

In conclusion, if you want to make a commitment to yourself, and get in shape, you should buy this software or Xbox or PS2 game right away. You won't regret it one bit. I can't wait till tomorrow so I can do my next workout with Maya!
Good luck!
(also, check out the yourself fitness website for a workout preview)

73 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The novelty alone will keep you interested!, January 17, 2005

By 

Melissa Warner (Westerville, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yourself! Fitness (CD-ROM)

I've been an on again/off again exerciser. I get frustrated with the time spent going to the gym, checking in, changing, etc. so I'd rather work out at home. I've got several videos, which I've stuck pretty well to, but Yourself!Fitness has allowed me to go a step further by keeping me exercising daily for 20+ days. I know that may not sound like much, but I'm very pleased with the committment I've been able to keep. Perhaps it's because Maya (the virtual trainer) responds so "humanly". I missed a work out one day last week, and when I logged in the next day she said "Hey! I missed you last time!" , almost as if she was really disappointed that I stood her up. Additionally, she sounds human, looks human and does human things...such as straighten her shirt between exercises, or tie her shoe, or tighten her ponytail. Again, this sounds a bit goofy, but the real-ness of her helps to make me feel like I really DO have to show up, that I'm letting SOMEONE down - videos and DVDs don't hold me accountable.

As to whether or not the fitness program is working or not - I can tell you yes. I really don't know how much weight I've lost, but I know it's enough that my pants fit differently, and that little "thing" on the side of my thigh (do we call those saddlebags? Yuk - such an UGLY word!) has dissipated. My shoulders and arms are changing shape, my calves are becoming more defined and I have lots more energy than I used to.

I typically work out with Maya everyday for 30-45 minutes, and I usually choose the workout she suggests for me. I toss in a flexibility workout once or twice a week, and the meditation garden (yoga) once a week or whenever I'm feeling particularly lifeless or taut from earlier workouts. I like the fact that in the Meditation Garden, Maya repeats the instructions the first few times - it helps get the moves right and puts the particular move into muscle memory so that it becomes easy to do it without her narration.

Note that throughout - and at the end - the program asks how you felt about the last section. Depending upon your answer, the next workout is modified to either slow it down or challenge you even more. I appreciate that it reflects my "mood" while keeping inline with the goals I've set.

The recipes that are provided are tasty and easy to prepare. I haven't yet found anything that requires a trip to a specialty store. The menu plan is easy to set up and follow - I'm doing a bit of a modified plan since I have a family who aren't all dieting. And there is plenty of variety so I don't feel like I'm only eating chicken and brown rice with a small salad day in and day out.

I seriously think that this is a wonderful program. I'm giving it great word of mouth among my friends. As I mentioned at the beginning, if nothing else, the novelty and freshness of the program will keep me interested for quite a while to come!

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars bye bye gym membership, December 13, 2004

By 

dtwood (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yourself! Fitness (CD-ROM)

Tried YF this morning and loved it. bye bye gym membership!

Its been 5 years since i last did yoga and 3 since I have done any aerobics classes. So I elected for the 'guest pass' feature to get a quick idea about the program and get my footing. Chose to focus on 'weight loss/30 minutes/hip hop/no equipment/in the city.'

Got started with some basic movements then 10 minutes into it... I am sweating like I would after 20-25 minutes at the gym on the eliptical machine. the music was good... and I like the little bar at the bottom that tells you the next exercise move coming up. after a bit, i was transitioning into the next move right on time (which has never happened in gym classes). 14 minutes into the 30 I am thinking I should have opted for the shorter workout... but I hung in there and got my self moving and really made myself proud.

Managed to do the whole routine and am excited to try another tomorrow. I have 15 lbs to lose and am looking forward to it!

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