Nike + Kinect Training sneak peek

Believe it or not I’m actually into home fitness. Yes I’ve spent time with a gym membership but to be honest I didn’t really achieve any goals due to not really having a planned regime, little feedback from the staff there and being a bit too scared to enter the bit of the gym with the heavy weights because of all the big muscley guys in there who may decide to pick me up and use me as a weight!

And so I’ve dabbled with Wii Fit, tried the UFC Kinect game and really only had proper success with the Beachbody P90X workout DVDS. The Nike + Kinect Training software, however, is something genuinely exciting because it’s more just about fitness with no ‘gimmicks’ as such. Today I got to have a go at a short demo to see how it all works at a special Nike location in Shoreditch, London. First of all, they fitted me with a NIke FUEL band. It’s basically a wrist band with three accelerometers in there which track when and how you move. It then stores all your movement as NikeFUEL points, calories and steps taken so you can monitor how active you are on a day to day basis. Plug it into your PC and it will upload and store all your stats so you can see how you’ve done and even compare your points with your mates and post them on Facebook and Twitter if you fancy showing off.

It’s this NikeFUEL system that’s also used in the Kinect software. I had a brief demo which involved picking a male or a female trainer to help me train and give me advice and then tried some squats, some core work and some good old fashioned burpees. As you train you can see an image of yourself on the screen next to your mentor so you can see your form. The Kinect will also know if you’re not quite doing the exercises correctly and give you advice on how to correct your stance and movement. Although I didn’t get to try everything, I’m also told the game tailors workout programs to suit your goals and then gives you a 4 week regime which is also flexible in case you need to miss a workout or sneak an extra one in. You can even train with a partner via video chat to give yourself some extra motivation and as a bonus you can laugh at their workout getup if you so please!

Nike+ Kinect is out on Friday and I for one can’t wait to try it out in full.

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Related: Kinect, fitness videogames