Thank you to Ubisoft for providing me with a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 and sponsoring this fitness diary series. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.
("Is it heavy?" I asked him. "Mom, it's virtual!")
Unlike many fitness games for Xbox, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 can really involve the family with fitness activities that don't feel like exercise at all.
So this week I roped the kid into demonstrating a couple. (It's much easier to take pictures when someone else is doing the working out.)
First up was Stack 'Em Up, which was a favorite of ours in the first version of the game. The 2012 version ups the fitness by making the balance board larger and able to hold more bricks, but you have to balance on one leg, which is great for core strengthening and improving balance.
Wall Breaker is another kid fave -- you punch big bricks that shatter into pieces. You punch left and right across your body to smash 'em. Later on, you can kick them and knee them, too. He mastered Wall Breaker, as you can see by his glowing gold visage at left.
Both activities are great upper-body workouts and help work on core strength and balance. And the kids will never know it was exercise.
Mom and Dad will also find it cathartic to punch away the stress of holiday traffic and last-minute shopping (just sayin'...)
Exergames like this will be increasingly important to get young gamers off the couch and help stem the tide of childhood obesity.
Want to win your own copy?
At the end of my five-week series, I'll choose a random comment from the five weeks of posts, and that person will win a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012, so comment away!