My Experience With the Eye Toy Kinetic for Playstation 2
The other day while mentioning the Nintendo Wii Fit, I remembered that I do own a fitness-based game.
Probably about a year and a half ago, I purchased the Eye Toy Kinetic (affiliate link) for the Playstation 2. I had received a gift certificate through a rewards program from one of my credit cards and I decided that I wanted to give the game a try. It seemed like something fun the family could do.
The game is a personal fitness trainer that you can have anytime in the comfort of your own home. You can choose your trainer (male or female) and they guide you through exercises that are geared towards different “zones”
- Combat - To increase strength, flexibility and reaction time
- Cardio - To improve cardiovascular fitness
- Toning - To condition your body
- Mind & Body - To promote good posture, balance and breathing
These zones are combined to create a 12-week program that is geared towards you and your level of difficulty. Or, you can create a custom workout for yourself. One thing I really liked about the game is that it was easy for a beginner such as myself to understand. The exercises are explained well.
The key to making this game work is the Eye Toy camera. This little camera sits on top of your TV and actually projects you on the TV screen. You are interacting with the elements of the game and that’s how you get a workout.
The game itself is a great idea. But for me, a morbidly obese person, I found it difficult to watch myself on screen. All the time I was going through a fitness zone, I was reminded of exactly how fat I was and I started feeling more bad than good about the workout. It’s not a problem with the game, it’s the mental issues I have about my weight.
Once I have lost more weight and/or feel more comfortable with my body, I can see myself using this game as part of my workouts. When I decided to purchase this game, for some reason it never clicked in my mind that I would have such a great view of myself doing the exercises. And it never really clicked in my mind how uncomfortable it would make me to see myself on the TV screen.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Rather than getting mad at seeing yourself on the tv screen, you should use it as motivation to slim down!
I’d never heard of that; I might consider getting that for my wife for the winter when she doesn’t have much time to work out. She uses the treadmill in the basement, but there is only so much that you can do on a treadmill.
I was thinking about perhaps justifying a Nintendo Wii purchase under the excuse of fitness 
But I’m too focused on paying down debt to buy a toy like that right now.
So I’m not an advocate of exercising at home. I think it’s too easy to get distracted with other things - including cooking for family.
My basic ideology on exercise/weight is calories in vs. calories out.
Try getting out of bed and going for a walk every morning before work. It’s a great private and reflective time to think about yourself and your health. - you could maybe listen to the news on a walkman. There’s no need for gadgets - try just one foot in front of the other.
The advantage of a gym membership is that hopefully you will actually get yourself there so that you aren’t wasting your money. The advantage of a home workout is that you don’t have to travel. The advantage of a walk break (in the morning, at lunch, in the evening, whenever) is that you can do it almost any time and almost anywhere.
After you talked about Wii Fit the other day (which I totally want, and we already have the Wii), I remembered that I have DDRMax, which can be a great workout. So last night when we were at Wal-Mart we bought a second dance pad and busted it out last night. Well, I remembered why I haven’t played it in so long. Our first dance pad doesn’t work too well (arrow up is wonky) and slips around, and the new one didn’t work at all! So we alternated a little but I’m not going to be motivated to play it unless we get some good dance pads.