Feel the Burn

I've lost five pounds in the last several weeks, but my clothes are not any looser. I must have lost muscle mass while I wasn't able to work out after surgery. Blah! Good news is I'm back to regular workouts since last week, and I didn't lose any of my stamina, although I do notice a little difference in my strength.

I read an article the other day that said that of the common workout regimens, aerobic kickboxing burns the most calories per hour (800). I never understand why people look at it in that way. Like, I've worked off 600 calories! Heck, the treadmills even give you that info. It's irrelevant to me. I don't exercise to run off a particular piece of food; I exercise for aerobic and cardiac fitness so I can feel good when I climb the stairs or otherwise exert myself, for muscle tone, and for an increase in metabolism (from increased muscle mass) so I can eat what I want.

You can use those absolute calorie numbers for a comparison of relative exertion, which then indicates a more effective and strenuous workout. Excellent, because my favorite thing to do is kickboxing! So glad I can finally do it again!

KathyL recommended the Wii walking game Walk It Out, particularly for Jeff, who is just starting to work out. (I like playing but I'm still doing my FitTV workouts.) It's really fun, except for two things- your steps aren't easily registered either on the balance board or by holding the controller, and it's difficult to aim at the items on the screen while your controller is bouncing around as you walk. Jeff ordered a dance pad controller to see if it will work better. You walk around an empty space and for each step you earn points towards populating the scene with plants, signs, benches, etc. You have to aim and shoot the symbols to get the items. You also shoot and collect "rainbow spheres," which do something I have yet to figure out.

It has good music, too.

We also got Wii Fit Plus, which I haven't played yet. Lauren says the Kung Fu is hilarious. My favorite thing on Wii Fit is the hula hoop, which hurts so good after twenty minutes. Abs of steel, baby. They have it on Wii Fit Plus as well, it seems. KathyL also recommended the running game on that one. I like the one on Wii Fit, and this one is supposed to be better.