Customer Reviews
Love It!! 
2008-06-07
I love this workout DVD. It really does adjust to your fitness level and can even be adjusted in the middle of a workout. Plus, the workouts very daily, so you do not fall into a rut with the same thing, which keeps it interesting. It tracks progress well and the recipe options are realistic-food that you can actually find in most stores.
Can I just say WOW! 2007-12-06
Ok, now I am pretty overweight but have been exercising with videos for a couple of months now. I have had Yourself Fitness for about a month. I love it!! I was getting bored with the videos because it's the same thing every day. This is always different which keeps you interested. There are tutorials if you are What? so you can figure out what exactly you are supposed to be doing. It's fabulous!
Great Product - Doesn't Crash on my PC 2007-08-21
I started using these product 3-years ago and found it to be just the thing for getting in better shape. Since I was a vain, very overweight male, I didn't want to join a club and be the most out of shape person there. I also didn't want to spend $80 a session on a personal trainer and I wanted a program with variety and a feedback system so I wouldn't hurt myself. The simple act of monitoring your heart rate with a chest/wrist heart monitor when you use this program will help keep you from getting sick or hurt. This will allow you to continue to workout on a regular basis without feeling so bad the next day that you don't want to do it again. I lost 30 pounds using this program and a good diet over 8-months. I have started to use it again after a 2-year break to get back on track again. I have never ever had it crash on my PC. I have a decent graphics card in my PC which may be the difference. I heartily recommend this to anyone regardless of your condition. It is really well thought out AND FUN program that adapts itself to your needs. Using this program on a regular basis and visiting with a Nutrition specialist once a month should certainly get you where you want to be.
Get Hooked on Exercise!!! 2007-08-09
I'm not a big exercise fan, but this product got me hooked on exercising and helped me lose 21 pounds. I've gotten two friends hooked on it too. It tracks your progress, mixes up the exercises so you don't get bored, and increases the difficulty so you progress nicely. It really is your own Personal Fitness Trainer. I own the Playstation 2 version and my friends own the PC version. No complaints on either version.
These workouts keep me going! 2007-02-16
I was expecting to like this program, not love it--and love it I do. I do workouts with it 6 times a week, and I'm on my 80th since September, when I bought it. I had hoped it would fill in with my home gym workouts and provide variety, but it's now my mainstay. I run it on a Dell XP Professional machine with no problems.
After profile setup, you're asked to do a 20-30 minute evaluation workout the first and every tenth workout to test cardio fitness, upper body, core, lower body, and flexibility you also are asked your weight. No, it's not exhaustive, but it's certainly good enough to go on with. Then the virtual trainer, Maya, makes a recommendation for a plan. You make your committment for days and durations, and on you go. (I'm a vegetarian, and on WeightWatchers, so I do my own menus--no comments about that part.)
There's always a few minutes of warm up, about 15 to 20 minutes of cardio (for my plan, anyhow), and then onto the focus of the day. I was in OK but not great shape when I started, and I can really see the difference in musculature and endurance after this many weeks. I'm pretty pleased. I don't get bored, as the exercises routines are never *exactly* the same from day to day or week to week. We rotate through Cardio, Upper Body, Core, Lower Body, and Flexibility workouts. The "Weight Loss" workout turns out to be another Cardio class. You need about 4 paces square to work in, and a cushioned mat for floor work.
The routines are adjusted for what equipment you have as well as how long you want to go. Durations are in 15 minute increments up to an hour. The equipment is minimal: your choice of any or all of cardio monitor, step-bench, balance ball, and hand weights. I don't have a step bench, but I may get one just for curiosity's sake (when I can afford one). The cardio monitor was a nice-to-have, too, though you can tell if you're at your 80% range by a certain natural rhythm to your breathing (in-breath for two steps, out-breath for two steps). You can get most anything you'd need from Target or by mail from Amazon. Two 3-pound weights are good starters for most purposes--I'm moving them pretty fast to use much heavier weights.
Maya does check in with you thoughout the program to see how you're doing, and adjusts the difficulty appropriately. I'd say they pretty much got that right, and I do appreciate it. If I start off saying I'm not feeling great, the workout is easier. If I'm feeling peppy, she's that much harder.
Not hard enough? Bounce more and use more weights. I have knees that hurt, so I do a low-impact version of the exercises when I have to, and that works fine, too. You have to use some judgement on your own to make it work for you, same as with any class or method.
I have to say that I like the music pretty well, too. I think they mixed their own and did a good job of it. You can adjust the relative voice/music levels, too. Actually, if you were completely deaf but could see the screen, you could still have a good workout with this. The exercise you're on scrolls across the bottom of the screen, and shows what's coming up, too.
I haven't done much with the yoga (Meditation Garden) section, but I'm not much into Hatha Yoga anyway. It's fairly fast-moving for my tastes, but that's not a bad thing. You may have to use the "tutorial" button to get the mannikin model to show you how to do things a time or two.
Answering some of the negatives in other reviews: The "pixelation", or jaggies, is because Maya is placed on her background like a sprite with no anti-aliasing. Who cares? It's good enough visually for its purpose, and a few years old at that. It's not all that noticeable from across a room, anyhow. Not enough variety in exercises?--well, there's only so many variations to jogging, kicking, stepping, and arm-flapping that you can do. Have a favorite you want to substitute during a class for something Maya's doing? Go ahead. Who'll know but you? If you work this program, it'll work for you.
Now, bad customer service is a sad thing, I have to agree. The company that made this isn't really in business any more, so they're not helpful, I hear, and more's the pity. I would have adored an expansion. But that's a business problem, not a design problem. And I'm not really surprised that some PCs have problems with the program--that's pretty much the story with PC games anyhow. I guess I didn't expect perfection, (being a programming/design geek myself) so I'm very happy with it overall. This has been a *lot* of bang for $30!
Save your money 
2007-01-24
This Yourself!Fitness Program for Home PC software brings the expertise of a certified personal trainer and nutritionist into your home to guide you through a personalized health and fitness program. Maya, your interactive personal trainer, builds a program that is tailored to your lifestyle and gives you one-on-one training with over 500 unique exercises that never get boring. Choose your music, your mood and your focus and let Maya, through step-by-step coaching, do the rest. ESRB rating: E (Everyone). Genre is Heath and Fitness. Imported. 7.5Hx1.25Wx5.25L".
Excellent personal trainer 
2006-12-30
If you're lacking a gym, hate sterile workouts that leave you plateaued, and need dynamic workouts - let this little number help you out. What a great program - your personal trainer adjusts to your abilities, the sound track is fine, the exercises are fun, and there are so many options to go along with it.
The diet planning section is a little weak, though I never attempted to truly make use of it. You DO get tired of the exercises after repetition, so a little more variety would have been useful.
That said, this is far better than a book or video, could even be better than a pass to the gym.
Be Very Careful!!!! 2006-12-28
When I purchased this for my PC, I was thrilled. It was truly interactive and a fun program. It got me moving and I raved about it.
However, a few weeks in, it simply stopped working. I went to the website and tried to use the PC patch, but it didn't work. I discovered from the message board that, not only were many people experiencing the same problems, but that the makers of the program had stopped responding to any tech support issues. In addition, they seem to be involved in a huge law suit.
Now, to be fair, my understanding is that the folks who bought and are using the Playstation version are not having the same technical issues. I don't own that version, so can't speak to that personally.
I loved the program and should they ever solve their legal problems and tech problems, I would try this again, but right now I feel as though I wasted my money.
If you are already fit .... 2006-10-20
I'm 5'7", 125 lbs, and am in good shape so I wasn't sure if Yourself Fitness would be up to par. The fitness evaluation is to test how fit you are and there are those who may not be able to do what is asked for you to do regarding the specified number of jumping jacks/crunches/push ups, etc. so I was concerned when I was able to complete the fitness evaluation with ease. Now I am on my seventh workout and this program has still been able to challenge me. All I have to do is use heavier weights. Most of the exercises for me are in the 4-5 difficulty range (5 being the highest) and this has been fine. I just completed my first 45 minute cardio workout and used my heartrate monitor to calculate I burned 466 calories. That may not seem like much, but it takes a lot (like interval 15-45 degree inclines on a treadmill at the gym) for me to burn those calories in the same amount of time. All of this from the convenience of my home! I tried TurboJam, which is fun, but every time I do the same workout, I burn fewer calories because I'm getting used to it! At least with Yourself Fitness, I can look forward to various workouts which will keep my body challenged.
The rest breaks can be tedious but it usually gives me a chance to get my stepper, workout mat or weights together, in front of the computer, before the next exercise. I like all the music so far and don't care where Maya works out since I'll still be at home doing the same exact exercises anyway. I don't know if I will stop going to the gym altogether, but there is a possibility. Males, if they wanted to be muscular yet lean, could use Yourself Fitness to their benefit if they used heavy enough weights.
Nice Complement to a Treadmill 2006-10-08
I have been running regularly for many years and am in decent shape. However, I am concerned that running does little or nothing for upper body and other muscle groups or for flexibility. At various times, I have tried other ways to strengthen and stretch, but have generally lost interest and gone back to only running.
I was quite interested in hearing about this program and have been using it on my intel mac for about 2 months. I have averaged about 3-4 sessions a week, and am extremely pleased with the product.
On the positive side, I like the idea of being able to select the focus and the time for each session. I have primarily been using the upper body and the flexibility workouts, with less emphasis on the core, lower body, and cardio/weight loss.
The nice thing about these choices is that if you are still hurting from a upper body workout, you can select flexibility or one of the other options and work other parts of your body. In addition, I have the step, a series of hand weights, and a stability ball; all of which seem to add lots of new options for the exercices.
It is a little difficult to understand or explain why a computer animated figure can get you to do exercies that you wouldn't do otherwise. The funny thing is that it does have that effect for me, and my wife has also become a big fan and regular user of Maya.
As to results, I have noticed definite improvements in the two areas of interest: upper body and flexibility, and also some improvement in core strength. I am looking forward to skiiing this year, as I think these improvements will be helpful, and I will also explore some lower body in advance of the trips.
Some Nits: The program suggested that my focus should be cardio, which made little sense in terms of where I was when I started. In addition, the program does give some odd feedback in terms of 'new exercises learned today', missing many and listing some that were not new. These don't really have any effect on the benefits of the program.
Finally, I would like to have ways of incorporating other exercise into the progress and monitoring, such as the running or other non-Maya led workouts. I like to keep track of the range of fitness efforts, and it would be great to bring these all into the Inside Fitness program.
Overall, this has turned out to be an almost perfect answer for my (previously) imbalanced training regimen.
