Electro-Surfing and Wii-ing

My sister has an impressive collection of exercise equipment. Most of it, she would be the first to admit, is unused and buried somewhere in the house never to be seen again. However since my arrival in Dawley I have been eyeing up the Bodi-Tek machine which is still new enough to be out in the open in the lounge and available for use, and so in the name of blog-research I decided to give it a go. The machine aims to target core muscles and leg muscles by simulating surfing type motions which make you readjust your balance and work to keep upright and stay on the board. There are 3 levels of difficulty and each pre-programmed session lasts for 15 mins. I lasted less than 5 minutes on level 1 - and this included falling off once! I think my feet got more of a work out than anything else - clearly I was trying to grip on with these rather than relying on my core and balance and I got terrible cramp in my toes and feet which is what caused me to give up fairly quickly. As an exercise machine I give it a fail, although my sister has managed to get up to level 3 and says that she can feel the effects on core and leg muscles after using it. Oh, and my heart rate was 90 when I got off, which I guess is not bad for something you can do in front of the telly. Think I'll stick to sit ups and running! Later in the evening we had a session on the Wii balance board which included slalom skiing, ski jumping, heading footballs and a step aerobics session. I was consistently sucky at all of the things that involved shifting balance - I guess practice is required to work out how far to move etc. on a more positive note I was pretty successful at the step routine and it was so much more enjoyable than step classes at the gym as there was no one shouting at you.