Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout

If you’re looking for the complete workout, Gold’s Gym Carido Workout doesn’t quite fit that bill. However, if you’re looking for something to supplement what you do with Wii Fit, Gold’s Gym does make a nice companion to your Wii Fit exercise routine.

Gold’s Gym Carido Workout focuses on exactly what its title says: a cardio workout. This is done with intense sessions of boxing. You’ll follow a pattern of ducks and punches as you engage in thirty-minute prepared workouts, or as you set up your own workout. Honestly, I was kind of surprised at just how engaging and fun the workouts were. I really enjoyed throwing punches in a set pattern, and the workout definitely gets your heart going and will make you work up a good healthy sweat.

If you have more than one Wiimote, you’ll want to use that option for your controls. You can also use a Wiimote/Nunchuck combination, but that set up doesn’t feel nearly as free due to the connecting cord nor does it feel as responsive. With the dual Wiimotes, you simply grip them as you make a fist and start throwing punches. The Wiimotes are pretty accurate in registering your movements. I’d say they register what you’re doing accurately about 95% of the time when punching, and maybe 85% when ducking. Once I got into the rhythm of the workout, I forgot I was holding anything in my hands as I concentrated on just throwing punches, which is a sign of putting the Wiimotes’ motion abilities to good use.

Aside from the cardio boxing, there are a few other exercises you can engage in. There are some more boxing exercises to do, as well as push-ups, an ab workout, squats, a back work out, and jumping rope. The ab and push-up workouts are decent, but not quite as focused or intense as they are on Wii Fit. The jump rope workout is a great idea, but getting the right rhythm with the Wiimote to register your movement properly is spotty at best. It’s nice to have a little variety in your exercises, but the range of exercises isn’t nearly as varied as Wii Fit. Gold’s Gym is mainly focused on the cardio boxing. It’s a much better boxing workout than Wii Fit’s, which makes this workout a good complement to Wii Fit, but not a substitute.

On the downside, Gold’s Gym Carido Workout doesn’t have any sort of journaling or tracking options to see how you’re progressing. You don’t track your weight or BMI like you do in Wii Fit, and there’s really nothing to show you any sort of progression in your daily workout. This is the biggest weakness with Gold’s Gym, as having the graphs and info available to show you your progress on Wii Fit is a great motivator to keep working out. Nothing’s quite as satisfying as seeing instant results of how your workout is affecting your weight and BMI, or seeing how its been affected over a period of time. Considering EA Sports Active will introduce an in-depth journaling system that will not only track your weight and calories burned, but also help you keep track of what and how much you eat and what other activities you so (which Wii Fit also does), the lack of that option in Gold’s Gym is a glaring omission.

During the past month as I used Gold’s Gym for a regular workout, I must admit that I was struck at how I was so willing to dedicate time to my physical fitness, and yet was so willing to let things slide with my spiritual fitness. While I always found time to workout, I often made excuses for not having enough time to do Bible study or pray or even just read my Bible. It’s strange that we’re often so much more concerned with our physical fitness and so lackadaisical when it comes to spiritual fitness. Paul warned Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:8 that “Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

I like the fact that Paul acknowledges that physical fitness is a good thing. It’s good to be healthy and fit; that has many benefits. However, even the most physically fit person won’t live forever. No matter how physically healthy we may be, it’s our spiritual health that will matter in eternity. That’s why it’s so crucial that we don’t put off spiritual health, but rather pursue with a similar zeal as our physical fitness. Our pursuit of godliness is what will benefit us in eternity, and putting that off until later is gambling with eternity in hell. I know that sounds dramatic, but that is what’s at stake.

The good news is that we are saved by grace; Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead to free us from sin and bring us new life. However, we also have a responsibility to be disciples and train ourselves in the truth of God’s word: to pursue spiritual fitness through discipleship and training. We work out to prepare for our daily lives, but we pursue God so we can prepare for our eternal lives. Neglecting our physical bodies can lead to a lot of problems in the here and now, but neglecting our spiritual health is a whole lot riskier and can lead to problems and discomfort that will last for eternity; I exhort you to not take that risk. If you’ve never given any thought to the condition of your soul, I urge you to do so now and consider what the Bible says about eternity. If you have, but maybe are just coasting along, I urge to start a workout in the Bible so that as a healthy follower of Christ you’ll be equipped and prepared to share Truth and save souls. As for myself, perhaps what I need to do is find a way to combine my time of physical workouts with some Bible study time as well… hmm, that’s half a thought.

Gold’s Gym Carido Workout delivers on what it promises, a good cardio workout, but fails to deliver an overall excellent workout routine. With very few other exercises to work different muscle groups and no option to track your progress over weeks or months, this exercise game ends up feeling a bit incomplete. The boxing is a lot of fun and is definitely a solid workout, but without Wii Fit, you won’t really get a balanced workout with Gold’s Gym. If you’re looking for a better cardio boxing workout than what’s on Wii Fit, Gold’s Gym is the answer. If you’re tired of the same routine with Wii Fit and are looking for something to replace it, Gold’s Gym is not that game. It can compliment what you’re doing on Wii Fit, but it just can’t replace it.

Score out of 7:

Graphics: 4 - Simple and functional. Characters are very cartoony and almost anime in their design, which I find a little odd. There are some simple customizing options to make your own character. Nothing fancy here, but it’s not ugly either.

Sound: 4 - Simple and functional. There are plenty of songs to workout to, but they’re party-dance remix electronic versions, so they can get a little annoying after awhile. Other than that, there’s not much going on that require awesome sound FX. No voiceovers, which again seems odd but it’s just a quirk and not a flaw.

Gameplay: 5 - A fun and tiring cardio boxing workout. You can choose the intensity of the routine, and you also have a few extra exercises to use as well. Not quite as comprehensive as Wii Fit, but a good compliment to it.

Controls: 5 - Using dual Wiimotes adds a good level of immersion for the boxing workouts, and the accuracy is pretty tight. You can also use the Wii balance board for some of the other workouts. Motion controls don’t register your ducks as well as your punches, but the controls missing what you’re trying to do is only a minor annoyance.

Story: N/A

Content: 6 - Nothing offensive here, unless you object to punching air.

Final: 5 - Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout is a good workout, but it’s not as comprehensive as Wii Fit. The lack of any sort of way to track your progression is the biggest flaw here, but other than that, this is a solid cardio workout and adds a little variety to a Wii Fit exercise routine. Worth it if you need something new, but it won’t replace Wii Fit.

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