Fitness Circuit from Spike Chunsoft allows you to train with your own virtual trainer as you set new workout goals on Nintendo Switch. Check our Fitness Circuit review!
Fitness Circuit from Spike Chunsoft allows you to train with your own virtual trainer as you set new workout goals on Nintendo Switch. It offers a super circuit training experience on Nintendo’s console so that you can get a quick workout in around 10 minutes, 3 days a week. Considering how busy everyone is these days, only having to exercise for 30 minutes a week doesn’t sound that bad, right? But does it really work? Will you be able to tell the difference? After playing the game for a handful of weeks – and taking on some extra exercise sessions on top of the minimum quoted 10 minutes, 3 days a week, it’s time to report how things went!
Spike Chunsoft does start by letting you know that exercise effects and results will vary per individual, which is to be expected considering that each body and person are indeed very different. The good news is that you won’t need any extra equipment or go to the gym – something that some of us definitely don’t enjoy since we like to exercise on our own without having lots of people around. All that you need is the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con, and you’ll be ready to get started.
The first step will be to give the game some info, specifically your height and weight. Once that’s been taken care of, the next thing to do will be to select which one of the virtual trainers – known as Fitness Runners – you’ll be choosing for your sessions. The options are Naomi (voiced in English by Emi Lo and in Japanese by Kana Hanazawa), Ray (voiced in English by Howard Wang and in Japanese by Natsuki Hanae), Scarlet (voiced in English by Jennifer Losi and in Japanese by Nana Mizuki), Maverick (voiced in English by Mick Lauer and in Japanese by Hiroki Yasumoto), JJ (voiced in English by Amber May and in Japanese by Maaya Uchida), and Max (voiced in English by Kane Jungbluth-Murry and in Japanese by Takahiro Sakurai).
As you walk into Extreme Park – which is your new virtual training facility – you’ll be greeted by its host and presented with the super circuit training method. The goal is to help you keep fit, build up your strength and have fun while exercising… which is a very important part of the whole equation since the repetition of exercising will sometimes get in the way of a regular workout regime. While the Fitness Runners are excellent athletes, they still need your help to be able to complete the extreme courses they’ll take on.
The super circuit training method is presented as a series of exercise techniques that combine cardio and strength-building exercises. This combination allows you to gain benefits in both categories from a single workout. As you probably know, cardio exercise is great at helping you burn some extra calories. Strength-building exercises will allow you to train your muscles as you improve your overall endurance.
It’s thanks to the Exercise Energy that you build up from your training session that the Fitness Runner you choose will be powered… as long as you take on the super circuit training by completing the proper moves! As long as you build up enough Exercise Energy, the Fitness Runners will be able to accomplish all of the amazing feats at hand. Each Fitness Runner will advise you during your session on the proper form for each exercise as they motivate you to give it your all.
Before starting with your first workout session, you’ll need to place the Joy-Con strap on each of the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con so that you can safely grab onto each one to reduce the chance of a potential mishap. You’ll need to have a Joy-Con in each hand. Follow the guidelines and make sure that the Joy-Con is facing the right direction so that your workout can be properly assessed.
And before you begin any workout session, you should pay attention to what the Fitness Runner says so that you can complete a short warm-up! Warming up your muscles will make it easier to move around and avoid strain during your workout session. Just mirror the movements of the Fitness Runner you’ve selected so that you can get things going. I was then instructed to do heel-ups as I lifted the heel of my back leg while alternating between left and right. After that, I had to swing my arms forward while doing heel-ups and then raise them above my head. This allowed me to stretch my chest.
After that, it was time to loosen up my knees with sumo. As I extended my arms behind my hips while crouching, I could definitely feel the burn starting to build up! Keeping my back straight as I leaned forward, I managed to stretch my back muscles and get my thighs started for what was coming next… squatting down as I spread my knees out, bringing my hips to my heels. This… was not as easy a task as the Fitness Runner made it seem! Doing this over and over again let me know that I was most certainly going to get a proper workout that day! The whole warm-up process took a little over 4 minutes.
Your training session will consist of a series of workout events. Each one will alternate between cardio and strength exercises. While I’ve mentioned before that all you need is 10 minutes, 3 times a week, you can certainly go for shorter workouts, longer workouts, or even exercise every day. There are different difficulty settings to consider, which will dictate how long you exercise, as well as the challenge for each workout event. You can see this thanks to the stars shown above their name. A higher difficulty will also mean that you’ll need to do more repetition sets.
What are some of the exercises you can take on? There’s the march, which asks that you spread your feet to hip-width as you march in place, lightly bending your elbows while you move your arms back and forth. There’s also the squat, for which you’ll need to lower your body by bending your knees as you bring your arms from your back to the front and all the way to the top. Another one is knee-to-elbow which, as the name suggests, will have you moving your arms up and down as you bring your knee up to your elbow while alternating legs.
Based on your results – that is, if you performed the exercises properly and got many Cool remarks that can hopefully lead to getting a Perfect rating – you’ll get to earn points. Earn enough points, and your rank will increase! Doing this will allow you to unlock additional outfits for the Fitness Runners, as well as new workout events to take on. You will see your progress after each workout, even as the bar at the bottom of the screen starts to fill up.
After playing Fitness Circuit on Nintendo Switch for a bit, I can report that I managed to lose around 3 pounds in roughly the same number of weeks, which is not bad for a game that only asks that you complete a workout for 10 minutes a day, 3 days a week. I was motivated by my time with the game to make some adjustments to my diet as well, adding some oatmeal here and there for some of my meals, as well as an apple or a banana every other day, which certainly helped as well.
I also bumped my sessions from 3 times a week for the first week to 4 times a week for the second one and 5 times a week for the third one, as well as increasing overall time per day from 10 minutes to 15-20 minutes a day. I did notice that I had an easier time falling asleep as well as feeling more rested when I woke up, which is certainly a nice bonus. Fitness Circuit is out on Nintendo Switch with a $49.99 price tag. There’s also a demo you can download to try before you buy!
Disclaimer
This Fitness Circuit review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Spike Chunsoft.
