Nintendo release the first Olympic instalment of their Wii games series tomorrow. It would have been very interesting and original for them to include more events utilising the Wii fit board within this game, and would have stood them head and shoulders above the rest of the consoles sporting this game, but unfortunately they haven't.

The game looks great fun and is released tomorrow (Friday the 15th August). I'm guessing the title for the Wii game "Summer Athletics" is like that as they probably don't have the rights to use the "Olympic" name in the title. Still it's obvious that this game is simply a summer Olympic Games Wii title.

I wonder if it'll actually get you fit? In it's fairness after a day spent slogging it out on the boxing in "Wii Sports" I was feeling like i'd actually had a few rounds boxing! So I think that there is something to be said for interactive games. It's not as good as the gym, but at least it gets you active instead of sitting in front of the TV doing nothing.

Below is a trailer for the new Summer Athletics - Nintendo Wii game and is available from tomorrow.

More information on Summer Athletics can be found here.

08/08/08

- A special day for elite sportsmen and women world over. The 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

The Olympic games is the pinnacle of most sports men and women's careers and always makes for a good show with many guaranteed outstanding sporting performances.

Having swam in the past for Great Britain I will be closely following the swimming during the course of the games, but on this blog I will also report on any other outstanding achievements as well as the obvious blue ribbon events (men's 100m running etc.). And looking into the training equipment and methods used by the best of the best!

The opening ceremony begins tomorrow - August 8, and the closing ceremony is on the August 24th.

Let the games begin!

Yesterday I got to "Go Ape" in the trees at Alice Holt.
"Go Ape" is a tree top adventure course that involves attaching yourself to cables and pulleys then climbing from tree to tree between platforms, lunging into cargo nets, scaling wooden ladders and hopping across "Indiana Jones" style rope bridges, all to reach the end of the course where you zoom down a zip line all the way to the ground.

There are four separate courses that get more nerve racking as you move along. Non of the courses in the forest are for the faint hearted, and the height takes some getting used to with the platforms around 10 meters high. As you're going through the various stages of the course your realise you're really using your core stability to help yourself balance. As I've been training at this sort of thing for a while now (if you have followed my blog) I was doing a few pull ups when hanging off of the cargo nets and rope bridges.

Today in the office I've already heard that most people that got involved are fairly tired and achy from yesterdays activities.

For increasing strength and stamina and more importantly reduce tiredness for this type of activity I recommend "calisthenics" which are body weight exercises that can really improve your physique and fitness levels.

All in all it was a great day!As predicted by London Weather Gal the weather was beautiful! It was hot and sunny all day long and I even caught the sun! So today am sporting a very slight tan :D

I'd recommend "Going Ape" as a great outdoor activity for a good day out to get those muscles and joints moving, get fit and have fun!
"www.goape.co.uk"

I am very pleased with the dumbbells I bought last week. I have now integrated them into my fitness routine. I'd say they are a important part of fitness equipment even if you're regularly going to the gym. You can just pick them up and run a set of bicep curls or flies at any point when your at home! Also a great form of stress relief if you need to burn some energy quickly!

The weights themselves are solid and cast iron. The dumbbell bar bell is again very solid and good quality with a nice grip. There is a mesh on the bar to aid with the grip. All in all I am very pleased with my new set of dumbbells.

Dumbbell curls

Position your dumbbells so that you are holding them to the sides of your body with your palms facing inwards and your arms straight

With your elbows to the sides, raise one dumbbell and rotate forearm until forearm is vertical and palm faces your shoulder. Lower your arm to the original position and repeat with opposite arm. Continue to alternate between sides.

I'm starting with 3 sets of 12 on 18kg

So far my fitness equipment collection has risen very slightly, but with the lack of a gym to increase my fitness levels it's important to use what I have to develop my physique.

I want to prove to myself I can get bigger and ripped up without the sole use of a gym.

So far my fitness equipment collection consists of:

Hand Grippers

I think these are very important to my routine but I keep overlooking them and still haven't developed a fitness program to incorporate these on a weekly basis.

I think that this is the main problem with smaller bits of equipment like this. People just use them once or twice they've bought them, then when the fad wares off they live in the draw.

During my current routine I am going to try and incorporate these at least three times a week.

Fitness Mat

This is something that is vital to my fitness routine, I love the fitness mat as it's saved me many a back ache (excuse the pun) I have a very spiny back and find it near to impossible to do sit ups without this supporting me.

It's also great as it's easy to store (lives under my cupboard) and when I get the mat out I tend to do a full routine on it of sit ups, press ups and stretches.A definite must have for anyone into fitness.

18kg Adjustable Dumbbells

I ordered these yesterday and look forward to reviewing them, I think that the "18kg" weight is a nice sized weight and I can still build muscle off of this weight. Before leaving my last gym I was able to shift 3x12 on 22kg's but i'm expecting to start slow as I want to avoid injuries. From the reviews I read these seem like a good buy and also with an adjustable set of dumbbells there are many exercises I can do at home straight away.

This is a amazing piece of kit and overlooked by many, cheap and simple to store. After my runs I pull out the skipping rope from my bag and then do a intensive skipping set and then after use it as a cool down. My skipping ability has improved since I have been doing this and I recommend this to anyone, a cheap and very useful item.

Other items I'm looking at getting are some Stretch Cords and also some fitness "Rings" to aid with my pull up circuits and hanging leg raises.