XboxFitness.org

The Best Exercise Games for the Xbox Kinect

Microsoft announces Xbox Fitness service (no relation)

Posted by steve on September - 27 - 2013 with 3 Comments

Microsoft today announced a new service for the Xbox One to be called “Xbox Fitness”. I should first say that this is in no way affiliated with this site. The site you’re on is a fan site put up by a tubby individual who loves working out on his Xbox 360 and has pre-ordered an Xbox One to work out with that as well. I’m excited to hear that Microsoft and its partners are continuing to recognize the potential of exergaming.

Xbox Fitness won’t be a game, it’ll be a service that you can subscribe to. It takes the world’s most popular fitness videos (such as Tony Horton’s P90X, Shaun T’s INSANITY, Jillian Michaels’s Ripped in 30, and more) and makes them available for free to anyone who has an Xbox Live Gold Membership. This free access will last until December 2014 (not December 14 as some outlets such as Slashgear have been reporting).

xbox fitness videos What’s cool about this is that while you’re exercising to the videos, the Kinect will read your heart rate (without a heart rate monitor–the Kinect camera will actually be precise enough to be able to detect subtle changes in your body visually that correspond to your heartbeat!)

It’ll also be able to provide you amazing feedback, such as which muscles you’re using most; whether your balance, form, and tempo are of good quality; and the progress of your current exercise. These will be displayed on one side of the screen. Not sure yet if they’ll allow you to also view this using SmartGlass, but that’d be a good idea.

Xbox Fitness will also provide challenges through Xbox Live, tracking your exercise history, and letting you interact with a community of fellow exercisers. Not clear whether the current Kinect PlayFit will be integrated or not; from Microsoft’s screen shots I don’t see it.

How do you get it? Again, all you have to do is sign up for Xbox LIVE Gold any time from now until the holidays, and when Xbox Fitness is ready you’ll have a free “Xbox Fitness Pass” until December 2014 (they haven’t released a specific date yet, other than to say it’ll be “during the holidays”. To prepare, you can buy an Xbox LIVE Gold card at Amazon or most other game retailers.

 

3 Responses so far.

  1. xbox_fitness says:

    The exact date is still not clear, but I’ll post it here as soon as I hear it. So for, they’re just saying “the holidays”, which could mean anywhere from October 1 to December 31.

    To get it, just sign up for an Xbox LIVE Gold account and you’ll automatically get free access to it until December 2014 or whenever your Gold account expires, whichever comes first.

    Also, bear in mind that this is for the new Xbox One, not the current Xbox 360.