Others say...

"Excellent personal trainer"
If you're lacking a gym, hate sterile workouts that leave you plateaued, and need dynamic workouts - let this little number help you out. What a great program - your personal trainer adjusts to your abilities, the sound track is fine, the exercises are fun, and there are so many options to go along with it.

The diet planning section is a little weak, though I never attempted to truly make use of it. You DO get tired of the exercises after repetition, so a little more variety would have been useful.

That said, this is far better than a book or video, could even be better than a pass to the gym.

"Be Very Careful!!!!"
When I purchased this for my PC, I was thrilled. It was truly interactive and a fun program. It got me moving and I raved about it.

However, a few weeks in, it simply stopped working. I went to the website and tried to use the PC patch, but it didn't work. I discovered from the message board that, not only were many people experiencing the same problems, but that the makers of the program had stopped responding to any tech support issues. In addition, they seem to be involved in a huge law suit.

Now, to be fair, my understanding is that the folks who bought and are using the Playstation version are not having the same technical issues. I don't own that version, so can't speak to that personally.

I loved the program and should they ever solve their legal problems and tech problems, I would try this again, but right now I feel as though I wasted my money.

"If you are already fit ...."
I'm 5'7", 125 lbs, and am in good shape so I wasn't sure if Yourself Fitness would be up to par. The fitness evaluation is to test how fit you are and there are those who may not be able to do what is asked for you to do regarding the specified number of jumping jacks/crunches/push ups, etc. so I was concerned when I was able to complete the fitness evaluation with ease. Now I am on my seventh workout and this program has still been able to challenge me. All I have to do is use heavier weights. Most of the exercises for me are in the 4-5 difficulty range (5 being the highest) and this has been fine. I just completed my first 45 minute cardio workout and used my heartrate monitor to calculate I burned 466 calories. That may not seem like much, but it takes a lot (like interval 15-45 degree inclines on a treadmill at the gym) for me to burn those calories in the same amount of time. All of this from the convenience of my home! I tried TurboJam, which is fun, but every time I do the same workout, I burn fewer calories because I'm getting used to it! At least with Yourself Fitness, I can look forward to various workouts which will keep my body challenged.

The rest breaks can be tedious but it usually gives me a chance to get my stepper, workout mat or weights together, in front of the computer, before the next exercise. I like all the music so far and don't care where Maya works out since I'll still be at home doing the same exact exercises anyway. I don't know if I will stop going to the gym altogether, but there is a possibility. Males, if they wanted to be muscular yet lean, could use Yourself Fitness to their benefit if they used heavy enough weights.

"Nice Complement to a Treadmill"
I have been running regularly for many years and am in decent shape. However, I am concerned that running does little or nothing for upper body and other muscle groups or for flexibility. At various times, I have tried other ways to strengthen and stretch, but have generally lost interest and gone back to only running.

I was quite interested in hearing about this program and have been using it on my intel mac for about 2 months. I have averaged about 3-4 sessions a week, and am extremely pleased with the product.

On the positive side, I like the idea of being able to select the focus and the time for each session. I have primarily been using the upper body and the flexibility workouts, with less emphasis on the core, lower body, and cardio/weight loss.

The nice thing about these choices is that if you are still hurting from a upper body workout, you can select flexibility or one of the other options and work other parts of your body. In addition, I have the step, a series of hand weights, and a stability ball; all of which seem to add lots of new options for the exercices.

It is a little difficult to understand or explain why a computer animated figure can get you to do exercies that you wouldn't do otherwise. The funny thing is that it does have that effect for me, and my wife has also become a big fan and regular user of Maya.

As to results, I have noticed definite improvements in the two areas of interest: upper body and flexibility, and also some improvement in core strength. I am looking forward to skiiing this year, as I think these improvements will be helpful, and I will also explore some lower body in advance of the trips.

Some Nits: The program suggested that my focus should be cardio, which made little sense in terms of where I was when I started. In addition, the program does give some odd feedback in terms of 'new exercises learned today', missing many and listing some that were not new. These don't really have any effect on the benefits of the program.

Finally, I would like to have ways of incorporating other exercise into the progress and monitoring, such as the running or other non-Maya led workouts. I like to keep track of the range of fitness efforts, and it would be great to bring these all into the Inside Fitness program.

Overall, this has turned out to be an almost perfect answer for my (previously) imbalanced training regimen.

"Lives up to the promise"
I am not overweight, having any health problems or pains or anything like that, and I am below 30. However, I am trying to use Yourself Fitness on a daily basis in order to avoid putting on more than a few pounds of extra weight and, probably more importantly, because it is invigorating. After a 30 minute workout, a shower and some watermelon for hydration, you will not feel tired, but more energetic, determined and optimistic.
The way I do it is with a two-computer or a laptop-dual screen configuration. On one computer, I am running the fitness software muted, while on the other I watch an episode from a favorite series (preferably something funny, or generally light). With the two screens next to each other, you can folow the on-screen trainer and the show with no problem. The best thing about this is that it helps me exercise on a regular basis because it takes your mind away from the fact that you are exercising and you will begin to look forward to exercising by way of positive association. Of course, you can also set up your exercise when a favorite show is running on TV, or turn on the radio to a favorite show, or anything like that that prevents you from getting bored.
As for the software itself, it is indeed as complete as it can get. You create a profile where you input the essential data about you, such as age, sex, weight, but also your pulse - resting and a after brisk exercise, flexibility, weight and current capabilities of your muscles, and all of this being guided by the software what to do. You can also set your goals and see your progress.
The exercises themselves are highly customizable - what you want to focus on during any particular exercises, how long you want it to last, even how rested you are when starting the exercise, and you can decrease or increase the difficulty as you go.
One option that I am not using is following a meal plan, which goes as far as adjusting based on how many calories you want to consume and gives you the recipes and the detailed nutrition information for the dishes in the plan.
You also have a Yoga module, which I have not tried yet, beautiful environments for the virtual trainer, and you can unlock more as you progress, music tracks to go with the workouts, and simple, but interesting, health tips at the end of each workout.
The only problem is exercising for 30 or 45 minutes, having sweat run all over you, and having the program tell you've only consumed 200 or 300 calories :-)