Let's Yoga vs. Yoga DVD

by Alisha Karabinus { May 12th 2008 at 10:15AM }

Our yogathon is winding down, but there are a few important things yet to cover, such as ... can Let's Yoga compete with a yoga DVD? Exercise DVDs are a huge market -- could a game possibly one-up that industry? We went through a step-by-step comparison of the features of Konami's trainer and a beginner yoga DVD available at a big box retailer.

Yoga for Beginners with Patricia Walden comes with a thick booklet detailing all the included poses, as well as guidelines for creating your own workout. In order to use the DVD with them, you'll have to do a lot of fast-forwarding and rewinding; for all intents and purposes, the DVD only includes one lesson. You've already seen what Let's Yoga can do, if you've been following our yogathon, but we've got a chart comparing some of the features of the two after the break.

Gallery: Let's Yoga

	Let's Yoga (DS)	Yoga for Beginners (DVD)


Price	$29.99	$14.98
Length	Variable	1 hour, 40 minutes
Poses
Tips for easy poses	Yes	Yes
Pictures of poses	Yes	Yes
Rotatable views of poses	Yes	No
Props needed	No	Yes
Number of poses	75+	16
Instructions
Audio instructions	Yes	Yes
Instructions clear and easy to understand	Yes	Yes
Written guidelines	No	Yes
Instructions on proper alignment	Yes	Yes
Simple safety guidelines	Yes	Yes
Lessons
Multple lessons	Yes	No
Beginner friendly	Yes	Yes
Length of first lesson	8 minutes	More than an hour
Discomfort after first lesson	No	Yes
Usability
Easily accessible video/animated clips	Yes	No
Rewind/Fast forward during lessons	No	Yes
Portable	Yes	W/ portable DVD player
DIY workout function	Yes	Written tips only
Extras
Multiple models/teachers	Yes	No
Totally irritating teacher	No	OH GOD YES

The DS has a lot more to offer besides just traditional games, and we love to test the efficacy of training titles! Keep up with our yogathon as it happens, or for more features like this, check out our week with My French Coach.

Tags: dvd, exergaming, joystiqfeatures, konami, lets-yoga, non-game, patricia-walden, training, yoga, yogathon

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

jgoreham @ May 12th 2008 12:20PM

Regarding your props/no props criteria, I personally believe that props are largely unnecessary in yoga and I find it distracting to try to use them in my practice (though I can appreciate that if you've got short hamstrings, then maybe a strap could be helpful- but there's no need to spend what a lot of yoga retailers are charging for that kind of stuff!). I think it's a scam to weasel money out of people. All you really need for Yoga is your body, and maybe a mat considering the environment you're practicing in (there's cement under my carpet, but I don't necessarily use my mat when I go home where the floor isn't as offensive to my sensibilities).

Alisha Karabinus @ May 12th 2008 12:30PM

I like my mat, but I didn't like that the video expected me to use blocks or a chair. I don't really have room to drag a chair into my workout space and there wasn't anything on the box warning me that props would be necessary, either. I think it would be really disappointing to someone who just picked it up without any prior knowledge of yoga.

jgoreham @ May 12th 2008 12:37PM

Oooh I agree about chairs! I hate it when Rodney Yee wants me to pull a chair up. Flippin' heck, I'm sure people have been doing Yoga for centuries without using foam blocks or furniture!

I like my mat too, I'm hoping to get something eco-friendlier when I invest in my next one, though. Maybe I could rug braid myself one?

Alisha Karabinus @ May 12th 2008 1:41PM

I would just like something the cats don't think is a toy!

radjago @ May 12th 2008 3:09PM

That girl's abs have to be photoshopped. They're so grotesque!

moominsean @ May 13th 2008 12:23AM

i'm finished lesson two of "let's yoga". i must be getting old, cuz simple stuff like sitting on my knees (and even the basic sitting position sometimes) hurts like hell. i think it was egg or the one right before, where you sit crosslegged and bend forward and touch your elbows to the floor and then cover your eyes... i couldn't get closer than like 3 inches from the floor. and that hurt. i'm going to keep trying though.

one thing about it is it's kind of hard to follow along sometimes, doing the positions when you can't always see the ds. i found myslef breaking form multiple times just to see the screen to be sure i was doing it right.

Alisha Karabinus @ May 13th 2008 12:11PM

I found it really useful to go through a lesson once, and then check out the poses in the pose list before doing it again.

I think everyone has trouble with different stuff... my knees really hurt with the knee-bending stuff, but sitting on the floor or bending forward in a sitting stretch (or balance) is way easy. I have much more trouble with the non-balancing standing poses. I just know I'm going to fall over one of these days!