Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer is a genuinely enjoyable and fairly well-thought-out way to exercise, just so long as you’re confident in your ability not to hurt yourself when punching thin air. As a fitness nut of sorts, I like finding new ways to workout, but the main thing that any exercise method needs to be is fun. Ultimately, if I don’t feel like it’s working and it’s generally an unenjoyable slog, I’m never going to do it, and yes, I am pooping on cardio as a whole here because I hate it.
However, one thing I adore is immediate feedback, and while some of the voice options in Fitness Boxing 3 can feel a little bit robotic, the mix of noises, haptic rumble, and your incredibly happy personal trainer telling you how great you are, means that every workout feels genuinely good. I’d still love to see amped-up versions of classic Nintendo tracks in favor of the generic dance songs that are present here, but maybe that’s just because I think F-Zero music is already worth working up a sweat to.
Each workout offers you a time upfront along with the moves you’ll be doing during it, and a rough calorie burn that you’ll get from it. There’s some new modes here, including Mitt Drills and Sit Fit Boxing, which is great for accessibility, but for most people on most days you’ll be doing the daily workout that the game puts together for you once you’ve put in your goals and body stats. This is a nice way to eliminate the hassle of booting up the game and worrying about what you should be doing, and being able to choose from a 20, 30, or 40-minute version of your daily workout is a wonder for anyone who’s on a time limit, which you probably are.
What I really like though, is that during workouts, and sometimes after them, your personal trainer will suggest shifting to a slightly harder workout, or a short high-speed one to really get you sweating. I’m actually a qualified personal trainer, and this is something I do a lot, so it’s incredibly funny to be on the other end of it. It’s just a nice way to get you doing a little bit more when you’re already doing something, and it’s genuinely very effective.
Along with the punchy workouts themselves, you can also customize a bunch of things throughout the game, like the hair colour, eyes and clothes of the personal trainer. This is nice, if you need a specific version of a person to tell you to do things. We’re not judging you, and neither is the game, given that you can build up a rapport of sorts with the trainers to unlock special kinds of training.
You’ve then got a bunch of stats you can track and scores to beat as well, which is another nice incentive if you’re feedback-driven – you probably are if you’re looking into Fitness Boxing 3 as a way to train.