Review by: Danielle Riendeau

UFC Personal Trainer is going up against some stiff competition. The current genre heavyweight - EA Sports Active 2.0 - sports tons of variety, customizability, a heart rate monitor and an entire web platform supporting it. But UFC has plenty going for it as well, with an actual license, a definite focus on combat-heavy, kinetic exercise that goes along with that license, and a pleasantly macho aesthetic. It’s a rock-solid alternative to EA’s product, and a damned good workout on its own.

As with most fitness titles, you’ll start out by creating a profile (age, height, weight, etc.), with which to track your progress. You’re immediately whisked away into a fitness test consisting of sit-ups, push-ups and jumping jacks, and then allowed to peruse the myriad offerings. I was pretty pissed at the game for lumping me into the “intermediate” category at first, since the sensor only read five of my jumping jacks, but I admit – I was pretty close to the edge of the viewing space.

Speaking of accuracy, UFC is pretty good at reading your motions – provided you aren’t too close to the edge or going way too fast to read. In general, I’d say it’s on par with EA Active 2 – not perfect, by any means, but usually close enough to get a good read.

There’s plenty to do, and all of it involves some sort of pugilism (or ass-kicking associated activity). You can choose to work out with bands or free weights, or solely with your fists, feet and the handy pull of gravity. There are preset workouts for every fitness level, an option to create your own workouts, and several break out activities you can opt for at any time.

In another nod to EA’s game (and good fitness product design in general), you can enter 30 or 60-day programs, and this time around, you can actually set a specific fitness goal. You can opt for building strength, cutting weight or building endurance, and follow suit for your proscribed training plan. Like anything in the fitness world, you’ll get exactly what you put in – the quality of the actual workouts is top-notch if you are really giving it your all, and the pacing feels just about right. As an added bonus, actual UFC fighters act as your personal trainers.

Of course, all of your progress is tracked in obsessive detail, including calories burned and medals earned in various activities. It’s another example of smart design – and unlike, say, your kill-to-death ratio in Call of Duty 27, these stats have real-world value outside of a group of gamers.