Mama Mimi @ Mom Central

Your Shape Fitness: no slacking allowed!

These days, I’m finding the latest video game trend features in-home workouts. Usually led by a celebrity trainer and boasting more exercises than you have days to actually workout, they come designed to get the gamer off the couch and moving.

However, these type of fitness games may not give tips on proper form, customize for male or female gamer, or know when you’re slacking. With Ubisoft’s new Your Shape Fitness for Kinect on the Xbox 360, it utilizes an advanced form of technology that reads over 50,000 points on your body.

Working out with Your Shape Fitness

I recently tried this new game at Club H Fitness in New York City. The Kinect technology comes into play by projecting your body into the game, reading when you do a motion incorrectly and guiding you to the correct form.

It also personalizes your workouts according to your fitness level and adjusting as you progress. The game can also tell when you’ve stopped working out or have moved away from the game all together. Even though it’s motion sensitive, it does ignore certain motions outside of your range such as the dog running by or your child standing nearby.

Your Shape Fitness yoga workout

The workouts I tried and liked best were the classes such as yoga, kickboxing, and hula hooping. The yoga class helped me improve my form, as I sometimes forget to work on this during an actual class unless the instructor comes around to fix positions.

Your Shape Fitness hula hooping

Hula hooping got my inner seven-year-old laughing and gave my not-so-seven-year-old figure quite the workout. The faster and better you can move your hips, the more hula hoops get added on to manage in the game. I was so impressed the Kinect could tell the right motion of my body that it would take for a hula hoop to swing! 

Your Shape provides a great workout for mom and kids alike, with the technology that lets you feel truly in touch with your body.

Allison Parker is an Account Manager at Mom Central.

A morning workout with LUNA Bars

Early morning training sessions at the gym, 9 am conference calls, pre-dawn flights? Nothing makes me dread getting out of bed more than knowing I have to be alert not long after I’ve gotten dressed and way before I’ve gone through my comforting morning wake-up routine.

However, when I received an invite to join LUNA bars and their own Nicole Pemerl for a yoga session, I relished the thought of having some time in the morning to relax, be with my thoughts, and get in some stretching and movement.

On the go with LUNA bars 

Alone in the OM Factory studios in New York’s midtown-west, our small group of bloggers were shown the newest flavors and bars from LUNA. High in protein and fiber, I love these bars for helping to make me feel and keep me feeling full. As a big runner, I’m a fan of  on-the-go nutrition to carry with me between and on my long runs that have a light texture but contain nourishing ingredients.

Going with the yoga flow

After the product preview, we began an intimate yoga session with Nicole, who led us through a gentle but thoughtful yoga flow. My body felt energized from the session even without a fast pace or heated room.

In addition, to the physical feeling, my mind feels awakened from the practice. The instructions to “bring your thoughts to the room” and “concentrate on your breath,” helps soothe my train of thought and strikes me as general words of wisdom for the day. As we finished our session, I was grateful to have the opportunity not only to head into work late, but also to brighten the gray morning with the positive-minded girls from LUNA. 

Allison Parker is an Account Manager at Mom Central.

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Disclosure: Allison received a free yoga class, LUNA bar samples, and LUNA-branded yoga gear.

Clear some floor space: Playstation Move video games get you off the couch

I’m more of a group gamer. So I’m loving all the options for non-gamers like me that encourage group activities that are off the couch. This is why I recently attended an event at Playstation’s New York City headquarters to experience their new line of games for the Playstation Move system.

Taking a look at the newest family-friendly games, they all coordinate with the console to determine and encourage movement. SingStar Dance not only tests your karaoke skills, but also plays the music video and provides dance moves to get you singing and dancing at the same time. It’s no wonder how well young rock stars stay in shape!

Another game, Get Fit with Mel B, features “Scary” Spice Girl as your personal in-home trainer. Without the cost or atmosphere of a gym, she energizes you with different workouts to tone and work your muscles, and recipe ideas to keep you on a healthy eating track. By holding the controller, the console can scan your body movements and then awards you points and tracks your progress based on how well you do the exercises.

A kid-friendly game used the controller to move obstacles in a cave out of the way of “Sackboy,” an adorable but lost sock puppet, from LittleBigPlanet 2. Playing with two people gets kids to work together to move through the levels, one paving the way for Sackboy and one making him leap, turn, and run through the cave.

Although I’m not an avid gamer, these all made me giggle, get to know the people I played with, and definitely got me up and moving. For the hot new system out there, Playstation definitely takes family-friendliness to heart.

Allison Parker is an Account Manager at Mom Central.

Parenting by accident in Life As We Know It

Turning a tragic situation into a comedic one is a tried and true formula in entertainment. Throw in a cute baby with beautiful actors and you have a surprisingly fun romantic comedy.

Recent release from Warner Bros., Life As We Know It, presents the aftermath of a tragedy that results in newfound parental struggles and a burgeoning family. We find un-expecting guardians Holly and Eric (Messer), played by Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel, as godparents and arch rivals.

After the unexpected death of their respective best friends in a tragic car accident, Holly and Messer assume guardianship of the surviving daughter, Sophie. Completely unprepared for the death of their best friends, let alone raising a child, the unattached couple becomes drawn together by their mutual love for a child.

When raising a child, the change in the way parents think about themselves, whether a job, free time, marriage, or relationship, may be the hardest shift that comes with starting a family. Throughout the movie, we see Holly and Eric adjusting to these struggles whether it’s creating and arguing over an enormous calendar in the kitchen that maps out childcare, work, and personal schedules, or Holly trying to get one-year-old Sophie to eat her gourmet culinary masterpieces.

Coming to terms with their new lives and responsibilities becomes the hardest transition to make, while caring for Sophie and trusting their instincts as parents more easily falls into place.

Overall, this cute romantic comedy felt more lighthearted than expected and provided an introspective look at parenting and family in an unexpected way.

Allison Parker is a Senior Project Manager for Mom Central in NYC.

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Disclosure: Warner Bros. is a client of Mom Central. Allison received free tickets to a screening of Life As We Know It.

Thomas & Friends comes to Brooklyn

On a day straight out of a children's book with requisite blue skies and puffy clouds, Thomas the Train arrived on a barge to greet children of all ages. Eighteen-month old Rumi joined the Mom Central New York team at Brooklyn Bridge Park for an exclusive sneak peak of Thomas & Friends “Misty Island Rescue” DVD and a chance to play with the new Thomas the Train Fisher-Price toys from the movie.

Thomas the Train arrives by barge!

We picked up our nametags, some Thomas tattoos, and a “passport” to check off all the activities we completed that morning.

With a fantastic view of the city skyline in front of us when we checked-in, all the kids gathered around the large table for a big play session with the new Thomas & Friends trains.

While playing, we waited for the arrival of a life-size Thomas to arrive on a barge. Telling the kids to “look for Thomas” filled them with excitement as we lined up along the railing of the pier and built to the ultimate surprise when Thomas finally came into the dock.

A sneak preview of Thomas & Friends “Misty Island Rescue”

Loading everyone onto a second docked barge was no easy task, but after getting everyone up the plank, we settled down for the main event - a sneak preview of the new Thomas & Friends movie!

Inside the barge was quite roomy with cozy rugs on the floor for kids to sit on and chairs along the sides for adults. Rigged with a great sound system and projector screen, Conductor Dan welcomed everyone and treated us to the first 20 minutes of “Misty Island Rescue.” What a treat.

At the back of the barge, lunch was set up for kids and adults, as well as four play stations with the new Thomas & Friends toys from Fisher Price. Kids scrambled to see the toys and check that station off their passport.

Eventually, families dispersed throughout the park as everyone grabbed sandwiches and ate lunch.

After a beautiful morning, all the kids were excited for another Thomas & Friends adventure, proving just how timeless the characters and the stories are still today.

Allison Parker is a Senior Project Manager for Mom Central in NYC.

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Disclosure: Mom Central received a copy of "Misty Island Rescue" DVD and a Thomas the Train set in exchange for this review