I'm 38. Never had a workout or fitness routine in my entire life except for a few brief and unsustained periods of working with a trainer, but quit.<p>Last May I bought a Quest 2 specifically to try Supernatural, a mix of Beatsabre with a Pelaton-style experience with pre-recorded song-driven sessions.<p>I did one 5 song session (20 mins or so) and for the first time in my life I was dripping with sweat and thought to myself "that was fun as hell, I want to do another one."<p>That want did not fade. I haven't missed a day since May 5th of 2021. I go harder some days than other. I take my Quest on vacation and do at least one session. I focus on closing rings on my Apple watch. I have become more mindful of my eating too.<p>I was also surprised that with Supernatural specifically, the inclusion of a game mechanic that translates to squats and lunges means has translated to pretty significant increase in strength as well, even though it's "just" body weight exercises.<p>I was skeptical about the additon of Boxing to Supernatural, but it's become my fav mode. I get to a target heart rate faster, and I've seen significant changes in my body since adding it.<p>Over the last 12 months I've lost almost 60lbs, feel better, am stronger, and enjoy the process. I'm headed towards a weight I haven't been since college, and it's clearly within reach.<p>This never happened before VR in spite of time and money spent on professional services, products, and trainers.<p>I'm adding a Tempo Move for some weight training, but I don't expect to give up Supernatural anytime soon, if ever!
Shameless plug: if you are into VR fitness but you think the existing solutions are missing multiplayer options, my brother and I are building Space Punch [1] which is a multiplayer fitness app. It is currently released in early access on Sidequest, and it’s functional. We are working out Monday to Friday 4:30pm UTC. If you have a Quest and want to work out together as group, then drop into our Discord sever. I’ll personally make sure you get an access key and I will show you the App from within.<p>[1] <a href="https://sidequestvr.com/app/5820/space-punch" rel="nofollow">https://sidequestvr.com/app/5820/space-punch</a><p>[2] <a href="https://discord.gg/MKsZqrZh" rel="nofollow">https://discord.gg/MKsZqrZh</a>
One thing that’s good to point out to anybody looking to get into VR for fitness is that Beat Saber becomes radically more challenging when playing custom community-made maps instead of the stock/DLC maps. The higher difficulty community maps require a lot of speed, precision, and stamina, and I’m only beginning to be able to play them decently after a few months of practice. It’s almost an entirely different game.<p>Unfortunately, support for custom maps/mods for the standalone Quest version of the game is not great, so it’s best to play the PC version if the community maps are of interest (which can be done with a Quest via PC link).
I wear a 20 lbs weight vest, 3.5 lbs wrist weights and 5 lbs ankle weights <i>at all times when using my Oculus Quest 2.</i><p>The point of always wearing them, even for low intensity use, is I never have to motivate myself to put on extra weight - and I strongly associate the weighted feeling, and the endorphins I get from them, with having fun.<p>This is how our bodies evolved to live ... or it should have been, lol.
VR exercise was a bit of a revelation for me. Used to run 8km per day but lockdown convinced me to try exercise at home using VR and I fell in love with it. Apart from being fun (you're literally playing computer games), I got a much better workout, exercising parts of my body that running didn't touch. I actually started bulking up in my upper arms for the first time in my life. Really surprised me and sold me that this could be one of the real "killer apps" for VR if enough people knew about it.
A few subjective observations that may be totally wrong when applied to others despite their normative tone:<p>* VR makes me sweaty… because it induces minor vertigo.<p>* Anything which requires intense, complete focus to do right is never boring. Exercise, both strength and cardio, requires this level of focus.<p>* Exercise is essential to physical and mental well-being, especially as you age. The difference between having plenty of energy throughout the day and fighting through deep fatigue is profound. With exercise you are sharpening the tool that is your body, for both physical and intellectual output, and time spent keeping your tools sharp is never wasted.<p>* Exercise is a skill that supports measurable progressive mastery. If gamification helps your motivation, then the advent of smart watches and fitness trackers makes it extremely easy to watch your “stats” go up.<p>* Exercise and sports provides a venue to meet new people, which as you get older only gets harder and harder. You may think you are an introvert and dislike being around others, but that likely points to unresolved social anxiety. You’re a human: you evolved to be a social animal. You may indeed need less socialization time and fewer friends than more gregarious humans, but you do need it. The extent to which you are introverted only emphasizes the importance of finding opportunities to make new acquaintances and friends because introversion has probably left you with fewer than you need. Exercise and sports is a great such opportunity.<p>* Exercise is fun. It taps into a very animal sense of conquest, and the joy of pure physical sensation. I’ve been doing a lot of road cycling lately following a running injury that I’m still recovering from, and the exhilaration of speed, of instinctively responding to possibly dangerous surprises, and of pushing your legs and your lungs to go ever faster is joyful. Even overcoming the misery of winter cycling weather becomes it’s own source of accomplishment: “I pushed through sub freezing temperatures and a brutal headwind today. I am strong and resilient.”
I do pretty much the same thing. I own a Quest 2 and I play Pistol whip, Thrill of the fight and Moon rider (a free VR game which is played in the browser where you need to hit blocks with your hands synced to music).<p>The only issue I have with Thrill of the fight is that when I get into it, I hit hard, but find no resistance as I would hitting a punching bad or sparring with someone, so my elbow tends to overextend and I feel some pain for a couple days after playing for about 30 minutes. That’s something that will probably get better over time as I gain more control, but as of now, that’s something I need to be careful of.
Forgive my ignorance, but I always see the quest mentioned. Are there any comparable devices that don’t require Facebook?<p>I’ve sworn off FB and while VR for cardio has me intrigued, nothing is gonna get me to sign back in there.
For others that are interested in VR fitness games, here's a few more suggestions:<p>- SuperHot: while less cardio focused at the higher levels it really has you doing a lot of slow, deep squats and stretches as you dodge and move around. I recommend trying to do the "Whole game in 10 minutes" mode as that's an easy chunk of time to spend. It's been great to loosen up my back after being at the desk for too long or as a quick way to get over the sleepiness of a big lunch.<p>- Synthriders: a lot of people know BeatSaber already, but I prefer this as the music is more vaporwave and there's a more varied move set and better 360 mode.<p>- The Climb 1+2: more a pleasant mental break than anything else, but fun.
I’ve been doing workouts in VR for over two years now and it’s my preferred for HIIT and Cardio in general. I do mix in elliptical and treadmill sometimes but I’ve found VR far more convenient, just get up turn around put the headset on, start the tracker on my watch and get going versus going out to the gym in my building. Every reduction of friction helps me keep working out. FitXR and Thrill of The Fight are my gotos and I typically maintain 150-170bpm workouts between 3-4 times per week for 40-50minutes. With a resting heart rate in the 50s and around a 7 minute mile time I’d say it’s doing the job for someone who’s not trying to be an elite athlete just keep in shape while working a desk job. I’m 27 for context.
For anyone wanting additional info, the VR Health Institute has been reviewing games by their intensity and estimates calorie burn per minute of playing.<p><a href="https://vrhealth.institute/vr-ratings/" rel="nofollow">https://vrhealth.institute/vr-ratings/</a>
VR exercise is a remarkably poor allocation of time (if your interest is physical fitness, efficiently). It also leaves out the most important adaptation of all: strength.<p>Effective training (not exercising) requires a progression model. That is, on some time frame you must exceed your performance at the end of that time frame when compared to the beginning of the time frame. This must be done in some measurable way--trying "harder" is ineffective. For example, if you squatted 120 kg x 5 two days ago, today you need to squat 122.5 kg x 5. VR cannot support such a progression model because it is incapable of producing a sufficiently intense stimulus (obviously for strength, but also for cardiovascular fitness) to result in continued adaptations; i.e., you cannot effectively scale the stress to produce meaningful adaptations after an initial period of adaptations. I'm sure if the author of the post continues for another 80 days, you'll see progress mostly stall.<p>At any rate, the bigger issue is that the most important component of fitness--strength--is left out entirely. Strength is extremely correlated with decreased morbidity/mortality but, perhaps more tangibly, becoming strong results in vast, systemic changes to your body and (especially if you're older or extremely unfit already) similarly vast improvements to your quality of life. You are a physical entity and the way you interact with your environment is expressed through forces; the degree to which you can produce such forces is strength. We all depend on strength.<p>As anyone who is strong will tell you, being strong is a far superior state to being weak. If you only "exercise" or just go for runs or only do VR exercise, you are weak.<p>(Effective) strength training trains your entire body. Your bones, your nervous system, your balance, and yes, even cardiovascular fitness. You can become very strong lifting just 3x a week for one hour each time. Throw in some HIIT (which takes 15 minutes and results in better cardiovascular fitness than VR exercise because it has a progression model and is sufficiently intense to result in sufficient stress to evoke an adaptation) on a rest day and you have a far, far more effective recipe for general fitness with significantly less time spent. All other factors being equal, the man who can squat 400 lbs will always be fitter than the man who plays VR for 45 minutes every day--and the former can do it with a smaller time investment.<p>For any naysayers arguing that strength training isn't fun (like VR is): it is fun. You're playing Pokemon, just leveling up IRL instead of your Clefairy. The progression model I explained above makes it fun.
I'm usually pretty sedentary, generally don't have the best diet and haven't looked after myself so well.<p>VR exercise has been a real gamechanger for me, well worth the cost of the VR system alone.<p>I exercise every day, and look forward to it, I really enjoy it. I feel a lot more energy in my day to day life and feel just generally great. My focus and general emotional health is a lot better, and I also see some benefits with creativity.<p>So yes, it may just be light cardio or whatnot, not the same as a gym workout, but I don't see myself doing a gym workout so regularly or having such fun.
Geez, go outside for a run. Get some fresh air, smell the rain, say hi to the neighbors, watch houses being built, get chased by a dog, check the Little Library for something interesting, swallow a bug, see if anyone has a cool car in their garage.
I can't get into VR boxing. I have both Thrill of the Fight and Rocky. It never feels like you're really landing any punches. You're basically shadow boxing, which can really hurt your shoulders if you don't know what you're doing. I'm surprised we don't hear more complaints of injuries.
What is so bad about just going out and doing sports with people and having real contact?<p>I guess that everyone is different. In my case I really enjoy participating in HIT workouts with people; the group competition drives me to push myself.<p>That's one of the reasons for having better results in a marathon than during training: group competitiveness<p>The second benefit is also obvious to me: socializing. Just the fact of doing sports together gives you a sense of bonding, of going through similar pain and succeeding.<p>One can argue you can achieve the same with VR meanwhile for me is just a poor replacement.
> I wake up at 5:30, and do some deep work; at 7:15 an alarm goes off, which reminds me to fire up my Oculus Quest and start my VR workout.<p>Not being bad about it, but if you find a gym that's open at 5:30 it's going to be pretty empty, that's if COVID worries are keeping the OP out of these environments.<p>> I clear out my workout space and make sure my cats aren't in the main play area.<p>No wife and kids huh? I don't think it's going to scale to having a couple of toddlers running about when you're plugged in and jumping about the place blindly.
Just wanted to add that Eleven (VR table tennis) is absolutely brilliant for exercise. After an hour of eTT and you will be sweating and have increased your step count a lot. Moreover, the better you get at it, the more energy you can put into it.<p>* If you're wanting to have some change of skill transference into real world table tennis, get an adapter for your dominant hand paddle so your bat has the right weight, position and feel. Also, never forget that the table isn't real.
I’ve been enjoying supernatural for the last few months.<p>When I focus on form, I’m just a little sore from pushing myself past my comfort zone.<p>Most importantly, it gets me out of bed because I look forward to the 20min of zen and focus I get while listening to great music.
I recently (today!) started playing vzfit, which is a bicycle simulator.<p>You get in an exercise bike (with a cadence tracker, which is a device thag measures pedal movement) and ride through 3D environments via google street view. It’s really, really cool.<p>Also, best saber is great for getting a little sweaty. So is holopoint.
I don’t own a VR headset, but working out is one of the main reasons I could buy one. I have some questions though:<p>1. Isn’t the headset moving when doing fast moves?<p>2. Does the headset get dirty from sweating?<p>3. Does any sweat build up inside the device?<p>4. Did anyone break their device by moving too fast?
It's interesting to see all the same conversations happening around VR exercise as there was about Wii Fit. And it's the same split, those who find it useful for consistently doing light exercise, and those who criticise it because it isn't as effective as lifting weights or some "proper" gym/fitness routine
“Tiny Habit”<p>TIL. I’ve been doing this forever, but it’s kind of nice to have a zeitgeisty label to slap on the activity.<p>For example, I’ve been doing somewhere between 5 minutes and 60 minutes of yoga every day for about a year now. Some days it’s more, other days (or weeks) it’s less. But I’ve found that needing to do something with no minimum standard every day keeps it top of mind, but never stressful.<p>And it helps that even five minutes of stretching after sitting in front of a computer all day does help to keep me from feeling terrible.<p>Also, my wife and I have gotten really into doing Apple Fitness+ strength training videos together. It requires an Apple Watch because Apple, but no weird VR headset. I’m sure you could find any number of comparable videos on YouTube. I don’t think you need to buy a thing to start feeling healthier.
On the subject of knee pain. I'm 48, have never really jogged consistently.<p>I bought a treadmill for a treadmill desk. At first walking was a bit painful when walking more than an hour a day.<p>Now, after a couple months, I not longer have pain when walking even a few hours. In fact, it feels better to walk than to stand.<p>And now walking doesn't create knee or leg pain, I am starting to jog. At first once every 2 or 3 days. Now about nearly every day for 20-30 minutes. Though if I feel worn out, I'll skip a day to avoid any injuries.<p>i try to jog outside, but when it's too cold, i jog inside on the treadmill, while watching queued youtube vids.
Has anyone solved the ventilation problem for headsets yet? I seem to be convinced that the right light-absorbent baffles that still allow air through are possible, but no one seems to have attempted this in a product
VR seems great for folks, but you're putting your eyes' ciliary muscles into a cast and then working the rest of you out. Few activities put your eyes at a fixed 1.3m focal distance for the entire time.
A lot of people love Thrill of the Fight for exercise. It's funny because it isn't really directed exercise, it's a boxing sim. You can take it slow but the game makes you feel like you have no choice but to punch for your life. It gets you really worked up.<p>I actually ended up with a bit of repetitive strain from throwing hooks and had to switch to Supernatural. It's a monthly fee but it's more purpose-built for exercise.
As someone who is deciding whether to splurge on a Quest 2 for exercising, how good is it without a computer system to link with?<p>Also, is there any step that requires a computer system like the initial setup etc.?<p>Any recommendations for initial games to try and guides for getting the optimal adjustment are also appreciated.
This is very intriguing. I can see myself using this during my lunch break where otherwise I just watch YouTube videos. I’d love to hear others’ experience. Anyone else here do this, or know of other articles like this?<p>I’d prefer not to buy anything from Facebook for privacy issues, though…
What do you find about VR in fitness context that's helping you stay committed for longer periods of time? Presumably it's the follow-along concept, but you don't need VR for that.
slightly unrelated, but it seems tripp [1] is also a nice approach to meditation using VR<p>1. <a href="https://www.tripp.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.tripp.com/</a>
"I wake up at 5:30, and do some deep work; at 7:15 an alarm goes off, which reminds me to fire up my Oculus Quest and start my VR workout."<p>So in VR, you don't have family?