The experience is virtual, but the results are real. Here's a breakdown of the best VR workouts. Above is Meta's Supernatural fitness app.
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Meta
The experience is virtual, but the results are real. Here's a breakdown of the best VR workouts. Above is Meta's Supernatural fitness app.
Meta
I'm standing on top of Machu Picchu, listening to Lil Wayne, holding a bat in each hand and slamming balls at me. My instructor encouraged me to look around and take in the beauty around me. The next song begins and we are taken to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. This is not a fever dream or Transcendental Meditation. It's a VR fitness app called Supernatural. many Available today in a rapidly growing market.
Ann Estimated 1 million to 2 million people Work out in virtual reality every month. If you're like me and find it hard to spend quality time at the gym, VR fitness might be for you. You don't need much to get started, but we recommend Meta's $40 silicone facial insert to keep the headset from sweating, and his yoga mat to help orient yourself in VR. Recommended. A 20-minute VR workout burns about the same amount of calories as a 20-minute stationary bike routine. Here are my picks from the apps I tested:
Top 5 Popular Fitness VR Apps
les mills body combat
odds
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Les Mills Body Combat: Les Mills BodyCombat is a great one-time purchase for beginners with a workout that focuses on punches, squats, and knee strikes to the target, with lots of features. Before the training begins, a trainer joins you and is projected onto a Star Wars-style hologram. It has just the right pace and feels like there's a strong emphasis on form. After a 20-minute boxing-style workout, I burned 228 calories, making this one of the most efficient VR workouts I've tried.
LM Body Combat's October update added a new mixed reality mode that shows you your workout and the room around you, but I'm looking to other apps and games for variety. There's also no post-workout “cool down,” so I usually switch to another app to relax after my workout. $30/1 purchase
Fit XR: FitXR is a subscription-based app with a variety of workouts. Recent updates added mixed reality modes called Zumba and Slam to a list that includes boxing, combat, high-intensity interval training, sculpting, and dance, and new modes are added frequently.
While I really enjoy FitXR, it's not my top recommendation due to its high cost, poor avatar graphics, and lack of some mixed reality options. Despite these issues, I still come back to this app regularly. I love HIIT workouts where you smash orbs to beat your best time and compete with others in the class. I worked out for 25 minutes with warm-up, HIIT, boxing, and cool-down and burned 262 calories. This equates to a moderate Peloton cycling workout for me. $9.99/month
supernatural: Supernatural is one of the most popular VR fitness apps and is extremely popular. Meta acquired development company Within for $430 million in February 2023..
Naturally, it's a sophisticated experience with beautiful locations around the world, popular music everyone knows, and passionate trainers with two main training types: boxing and flow. In Flow, you swipe the orb with a baseball bat. You will also need to crouch and lift your legs from side to side to pass through the giant triangle. perform a knee strike. Although my heart rate wasn't as high as his FitXR or Les Mills, Supernatural gave me more strength in my lower body. $9.99/month
Exponential+
Will Mitchell/Xponential+
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Will Mitchell/Xponential+
Exponential+: Xponential+, the latest offering from the Quest platform, brings augmented reality to your workouts in partnership with established workout studios like Pure Barre, Stretch Lab, and Club Pilates. I like how the app detects when you're doing planks, push-ups, or lying on your back and brings the workout right into your living room by displaying a smaller version of the trainer on the floor or ceiling. No more stretching your neck to monitor your trainer's form during your workout. This is a great example of how mixed reality can solve problems in traditional fitness classes. $9.99/month – also includes access to workouts via app or web
Vrit: Equal parts gaming and working out — Vrit has a goofy Nintendo vibe. As far as I know, it's about competing against robot spheres in a “sports battle” to protect Earth's clouds. Although the story is a little vague, this $3.00 game is really fun and uses hand tracking to do things like floor routines like planks and push-ups, and running in place (I liked doing “high knees”). One of the few apps that lets you work on your floor routine. ' in those sections instead). $3.00/1 purchase
VR fitness on a bike
There are two main options for working out in VR on a stationary bike: Holofit and VZFit.
VZ fit
VirZOOM
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VirZOOM
VZ fit: I highly recommend VZFit. The app has a digital world to bike through and a Google Street mode to rotate through real-life locations. Stitching together Street View photos makes for some shaky visuals, but it kept me interested and I appreciate that they're trying something new. VZFit doesn't offer as much of a “digital world” as Holofit, but I liked its overall look and feel better. $9.99/month
Holofit: Holofit can take you to a variety of locations, from a fictional cyberpunk world to Antarctica, the deep sea, and the streets of Paris. Some of the graphics may look dated, but they're full of life and personality. Compete in races and games, or just drive around looking for hidden items. A big advantage of the Holofit is that it can be synced with a bike, elliptical, or rowing machine, but it doesn't feel as great as its competitor, the VZFit. $11.99/month
More games to move your body
Even better, many VR games created for good old-fashioned entertainment are still demanding enough to get your heart rate up. At 40 years old, I As I am starting to feel the effects of age, I welcome the option of playing games to stay active.
beat saber
Meta
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Beat Saber: It would be a sin not to mention Beat Saber. A popular VR rhythm game where you slice cubes with a lightsaber in time to music. I often use Beat Saber as a warm-up or cool-down before entering or exiting more intense workout apps, as harder difficulties can definitely increase your heart rate. $30, additional music packs cost more
gorilla tag
Another axiom
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Another axiom
Gorilla tag: One of the most popular VR games among young people, you play as a legless gorilla and use your arms and hands to strap yourself around a giant map. You'll be running, dodging, climbing, and jumping around the walls around the room.. My 11-year-old nephews introduced me to the game while I struggled to keep up. But while it's a physically demanding game, it's also a social experience, and I had a lot of fun. free
knock
normal VR
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normal VR
knock: Knock is a personal favorite and is a soccer game where you use a bow and arrow on the ice. You can jump incredibly high. It's a highly competitive sport, so even if you're exhausted after a few rounds, you might forget you're in VR. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but it's always fun! $10/1 purchase
No more rainbows: Another favorite of mine. Move through the levels in a similar manner to Gorilla Tag, using your arms and hands as legs to run, jump, and climb. At its heart, it's a platformer with engaging characters, levels, and a silly story. $20/1 purchase
o shape
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O shape: The first thing I saw was OhShape's concept of twisting your body to fit into a cutout hole. YouTube clip From a Japanese game show. In the OhShape version of the game, you adjust shapes to match the song. It's a light workout, but the conceit works perfectly in VR. $20/1 purchase
pistol whip
cloud head game
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cloud head game
Pistol whip: Another music/rhythm game, Pistol Whip, has you shooting to the beat of a song while avoiding fire from your surroundings. It might not seem like much of a workout at first, but your quads will wonder what happened after a few rounds of ducking and dodging. $30/1 purchase
racket club
resolution games
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resolution games
Racket club: Racket Club is similar to pickleball, but made specifically for VR. There's virtual plexiglass around the small court to bounce shots off of, and a unique scoring system based on how long you can sustain a rally. Returning the ball requires moving around the playing space, which allows for unique movement. $25/single purchase
Synth rider: This rhythm game involves turning your hands into orbs to follow tracks and attack other orbs. You have to hold your arms in different positions in time with the music, but it quickly starts to feel like a workout. $25/single purchase
Thrill of battle: I've never been as breathless in VR as I was as a boxing opponent in the highly recommendable $10 Thrill of the Fight. Aim to become the king or queen of the ring by defeating 10 or more opponents in boxing. Facing your opponent is scary because you can easily get knocked out. Their new mixed reality mode brings fighter jets into your living room. This is intense and will help prevent injury to yourself or innocent passersby. $10/1 purchase
until you fall
shell game
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shell game
Until you fall: Until You Fall sees you slashing and parrying sword attacks as you navigate the 1980s neon aesthetic you can't help but love. The game mechanics are simple at first glance, but the difficulty quickly increases. By the time you reach level 4 or 5, you'll be wiping the sweat from your headset. $25/One-time purchase
The future of VR fitness
2024 could be a breakthrough year for mixed reality. The Meta Quest 3 makes it much easier to see the world around you while you work out, and there are already specialized headsets designed for the job, such as: immersion visor And Apple's future plans vision pro. It's only a matter of time before we see fitness-specific headsets. In the meantime, if you recently picked up a VR headset while on vacation, or were looking for a reason to dust off your headset and jump into it again, there's never been a better time to break a sweat in virtual reality there is no.
James Perkins Mastromarino contributed to this article.
