Yes, I do, absolutely.

The activity is absolutely not worse than a jog. It's easier on my knees (less impact), more fun (as in I'll actually do it), uses more of my body (things like dodging objects requiring engaging a lot more muscles than the few ones I use over and over when biking or jogging), isn't hampered by the weather (as in I'll actually do it in the winter), and has the potential to be more social.

It's like sports in a lot of ways, except cheaper, easier to organize, and not requiring commuting to a shared facility to play them.

All your criticisms could apply to any exercise equipment, not just VR. Your gym membership almost certainly costs more than VR, and at least speaking for myself, I would make a lot less use out of it.

For me, VR training has been life-changing so it has already proven its worth. Prefixing something that is really hard for me to do consistently with "just..." tells me we're very different persons.

VR training is amazing and after one year I'm still excited for every workout. The recent development in apps such as FitXR shows that we've just seen the start of this movement. In my opinion fitness is the killer app for VR.

Have you ever played Beat Saber? It's incredibly fun and a great workout. I didn't think much about VR until I had a kid. I couldn't exactly bring an infant to the gym or on a run. So I used the headset (Oculus Quest) during naps and was instantly hooked.

VR has evolved since then since now. For example, you can connect it to stationary bikes, rowing machines, etc., compete with others, adding a whole new dimension.

Video games and fitness are multi-hundred billion-dollar industries. So why not combine the two? As someone who used to be an avid gamer but no longer has the time, I would love a way to combine my favorite hobby (gaming) with fitness, especially during the winter or other times when exercising outside is inconvenient.

It sounds fun and engaging but doesn’t the big headset impact your performance? I couldn’t imagine whaling on a bike or rower to my max ability with this sweaty headset experience. Am I missing something?

The Oculus Quest is pretty light, you don't really notice it. They also have replaceable sweat pads you can add. The most intensive/tiring game I've played in terms of rapid movement was 'thrill of the fight' (boxing game) and never had any issues. Movement on bike/rower is less than that, so I don't think you'd have issues.

Yeah i’d give it a shot. I like to push myself to the almost-throwing-up level of intensity so I’m curious if it would get in my way of achieving that.

I think you'll have no trouble doing that. Boxing is tiring, and you can add leg weights/body vest weights if you want. If you want to push it, then do burpees between rounds to create your own little puke-filled exercise hell.

But the boxing adjusts to your strength level, so it gets quite challenging the further you go requiring a strategy to manage your stamina, or you flame out swinging hard for a knock-out early on. It's exhausting.

It's not really that big or heavy. The apps I'm using (FitXR, Thrill of the Fight) are also so engaging and immersive that you forget you're even wearing a headset to begin with.

I go running and occasionally do push-ups inside and have an exercise bike. VR exercise really bridges the gap for me between not wanting to exercise or not having time, to feeling energized and/or it being a workout all it's own.

Mostly just a game of Pistol Whip but also the noted Supernatural app helps a lot. I also put on 360 1st person biking videos on YouTube while I ride my exercise bike and the whole range of options expands my desire to work out exponentially...

If you want to push it a bit further you can mix in our game VRWorkout [1] [2] (the github version is a bit behind the AppLab version). It's a hand tracking based full body exercise game (crunches, pushups and even burpees included). I'd be happy if you join us in our weekly multiplayer workouts on Sunday

[1] https://quest.vrworkout.at [2] https://github.com/mgschwan/VRWorkout

I will definitely check it out thanks!

If you want to also check out the foot tracking send me a DM in our discord chat.vrworkout.az

I haven't thought of that. What's your setup? Where are the videos? I saw a few on YT but was wondering if there's a different source or I'm not searching for the right thing

Does the sweat mess with the gear? How is the weight of the equipment?

I have a fairly cheap mechanical exercise bike I bought on Amazon (not near it right now, don't have model handy). By mechanical I mean I adjust the resistance myself. As for which videos I watch - kinda just anything in the YouTube app on the quest 2 which is full 360 or 180. I recently found a good video of a ride through Seattle that was about 45 minutes or so (didn't complete the whole thing, I will probably do it again next). Quality obviously varies but I'm not picky.

Also if you are prone to motion sickness in VR you might not like it. You're always at the position of the cameras of whoever was filming so that's a bit odd - but I find it's good enough for me to get into it.

Any 180 video is probably fine too, but I like turning fully around like I'm on a real bike, seeing what was behind behind cyclist.

The weight of the Quest 2 doesn't bother me as long as it's adjusted properly on my head and yeah it gets sweaty but I don't personally care much as long as I take breaks.

The big benefits in my opinion are

It's a gateway "drug" into fitness. You just played a game, then you increased the intensity and did it a bit longer and suddenly you did a 30 minute cardio workout sweating like mad and most importantly the endorphins your body releases during exercise are real as well. So you are very likely to do it again, and again. And that's the important part, sticking with it.

The second thing is that in the headset time feels different so you are more likely to workout for longer than you would have while doing crunches staring at your living room wall.

And there are already several multiplayer experiences that can be counted as a workout (Blaston, FitXR, VZFit, Holodia and also our game VRWorkout) which adds a whole different level of exercising together.

I think that this does fill a genuine gap for people who can’t get out easily, or who find standard exercise to be boring.

I can’t run, my knees are too bad. I can’t to the gym easily, since it’s hard to find someone to care for my young kids (my other half works crazy lawyer hours). But I can do an hour of exercise before the kids wake up, and the Quest 2 is much more enjoyable than doing a set of regular exercises (though I do mix those in too). I get a good workout from doing a mix of shadow boxing with FitXR (or the Thrill of the Fight if I have enough space), Beat Saber and Pistol Whip, and it barely feels like exercise while I’m doing it. It’s been particularly helpful during the recent lockdowns.

> Why do they need to spend billion of dollars en VR development and then the user will have to spend hundred (thousand ?) of dollars to buy the VR headset, expensive computer just to have an activity that will be worse than a jog.

For better or worse, most athletes even at the college level are more interested in doing entertaining workouts than actually getting better at their sports. And among non-athletes who just want to stay in shape, it's even worse.

I personally agree with you, but at the same time this kind of thing is clearly what people want and are willing to pay for.

> Just buy a pair of shoes and go for a run. Buy a bike and go for a ride.

It depends where you live, sadly. In some places it can be downright dangerous to exercise outside.

> Why do they need to spend billion of dollars en VR

It's a very fresh market and early investors will dominate it. They're probably just trying everything, because even if most of these investments fail, the few that work out may have enormous ROI, I think.

> It depends where you live, sadly. In some places it can be downright dangerous to exercise outside.

Where is it so dangerous(or really bad weather) than you can go for a run or to any gym/club ? (and add to that you can still do burpees or jump rope in an appartment)

I don't think they are developing VR fitness for people living in the middle of Sahara desert or Himalaya.

Well, for example, climate-change-fueled wildfires have draped large areas of California and the western US in wildfire smoke for weeks on end, the last few years. Aside from that, large cities and suburbs can be smoggy, very hot, and extremely hostile to pedestrians, let alone runners. (This is true both in the US, and abroad—the pollution in many modern cities is unreal.)

Gyms are expensive, and there is a pandemic.

I run all through the winter in New England, but I have empathy for people who don't like dealing with the cold and wet and the quite serious safety issues of ice and snow piled up everywhere. Even I generally try to avoid running in the rain just because it's unpleasant. As for clubs, there's the cost of a membership, limited hours, time/effort of getting to/from the place, poor aesthetics, the "ick" factor of shared equipment, contention for equipment, pandemic issues, self-consciousness, etc.

Also, many VR fitness apps are quite engaging and appealing in their own right. Supernatural in particular has nice scenery, music, a huge variety of challenge types and levels, dynamic full-body exercise, and a general game-like feel that many enjoy.

People have all sorts of concerns, strengths, and preferences. Dismissing or trivializing them with "just do what I find comfortable" is an attitude that practically never serves anyone - including the speaker - very well. In fact, any sentence beginning with "just" is a bit of a red flag.

Although this applies to VR too, I could not do burpees or jump rope in my apartment without angering numerous neighbors. This is probably more of an issue in a wooden building than one of stone or concrete.

If you cannot imagine where exercising outside is very hard in some parts of the world, watch some travel shows or something. There are many parts of Istanbul where density is so high and safe places to run are so sparse that indoors VR could be preferable for many if their living spaces can accommodate it.

My quest 2 was like 299 and weighs 1lb and doesn't require a computer at all. The workouts especially HIIT and Boxing routines are more engaging to me in VR with my limited on hand equipment and I don't like being in a gym with other people, largely because I want to monopolize the equipment. I think you may be a bit outdated on what VR these days is like.

Many people do. I'm not into fitness VR (yet), but I do like me some Zwift. In times of good weather I prefer outdoor riding but for those cold rainy days, I much prefer Zwift. Some people have given up on riding outdoors and exclusively Zwift.