The concept of "virtual fitness" or "VR fitness" doesn't immediately make sense to most people.

Despite the great growth of the world of virtual reality or VR, it is still not well understood outside the circles of users and groups of players. The vast majority of people still do not understand what VR is and how it is used.

Adding training to the mix adds many questions to the conversation, leading to: “What is VR and what is it like to do fitness with it?”

Fortunately, there are a lot of possible answers to this one. question. VR is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of the types of games you can play. In fact, we're not as stuck with the same handful of quintessential VR games as we were just a year ago.

How to play with VR and train at the same time?
When we talk about getting in shape with VR, we're talking about gameplay that requires you to move your arms, head, or even your entire body. While most non-VR games abstract their gameplay solely to pressing buttons and thumbsticks, active VR games are driven by motion controls that use many different muscles in your body.

You may have heard of motion controls used in games. They became popular in 2006 with the launch of the Nintendo Wii.

That said, unlike the Nintendo Wii or even the Nintendo Ring-Con, which place the user in front of a TV screen, their headset VR headset tracks your position within a 3D video game world that overlaps your entire field of view. It's not quite the same thing as being put into the game - as pre-2017 VR marketing hype might suggest - but it's pretty close.

Choosing the right games
Each VR game uses gamepad controls. move in a totally different way. VR, as a medium, is quite open in terms of what's possible. Some games, like Beat Saber, BoxVR, The Thrill of the Fight, and SUPERHOT VR, each make use of static play areas - where the gameplay comes to you while you focus on what to do next.

Other games use thumbsticks to move your avatar, but they still task you with interacting with the virtual environment and making things happen with your own fine motor skills. Games like Asgard's Wrath, Onward and Pavlov VR fall into this category.

Also, you have VR games that let you move around wide spaces by moving your hands and arms. Games that allow you to use Natural Locomotion, feature GORN or H3VR wing 'swing arm' style movement, and games that allow you to propel yourself by grabbing and pulling or pushing geometry into the game world (Boneworks, Lone Echo, Stormland) every fall into this category.

Some games will fall more into the realm of low-intensity steady-state exercise, where you will slowly burn calories over a long period of time while playing for about an hour or so. Meanwhile, some games, like The Thrill of the Fight, will push you into HIIT effort levels where you'll be out of breath in 20-30 minutes. This is quite normal for sports games that require you to box or wrestle, and/or make a lot of moves in a tight window.

Most VR games, however, include a game design that takes away from part, or most, of the pressure to physically do the things your avatar is trying to do outside of you. If you want to play VR games specifically to help you burn calories, do high-intensity cardio, or build muscle, you really want less from this game design. This is explained a little further below.

Building the Right Routine
What I've learned in my time writing on VR Fitness Insider over the past few years, and in my own ups and downs with VR fitness as a whole, is that I strive to see any kind of lasting result when I'm out of my rut

As with any other form of exercise, you won't see any real progress if you just give your old VR headset a light spin every now and then. You have to treat it like real exercise, the same way you would if you were going to the gym to work out. The thing to remember about VR is that while it can be fun (and believe me, working out by progressing in VR video games is a lot of fun), it only gives you as good a workout as you want to get.

VR Cover

By which I mean you can't screw it up. You have to invest in VR fitness, otherwise there are no “fitness” results to speak of in the long term where it really matters. Like anything else fitness related, VR fitness is a lifestyle choice that requires forming habits in order for you to get - or maintain - any of the results you achieve.

The more rigorous is a game, and the more you play it, the better. But we can't really say which routine will be best for you. Of course, that's up to you as, after all, VR fitness games are still a form of gaming. We still want you to have fun (and be distracted) to some extent, otherwise what's the point of doing that instead of spending the same amount of time at a gym?

The best thing about gaming is VR fitness is how "flagged" it is. The whole point of VR fitness is that you get lost in a game and accidentally burn calories over time. In the case of games like Beat Saber and BoxVR, you may be doing a very physically demanding job, but you are guided every step of the way.

If you want the best results, you can play active VR games in different ways. arbitrary; add extra weight equipment and/or configure certain limitations in the game - such as limiting movement in Skyrim VR so that your character only moves when you swing your arms, as a specific example - to make simple in-game tasks more difficult and more physically punishing, making your routine more fitness-oriented and less game-oriented.

Obviously, adding limitations won't do much to make VR games more fun, but we've found that it will certainly make your more rewarding VR fitness routines.