James Bentley, hardware writer
This week I’ve been: Strapping the VR headset on every day and (regrettably) playing Rocket League again.
On the first day of January, I was both cold and had a cold: a terrible start to my new year’s resolution of, well, actually getting enough exercise. Luckily, the Meta Quest 3 I’d been neglecting for the last six months offered a welcoming solution to my problems. I could exercise in the warmth, without having to be sick and generally unpleasant around sweaty strangers.
To establish some ground rules, I decided this would not be a replacement for traditional exercise, and traditional exercise would not be a replacement for it. I would try to do a minimum of 25 minutes of VR workouts every day, regardless of any other kind of movement I had achieved. Luckily, I have a bit of a bad habit of leaving my watch on charge during the day, so oftentimes, I could just intentionally forget it and have a fresh exercise ring to finish.
The exercise ring is how my Apple Watch tracks movement. There’s a standing ring (which measures the amount you stand), a movement ring (which measures general movement) and an exercise ring (I think you can guess what that is).
Secondly, whatever way I filled that exercise ring was always fair game. After a while, I realised it was easier to tackle boredom and more efficient to finish my exercise quicker by just kind of dancing while I played Beat Saber. I don’t think either you nor I particularly want footage of that here, but imagine it as sort of like an overweight fighting game character stance, and you’re 70% there.
On the first day, I reached my 25-minute line, crossed it, and called it a day. I had initially forgotten to put my watch on, and my controller batteries were dead. Great start. These are the kinds of setbacks that might send you straight back home if you were trekking out to a gym. But Beat Saber is just so instantly engaging that I didn’t mind.
A quick game of $100 bills on Expert+ woke me right up, and only partly because I’m just barely good enough to finish it. I felt somewhat tired by the end of my exercise, but mostly just in my legs, which I attribute partly to the aforementioned dancing, and partly to the cold. The second day was easier. I had a slight twinge in my shoulder, but nothing else. I felt a little less motivated, but that’s to be expected.
It’s on the third day that I started to form an actual habit, and that’s because of an app called FitXR. Essentially, it focusses on boxing, combat exercise and HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training). It teaches you the form for punches, where you place your legs, and a handful of other moves, then throws them at you Beat Saber style.
Though simple in concept, I found FitXR raising my heart rate and making me sweat, even if the app’s uncanny trainers conjured Bladerunner hologram vibes.
I think, traditionally, it’s not a strict lack of motivation that has stopped me exercising, but a mixture of that, boredom, and the opportunity cost of all that time. So, when I didn’t want to go for a round in FitXR, I settled on a rotation of Beat Saber, Synth Riders, and Pistol Whip to get me moving. I tried a few other VR games, but I found none to be as consistent for exercise as this trio.
The biggest downside of exercising in VR is the fact that you need to slap a piece of equipment to your face. I would occasionally have to pause and wipe sweat or readjust the headband. Sweat on the fabric of the headset certainly feels a tad gross, but I got used to it in little time.
I soon started to feel more and more confident, exercising in harder, more strenuous ways. I hit a real moment on day nine where I felt challenged. Day nine was my first time doing a HIIT exercise. Effectively, HIIT exercises push you hard but for a small amount of time. There’s a lot of squats, hits, and movement back and forth, and I felt myself double over to recover my breath and stabilise my heart rate. Though this moment signified how far I would need to go to feel in shape, I also felt oddly proud of pushing myself.
I’m glad I tried the HIIT exercise on day nine because, by the time day ten had rolled around, I had already decided I would keep my trucking with my selection of apps. Ironically, I actually skipped Day 10 entirely as I left the house early and got back after midnight. If you’re my mum or my VR headset, ignore that last line.
Now, thirty days later, I can say that popping the headset on and working up a light sweat is very natural to me.
One thing I haven’t yet mentioned is diet. That’s partly because there isn’t a good way of eating in VR (yet), but also because my focus is on my exercise here, and is instead on my capacity to move.
However, I did notice myself naturally eating better and thinking more about my diet as I exercised, and that’s because I didn’t want my effort to go to waste. I ate protein, and snacked less. Alas, you can’t outrun the fork, that so-and-so knows where I live.
One of the biggest hurdles for me while VR exercising is having to do it around my partner. My flat is small enough that using the VR headset will take up most of a room, and though my first few days were done alone, I couldn’t continue hogging up so much space. But, like most issues with being perceived by others, I realised I cared way more about whether I looked silly.
After just two weeks, I made a habit of turning on MR modes where possible and watching TV idly between rounds through my peripheral vision. This made it so much easier to fit VR into my everyday life.
Now, thirty days later, I can say that popping the headset on and working up a light sweat is very natural to me. The half an hour to an hour I exercise for no longer feels like wasted time, and I’ve found tougher exercises easier and easier to do. And that leaves me with a question. Even after my positive experience, will I continue to exercise in VR?
I am vulnerable to boredom, and elements of that did creep in here. When you put on the headset, it takes all of your attention, and that can make it hard to do in the background. In fact, part of the reason I continued with it is that I had the writing of this piece to hold myself accountable. So, with the training wheels off, can I hold myself accountable when a potential reader can’t?
Ultimately, I think the answer to that question relies on how much of an improvement I’ve felt since starting. This can be a little hard to quantify (outside of the six or seven pounds of weight I’ve lost), but I have seen the effects in everyday life. I live on a very large hill, and that climb upwards to my apartment near the top can be daunting after work on a particularly long day.
That hill is so daunting, in fact, that I’ve gotten the bus to avoid it. However, since I’ve started VR exercising, not only is that hill much easier, but it’s become a small challenge I’ve found myself wanting to conquer. In this process, I’ve gained a new subscription, cancelled my Uber Eats, and found myself craving exercise more. Meta’s own machinations may be putting me more and more off the Quest, but if I want to head back to the gym, I finally feel like I can tackle that hill when I get to it.
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