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Can VR Fitness Training be a Thing?

kevinw729
Honored Visionary
With at least two sports related VR companies starting up and a number of VR fintess bike style designs in the works, or operation at Chinese VR Arcades, I would like the communities opinion on the prospect of VR fitness.

The clossest example in the real world to the aspiration of a VR fitness bike is this kind of example:


But the question has to be how many of you think this could be a serious offering for the current PC VR platforms?
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959
33 REPLIES 33

kevinw729
Honored Visionary

Zenbane said:

^^^




Yeah, I know!
Got a private bet with another poster how long till this new MartinLandau persona gets banned - want to join in?
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

kevinw729
Honored Visionary
The reality of a home approach for a VR fitness system seems to be finding it difficult to find momentum:



https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

kojack
MVP
MVP
Does regular face palming count as exercise? 🙂

The VirZoom looked pretty cool (exercise bike for VR), but then I read that it's for US and Canada only, no overseas shipping. 😞


I need to get around to wiring up the i-pac (arcade controls to usb adapter) I bought to my bike. The bike already has a sensor for wheel revolutions, it would be easy to make it move the player forward in vr based on pedal speed. I'd need to add something for steering though.

Any VR exercise machine really needs feedback though, such as variable resistance to pedaling based on the vr environment (harder to pedal when going up hill, etc).

But yeah, the issue of sweaty vr headsets needs to be addressed.
Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
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Anonymous
Not applicable
Absolutely!
I can imagine very soon there will be a VR fitness game/Aerobic workout where you basically follow a virtual instructor and mimic their moves to music. Doing this for an hour will surely burn calories as well as keep you entertained. The app can even have you build up points for doing longer sessions, and by doing skillfull moves, like dodge objects moving towards you and at how accurate your moves are. When more sensors are available, many areas of the body can be tracked, simulating an even more accurate exercise.

Does Audioshield work with Touch? Try doing that for an hour and then you'll find out how effective that game is for cardio workouts. I got to a point where I couldn't hold my arms up anymore, but wanted to keep playing. 

SadGamerDad
Heroic Explorer
I'm very interested in VR exercise as a supplement to trips to the gym ..  Biking around various locations I could never afford to go to would be cool


kevinw729 said:

 From doing work with the fitness and exercise sector, they are all for technology to help achieve a regular cardio excise routine, but there is a serious concern of "Wii-Goggles"! This term refers to individuals that thought they were getting fit using the Nintendo Wii, only to learn that the benefits were only short term and they started to regress back to their unhealthy fitness index. Those pictures of before and after buff users never had a happy long-term story (many putting more fat on after they stopped).

As I alluded to before, Nintendo dropped promoting the fitness/exercise element of the Wii after concerns on liability from injury both through operation and also over exerting oneself while using the system. Most fitness manufacturers prefer the commercial gym market as the liability transfers to the gym regarding injuries incurred while using the hardware.

The exercise hardware scene desperate to find systems that encourage strong fitness regimes but also offer a compelling (repeat) incentive to keep on exercising. A concern that VR exercise may be a novelty with no repeat incentive.


I think I mentioned before.. I bought a wii fit for my ex because I thought she was overweight and my forehead very quickly developed a wii fit shaped imprint.

If a person hasn't done anything towards becoming fit, prior to the use of any motivational equipment, my experience has been they won't make great use of kit after buying it, whether it's VR kit or anything else. The people who will use it for more than just novelty value are the people who are already into exercise and that is a big market.

Also one of the biggest motivators are the people around you and that's possibly where VR could be different. If VR really does become a social environment and you're continuously inspired and encouraged by friends in your VR circle who are into exercise, then that could be enough to maintain your motivation. Competition is also a great motivation... competing against people you know and entering races so you have a target to aim for.

kevinw729
Honored Visionary
From the work I have done investigating the fitness sector, I agree that VR (immersive entertainment) could seriously drive a new era for exercise via a system or machine.

But I also wonder if the traditional cardio systems (bikes, rowing, treadmill) could be superseded by more overall and immersive exercise platforms - such as flying:


https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

ivansutherland
Explorer



kevinw729 said:

 From doing work with the fitness and exercise sector, they are all for technology to help achieve a regular cardio excise routine, but there is a serious concern of "Wii-Goggles"! This term refers to individuals that thought they were getting fit using the Nintendo Wii, only to learn that the benefits were only short term and they started to regress back to their unhealthy fitness index. Those pictures of before and after buff users never had a happy long-term story (many putting more fat on after they stopped).

As I alluded to before, Nintendo dropped promoting the fitness/exercise element of the Wii after concerns on liability from injury both through operation and also over exerting oneself while using the system. Most fitness manufacturers prefer the commercial gym market as the liability transfers to the gym regarding injuries incurred while using the hardware.

The exercise hardware scene desperate to find systems that encourage strong fitness regimes but also offer a compelling (repeat) incentive to keep on exercising. A concern that VR exercise may be a novelty with no repeat incentive.


I think I mentioned before.. I bought a wii fit for my ex because I thought she was overweight and my forehead very quickly developed a wii fit shaped imprint.

If a person hasn't done anything towards becoming fit, prior to the use of any motivational equipment, my experience has been they won't make great use of kit after buying it, whether it's VR kit or anything else. The people who will use it for more than just novelty value are the people who are already into exercise and that is a big market.

Also one of the biggest motivators are the people around you and that's possibly where VR could be different. If VR really does become a social environment and you're continuously inspired and encouraged by friends in your VR circle who are into exercise, then that could be enough to maintain your motivation. Competition is also a great motivation... competing against people you know and entering races so you have a target to aim for.




I always wanted to "know karate" like NEO in the matrix and spar with kevin and palmer and bitch slap them both in VR Karate simulator.  Give them that IMPRINT on their virtual foreheads like your wife does you 🙂  We just lost Carrie Fisher because she got too fat and didn't exercise enough and I am very worried about Palmer.  This is a great idea.

EliteSPA
Superstar


Im an Oculus Rifter!



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I was joking about my ex by the way... she wasn't overweight, she also had a great left hook