The pandemic brought in limitations to everyday life like never before. Staying fit and healthy was no exception.
Zen meditation, rebounder classes, reformer pilates, HIIT drills, etc. are just a handful of choices for effective workouts at home but even they can’t make us push ourselves up to the extreme limits. And also, working out in the same environment every day whether at home or a gym tends to get boring at times.
However, just as it works in all such situations, gamification might just be the trick for you to get out of bed and start getting back in shape. Just at the right time, 2021 has brought in another surprise for us in the form of virtual reality (VR) powered workouts that would take your home workouts to the next level.
In fact, certain researches have hinted that VR-powered workouts could actually be more effective than sweating it out with all the equipment at a gym.
The VR Exercise Tracker app has demonstrated remarkable results in terms of the calories burned during a workout. Beat Saber and Pistol Whip are two of the games that average at about 6.55 and 7.17 calories per minute respectively which is equivalent to playing tennis or a session on the elliptical trainer.
In terms of the space required for the setup, you would definitely need an area bigger than a yoga mat. Probably somewhere close to setting up a dedicated fitness corner within your home.
For the tech aspect, let’s begin with a VR headset such as the Oculus costing about $549, the Sony PlayStation VR costing $449, or the HTC Vive which is priced at $959. On average, each game that has the potential to power such a workout would cost upwards of US$20.
Even though this looks like a considerable investment upfront but if you compare this with the other alternatives for fitness, it does sound worthwhile. And VR brings the additional social element to the entire activity too wherein you can work out with your friends safely without actually being at the same place together. You can even invite friends and family over for them to check out the innovative set up and have an evening filled with fun around several VR games.
VR does have the potential to become the preferred medium to stay fit in the long-run with constant improvements on the tech side of it.
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