In a paper published in Games for Health Journal in 2018, researchers put three virtual reality games ( Audioshield, Thrill of the Fight, and Holopoint) to the test on 41 healthy men and women between ages 18 and 39.Įach participant played each game for 10 minutes while researchers measured their heart rate and oxygen consumption with VO2 max testing equipment (a face mask and tube system that’s worn during exercise to measure physical fitness and the number of calories burned). Research says yes, virtual reality games can be just as intense as other workouts. What Science Says About Whether VR Games Count as a Workout On average, players burn about 300 calories per 30 minutes. They can even go head-to-head with fellow players in sparring matches. Liteboxer VR tracks players’ timing, accuracy, and velocity of punches, allowing them to improve upon their personal best. So, rather than looking at the boxing ring, you feel like you’re actually in it, for example.
The workouts in Liteboxer VR are similar to those in a workout video or app, except now you’re fully immersed in the simulation. Workouts feature music from artists such as Machine Gun Kelly and Lady Gaga, and a coach instructs users about proper form. Personal trainers designed the library of workouts in Liteboxer VR, for example, with new exercises added daily, Morin says. While some VR games are purely for entertainment (though you may burn some calories or work up a sweat while playing them because you are moving), others are made specifically for working out, says Jeff Morin, CEO and cofounder of Liteboxer VR, which dubs itself a “fitness-first” boxing game. Depending on the game and how much you’re moving, he says, the energy expenditure can be similar to other types of cardio you might do in a more traditional workout - or even more intense. “You’d be surprised at how quickly your heart rate jumps up when you’re doing a minute of jumping in a game,” Sorensen says. That means you might be up on your feet hopping for several seconds or minutes as you jump over laser beams, or doing a few squats and side lunges as you ride a VR roller coaster, or swinging your arms intensely as you use a sword to fight a monster, Sorensen says. In VR fitness, you control your player or character by moving your body. In a video game, you control your player or character in the game with a handheld controller. Sorensen, an avid gamer, says he started using VR fitness games in 2015. With VR fitness, you use hardware (the VR headset) and software (a collection of games) to immerse yourself in virtual surroundings, explains Mathias Sorensen, an American College of Sports Medicine–certified personal trainer and curriculum manager at the American Fitness and Nutrition Academy. VR can be used for many purposes, such as medical care and research, training, entertainment, and yes, fitness. Virtual reality is a computer-simulated environment hardware (a VR headset) allows users to navigate and interact with the simulation. Here’s more about what the research says, as well as everything you need to know to get started with VR fitness. It’s fun, so you forget you’re even exercising.” You’re going to keep doing the workouts that don’t feel like a chore and instead feel like something you actually enjoy, he says. “The best exercise is the one with the highest amount of painless minutes,” Stanton says. You’re getting your heart rate up, working up a sweat, and burning calories - but it’s not as monotonous as logging miles on a treadmill.
VR exercise isn’t different from other types of aerobic exercise, according to Stanton. (Since its founding, the organization has partnered with San Francisco State University and the virtual reality platform VIVE.) Pop on a VR headset, load up the right game, and suddenly you’re in sparring in a boxing ring or skiing in the Swiss Alps, says Aaron Stanton, founder and director of the Virtual Reality Institute of Health and Exercise, an independent research organization launched in 2017 to study the effects of virtual and augmented reality technology on fitness. Can video games be a workout? Yes, experts say, and virtual reality (VR) technology is ushering in a whole new way to exercise.