Evolving tech allows more exercise while staying home

For many people, one of the hardest parts of the coronavirus pandemic has been staying home. With fewer opportunities for outdoor exercise and trips to the gym, keeping in shape has become more difficult. One option often overlooked is virtual reality (VR). Sometimes seen as a niche technology that appeals mainly to hardcore enthusiasts, VR has evolved rapidly in recent years and offers easy, immersive ways to exercise—or just reduce stress—when working from home.

Fiction Becomes Reality

Simulated environments have long been a staple of entertainment, particularly in movies and films that imagine what our world will be like in the distant future. Perhaps the best-known example comes from Star Trek, in which starship crews frequent the holodeck, a room where projections can simulate everything from recreational activities to fitness and combat training.

The yellow grid that defines that room is a familiar bit of fiction to people all over the world—but it isn’t fiction anymore. Those same lines appear when you get too close to your room’s wall when using the Oculus Quest 2, the latest version of the groundbreaking VR headset from Facebook Technologies, LLC. And they may also appear while you are boxing, playing racquet- ball, or practicing tai chi.

The advancements in the Quest hardware, as well as the Vive from HTC Corporation, are key to VR for fitness. These headsets contain all the processing power required to generate virtual worlds, eliminating the need to tether to a gaming PC. The change opens the door to freer movement, and the feeling is liberating.

Initiate Program

*Elizabeth Tasker, Associate Professor Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences*

“I cannot remember the absolute first time I tried VR, but my earliest experiences were at demonstrations in shopping centers or in game arcades,” said Elizabeth Tasker, an associate professor at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences. “I find virtual reality incredibly immersive, and my brain seems completely ready to accept that I’ve just been swept away from a street outside a McDonald’s and deposited in a war against humongous titans or similar!”

While Tasker conjures up images of epic battles, she also loves using VR for fitness, and her accounts of rowing the streets of Babylon and peddling around a black hole show how the tech- nology can help us cope with the current situation.

Her earliest VR experiences were short ones designed to show off the thrill factor with activities such as riding a roller coaster or falling off a cliff. She tried a fitness platform for the first time in 2018: the Icaros Pro system from Icaros GmbH, whose products blend training, gaming, and social competition to create exciting and effective exercise experiences. Initially installed in premium fitness clubs and hotels, Icaros professional systems can now be found in leading orthopedic and neurological therapy facilities.

“The Icaros exercise machine allows you to be suspended as you fly or swim through three-dimensional scenes,” Tasker explained. “I quite enjoyed that one, but I had a similar problem as being thrown off a cliff. The studio assistant actually under- stood this issue and suggested I try the Holofit software on one of their Concept2 rowers.”

Concept2 Inc. has been making rowing machines for competitive athlete training since 1981, and their RowErg is designed for a full-body, low-impact workout. It’s great for pairing with Holofit, a platform from Holodia that is available in commercial and home versions.

“I rowed canals that cut through a mythological Babylonian town and watched the markets, fight practice, and the odd elephant,” she recalls. “It was more like tourism than exercise! At the time, Holofit was mainly marketed at professional gyms, I think partly because the entry cost was very high.”

This was before standalone VR headsets, such as the Oculus Quest, so a home setup would have required a fast gaming PC, a tethered headset, and an exercise machine that was compatible with the Holofit software. “It would have been a serious investment, and I even considered it,” she said. “That’s how much I liked it.”

"I CREATE WORKFLOWS THAT INJECT FIVE- OR 10-MINUTE WORKOUTS INTO 15- OR 30-MINUTE WORK SPRINTS.”

A year later, everything changed. The standalone Oculus and Vive headsets drastically reduced the cost of entry for home users. Today, you can step into another world any time you want, in your own home, for as little as ¥40,000. And, in most cases, no exercise equipment is required. But if you want to combine VR with familiar tools such as a stationary bike, you can. That’s what Tasker does. She keeps an exercise bike behind her desk so she can hop on anytime.

Motivation

So VR is cool. But is it a magical switch that you flip to turn off all your fitness procrastination? Not exactly.

“I have to be honest and admit that, while I do love the Holofit program and the different worlds you can explore, there is still an energy barrier needed to get my lazy backside onto a bike—even one that is right behind my desk,” Tasker said. “So, I tend to go through periods where I’m on Holofit every day, and then the bike gets used as a coat rack for several weeks. But there’s no doubt that the bike would have morphed into a full-on clothes hanger without Holofit and VR.”

She offered some tips for overcoming those moments of weakened motivation.

“To try and coach myself off the sofa, I do flip between a variety of apps. There is VZfit, which also works with an exercise bike and actually lets you cycle through Google Maps, so you can explore the entire world from your living room,” she said. “It’s the only way I’ve been able to visit the UK over the past year. As Google Maps

is not designed for VR, the 360-degree imaging isn’t perfect like it is in all of the Holofit worlds. But the two complement each other quite nicely. If I want to go traveling, I pick VZfit. If I want to feel I’ve stepped into a storybook or science fiction movie, I choose cycling through Dwarven mines or the colony around Saturn on Holofit.”

Business Potential

These VR systems have given rise to some business initiatives. One is Fun and Body, a showroom for VR exercise that was located near Harajuku, in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, when Tasker visited to experience Holofitin 2018. The small, sunlit studio had space for just four people and allowed visitors to try equipment for one hour for ¥3,000. Coronavirus precautions and the extended state of emergency declaration last May led the company to suspend general VR training experiences and services to companies considering VR solutions.

Fun and Body has since moved to a new location in Chiyoda Ward and is waiting for the crisis to subside before taking next steps.

Another is Bodience, a body and science personal studio.

With two locations in Yokohama, the company offers 30 minutes of VR core training on Icaros equipment for ¥7,000. To keep guests safe from Covid-19, Bodience carries out daily trainer health checks, thorough disinfection of equipment after each use, and ensures regular ventilation.

Visiting such studios is a great way to find out if VR is for you before purchasing a headset and exercise equipment.

App Escape

The benefits of VR fitness apps go beyond simple health maintenance. Tasker says that, while exercise is obviously a big factor, the Holofit worlds also provide escapism.

“If I’m frustrated, I often finding cycling through one of the virtual worlds is a way of feeling that I’ve left my desk and gone on a short vacation. Especially over this past year, with Covid-19 restricting our ability to get out of the house, it has been great to feel that multiple locations can be accessed from my own room.”

While there are a variety of apps to choose from, there are some standouts that can turn your workday into a productive outing on two fronts: work and health.

Breaking the fourth wall, as the author I will share with you my own VR-inclusive approach to time management. Using an iOS app called Focused Work, by Australian developer Michael Tigas, I create workflows that inject five- or 10-minute workouts into 15- or 30-minute work sprints. To stop myself from sitting for hours without moving around, I keep a visible timer running that forces me to take periodic breaks. And to make those breaks count, I pop on my Oculus Quest 2 for a quick round of boxing or a few minutes on the racquetball court. It’s just enough to keep my energy level up, and the calorie burn is also welcome.

A standout for creating workflows that combine focused work with VR exercise is FitXR, a virtual fitness studio that delivers short boxing and dance sessions that offer a real workout.

FitXR offers in-app metrics so that you can track your progress, including estimated calories burned. There is a huge number of classes to choose from, and add-on sets are also available. The workouts, which are led by top trainers, are designed to increase energy levels, burn calories, and improve strength, accord- ing to the company. Each is timed and the options range from quick three-minute bursts to one-hour marathons. The ability to compete against other FitXR users adds another level of motivation.

If you prefer racket sports and fancy a futuristic escape, Racket: Nx is a fast-paced experience that developer One Hamsa describes as “racquetball meets Breakout inside a giant pinball arena.” Once inside the dome, which serves as the walls and ceiling of a traditional racquetball court, the controllers you hold in each hand become rackets, the hexagonal cells that line the walls light up with glowing targets, and a ball of energy descends. With a swing you send the ball flying and your workout begins. The level of immersion is incredible.

Holodia’s Holofit, which Tasker described, is designed primarily to augment your rowing machine, stationary bicycle, or elliptical and is compatible with major fitness brands. The company also offers premium virtual content, virtual coaching, and online competitions through the Holofit community. A companion smartphone app provides advanced tracking, comparison, competition, and connectivity features. And, similar to Apple Fitness, you can earn trophies to keep yourself motivated.

For a more relaxing break from work stress, there is Guided Tai Chi, from full-service digital agency Cubicle Ninjas. The app offers more than 200 tai chi- inspired workouts, including 100 meditation sessions, in 20 breathtaking natural environments. Options range from three to 60 minutes, and the headset cam- eras can actually track your hands, so there’s no need to hold controllers.

Tomorrow’s Tech Today

While VR is finding new users during the pandemic, as people look for ways to leave their home without actually doing so, wider use is likely to be more than just a flash in the pan. Once vaccination fully takes hold and the real world reopens, there will still be a place for such escapes to virtual worlds. And as the processing power and image resolution of these standalone headsets increases, so will the possible applications of the tech.

If you’re curious about the benefits of VR, trying it today is easy. The technology has finally reached the mainstream.

“A few years ago ,the cost of setting up VR in your home was sufficiently high that you had to be pretty sure ahead of time that you would really like it,” Tasker said. “However, the new wireless headsets are now the cost of a gaming console. That is not super cheap, but given the amount you can do with that headset for games, fitness, and meetings, I would say it is worth giving it a go!”

Learn about the apps: