When investing in your health and body, you must research and use the best information and tools at your disposal. With all the exciting modern innovations of our time, lots of people are asking themselves if VR fitness is just as or more effective than physical, real-world fitness. Here are the pros and cons of VR fitness to help you make the best-informed choice possible on whether to jump into VR fitness or not.
VR fitness is a creative, ever-changing way to keep yourself and your family members active. It is engaging, fun to use, flexible, and an evolving field of fitness and entertainment! On the other hand, VR fitness can prove to be too expensive or uncomfortable and may not be socially engaging.
What makes VR fitness so different from real-world fitness? What are the most important pros and cons to be aware of before investing in one type of fitness over the other? Let’s go over in depth what to keep in mind when it comes to using VR fitness, real-world fitness, or a hybrid combination of both!
Pros
VR Exercises and Games Will Make You Sweat!
Anyone who’s played a few lively games of Beat Saber can agree, breaking a sweat and burning calories is entirely possible if you use VR tools! There are hundreds of fantastic apps, games, and videos that can be accessed through VR headsets to deliver an effective, professional trainer or exercise routine right into your home. Not only can this help you stay active, but it will also entertain your mind and help you and your family members make working out a fun activity again.
The Creativity of VR Fitness
One of the topmost highlights of owning and using VR headsets and controllers is that the user can completely immerse themselves in fantasy, historic, or sci-fi settings.
There are few limits to the creative kinds of games, settings, and people that you can use and experience through VR. With surreal environments and games, people can stay entertained while punching, running in place, and dancing their way through workout after workout. With the colorful world of VR apps to get lost in, you’ll be working out for hours at a time as time flies while having fun!
Local gyms, studios, and fields can get monotonous and boring rather quickly, especially if you are using them for your fitness multiple times a week. Purchase and try out some VR fitness to get a taste of truly engaging environments and challenges that can motivate you to stay active.
You could climb Everest or swim the Great Barrier Reef with the power of VR on your head and in your hands. The limitless places and games of VR can seamlessly make you forget just how hard you’re working as you exercise.
Unique Physical Pros of VR Fitness
Over the last few years, the impact of VR fitness has grown greater and greater as more people have begun using it, and the tech has advanced in leaps and bounds. People will get the most out of their tech-exercising if they use VR headsets and controllers instead of ordinary consoles.
The impressive immersion of VR will help you stay extra physically fit where ordinary working out could become tiresome and dull. As long as you build a decent collection of exercise games, a full-body workout is easy to accomplish through VR fitness!
Positive Mental Effects of VR Fitness
No matter how you end up exercising, the outcomes are positive. You’ll hone your body and muscles to become more balanced and healthy, while your mind will stay better active and alert. Even if VR fitness is used, these positive physical and mental rewards are yours for the taking if you put in the time and effort!
Scientists have proven that an increase in physical activity can decrease negative psychological disorders such as depression, PTSD, and anxiety. Physical activity can only positively impact your mental state if you consistently and safely exercise.
Lots of people enjoy VR fitness as an efficient mental escape from reality, allowing some brief escapism for those who want to sink into a stupendous workout. No matter how, where, or when you exercise, the health benefits always include improved mental well-being.
VR Fitness is Always Improving and Evolving
VR headsets and their controllers have come a long way over the last decade alone! One of the best models on the market nowadays is the Oculus Quest 2. Just like phones, video games, and cars, VR has developed and improved in large strides to deliver you the best possible experiences! Engineers, coders, and programmers are always pushing the boundaries and limits of what VR can make.
Professionals have already been working on VR suits, gadgets, gloves, and infinity treadmills so that people can exercise with the most immersive experience yet! This all means that VR technology and fitness will just continue to get better and more realistic over time.
Never Let Weather Limit Your Fitness
One of the lesser-known pros of VR fitness is the benefit of it potentially being able to be used entirely remotely or indoors. Being able to exercise indoors means the environment of your home never has to deter you from your consistent, daily exercises!
Even if it’s thundering and pouring rain outside, a VR workout means you can be hard at work having fun inside. During the winter, when people feel less motivated to go to the gym or work out, just throw on a VR headset and exercise in any world, game, or setting of your choosing.
Unmatched Flexibility of VR
VR fitness is a positive tool in people’s lives since it is so very versatile. Any type of game can be played on the equipment, anywhere, and anytime. You can fit in as long or as short of a workout into your day with VR fitness. You are in control of the hours, place, and type of workout, so VR fitness is attractive to those who don’t want to spend time commuting to a gym or who have so little free time that they can only fit short workouts into their packed schedule.
VR tools mean no commuting, no need for finding parking, and no waiting to use the gym equipment that someone else is occupying and using!
Affordable Exercise Programs on VR Platforms
Even if the VR headset and controllers themselves are expensive, fitness apps, plans, and software are usually more affordable. While VR tools are pricey, most workout apps and fitness training lessons usually cost around $20 per month. Most gym memberships charge a similar amount per month for physical training and exercise.
Cons
Negative Side Effects of VR Use
There are a few notable downsides for VR users. Even the best, top-notch VR headsets garner complaints and comments about weighing too much and causing headaches over several hours. These headsets can indeed be pretty heavy and awkward to use and wear, so you may try out the tech and find it’s not for you. This is the main reason why enthusiastic and invested VR gamers will get painful neck injuries and pains.
While VR headsets can prove to be a literal pain in the neck, there is also the downside of negative effects on your eyesight and overall balance. Using VR too much can cause multi-sensory stimulation overload, which can result in headaches. Until developers and scientists fix these varied issues, VR fitness games unfortunately have the potential to cause you a few aches and pains that are unrelated to the exercise itself.
The High Cost of VR Fitness
One of the biggest roadblocks between some people and their VR workouts is the cost of the equipment. Most VR packages of headsets, controllers, and additional tools or games can easily cost anywhere from $300 to $1,000 or more.
This means that it may be more feasible and even more affordable for you to just keep paying your subscription fees to use your local gym or fitness classes.
VR tech may pay for itself over time, but it is a hefty initial investment to buy VR equipment in the first place. The cost for haptic devices, weights, headset add-ons, and various other VR pieces can grow to be unmanageable very quickly.
Be wise about researching and comparing the costs and pros and cons for you between an in-person gym or at-home workout versus a VR fitness workout. You can eventually save up for VR fitness if you watch out for deals on the tools you will need and save up a decent chunk of change far in advance.
Check out the following link to review some more affordably priced VR fitness tools.
Effectiveness of VR Exercising Versus Live Exercising
Many people say that even though VR is great for helping folks get into fitness, it often isn’t as effective as physically going to your local gym. This is because real-life activities
Inherent Limits with VR
Even today, virtual reality can only go so far and can only replace so much. VR headsets and controllers can do a lot but they still have limits. Pieces of tech like headsets and controllers can always break or run out of battery, while at-home gym equipment or workout tools at the gym do not have these inherent problems.
VR Exercises and Workouts can be Inaccurate
VR fitness is great for kicks, squats, and air punches. However, some more nuanced exercise activities like martial arts or real sports will require more than just empty air and imagination to get your body to shape up. This is because muscle memory is crucial to your personal growth. Repetitive motions in VR fitness often aren’t enough to train your body, as you will benefit more from real fitness equipment, more space, or people that can coach, encourage, or train you.
Creating the best workout also depends on your mental condition and your environment. It is reported that exercising outdoors is more calming and effective, while VR fitness will likely fall short. Indoor VR fitness training and games will always limit how well you’ll be able to relax and strengthen yourself physically.
Social Interaction in VR is Less Satisfying and Effective
VR fitness is terrific in many ways, but sometimes it is unable to foster some in-person activities, like group sports. There may be group games and sports in VR, but the social factors of VR games are never as potent as their real-life counterparts.
Using VR controllers to play digital sports isn’t nearly as effective as catching or kicking a real, physical ball. Feeling and interacting with the real resistance of the ground or ball will travel through your body and working together with fellow teammates will always be a better incentive than anything that VR can offer.
At the end of the day, since there is less physical stimulation and resistance in VR fitness, it will not be able to motivate or stimulate as strongly as real-life sports, workouts, or games can since there is inherently less social and physical motivation.
Extra Sweating with VR Headsets
Something that isn’t very common knowledge, especially for those who have never used VR tech before, is the high amount of sweat that comes with VR headsets. Even though there is a comfortable foam that cushions the headset on your face, the constant motion and friction caused by VR fitness can make you sweat a lot in a short amount of time.
Some people prefer to use real-life fitness over VR fitness programs due to the uncomfortable, itchy ring of sweat that comes with the headsets.
Other Modern Fitness Tech
VR fitness isn’t the only new-age innovation in the field of modern exercise. There are lots of new and ever-evolving technologies to help improve and add some excitement to your workouts, like wearable gadgets, mobile apps, and many other tools. All of these different types of technologies have their own sets of pros and cons, but adding more exercise and endorphins into your life by any positive means is never a bad idea!
Peruse this link and related products to research your options online before buying your own VR headset and controllers. It never hurts to give VR fitness a try by investing in a model that fits your style and diving in to experience it for yourself!
