Trying to answer your question: I estimate I do 30-60 minutes per day in VR, plus about 5 minutes without VR (doing TRX or pullups once in a while)
Before VR: There is a ton of variance. At good weeks I’d do 2-3 rollerblade trips per week (each is several hours) plus ~10 minutes per day of something like pullups (which is also something I can say more about) [I haven’t been in a “good week” for at least 3 months]
This questions seems a bit “wrong” because:
The intensity of the workout can be extremely high
2-3 minutes in this specific VR game were enough to get my brother extremely exhausted for about half a day
My activity tracker (Oura ring [note it is optimized for sleep tracking, not workout tracking]) rates many VR sessions as “exceeds the hight of our chart”, it is literally off the charts . Note this is higher than the hardest parts of rollerblade trips that I do with groups that are better than me and really like going up hills, followed by going up even more hills
My subjective experience matches this. I recognize when my body goes into extremely high pulse levels, and I can say more about sore muscles and so on
I am already able to do 3-5 rounds of this crazy game (3 minutes each), which would be unimaginable a few weeks ago
This means (A) I’m getting more fit, but also (B) the workouts are really short. I can currently tire myself out completely in about 15 minutes, which makes asking about “how much time I spend working out” like the wrong metric, I think
[Note you don’t have to play this crazy game, or you can play it more calmly, if all of this sounds too extreme. But to me it is exciting]
The only reason I’m not working out right now is in order to be productive. I literally need willpower in order to not-work-out, this is crazy. I’m saying this in case you’re trying to figure out if I’m ABLE to get enough sports out of VR
My setup is “oculus quest 2” (amazon link) (I have the 128GB version though it doesn’t seem like an important decision) with only the gear that comes out of the box, no need to even connect it to a computer.
I think I might get some extra items like a fancy head strap, but for now I’m using the default one and I’m pretty happy with it.
physical space: You need a room with space.
How much space: The game that requires most space that I saw so far is “thrill of the fight” which strongly recommends at least 1.5*2 meters (and I’d add a bit more in all directions to make sure you’re not too close to punching a wall by mistake).
Treadmill or something: I don’t use anything like that, but also remember that there is an element of personal fit here, some people like treadmills, I don’t.
I’d like to add a few more things:
If I were you, I’d consider this “a promising direction to explore” and not “problem solved”, because
I only have this for 2 weeks, I’m not an “expert”. (But I’d hope that my friends would recommend this to me without waiting to be “experts”, so here I am)
Lots of VR games are not polished, you might have to look for some that you like
This is an important mindset to keep in mind. As I like to say, “keep your expectations low and you’ll be positively surprised”
Does boxing in VR (“thrill of the fight”) sound like something you could potentially enjoy? This game is an outlier in how much of a good workout it is, as far as I can tell.
You could also try playing at a friend’s place for a few hours before buying (or if none have it, then you’ll find yourself showing it to them. :) )
You’ll have to spend some more money on games. Each game costs about $8 to $40
Trying to answer your question: I estimate I do 30-60 minutes per day in VR, plus about 5 minutes without VR (doing TRX or pullups once in a while)
Before VR: There is a ton of variance. At good weeks I’d do 2-3 rollerblade trips per week (each is several hours) plus ~10 minutes per day of something like pullups (which is also something I can say more about) [I haven’t been in a “good week” for at least 3 months]
This questions seems a bit “wrong” because:
The intensity of the workout can be extremely high
2-3 minutes in this specific VR game were enough to get my brother extremely exhausted for about half a day
My activity tracker (Oura ring [note it is optimized for sleep tracking, not workout tracking]) rates many VR sessions as “exceeds the hight of our chart”, it is literally off the charts . Note this is higher than the hardest parts of rollerblade trips that I do with groups that are better than me and really like going up hills, followed by going up even more hills
My subjective experience matches this. I recognize when my body goes into extremely high pulse levels, and I can say more about sore muscles and so on
I am already able to do 3-5 rounds of this crazy game (3 minutes each), which would be unimaginable a few weeks ago
This means (A) I’m getting more fit, but also (B) the workouts are really short. I can currently tire myself out completely in about 15 minutes, which makes asking about “how much time I spend working out” like the wrong metric, I think
[Note you don’t have to play this crazy game, or you can play it more calmly, if all of this sounds too extreme. But to me it is exciting]
The only reason I’m not working out right now is in order to be productive. I literally need willpower in order to not-work-out, this is crazy. I’m saying this in case you’re trying to figure out if I’m ABLE to get enough sports out of VR
Thanks for the info! Yeah intensities of workouts matter too.
This is really compelling.
I’m pretty sold, more than from any product ad I can think of! (also thinking $FB might be undervalued?)
Can you elaborate a bit more (in a few sentences) on the setup, e.g:
What headset or specific electronic gear do you use or recommend?
How much computing power is needed?
What physical space or equipment do you need (can you do it in an empty room or do you need a treadmill or something)?
My setup is “oculus quest 2” (amazon link) (I have the 128GB version though it doesn’t seem like an important decision) with only the gear that comes out of the box, no need to even connect it to a computer.
I think I might get some extra items like a fancy head strap, but for now I’m using the default one and I’m pretty happy with it.
physical space: You need a room with space.
How much space: The game that requires most space that I saw so far is “thrill of the fight” which strongly recommends at least 1.5*2 meters (and I’d add a bit more in all directions to make sure you’re not too close to punching a wall by mistake).
Treadmill or something: I don’t use anything like that, but also remember that there is an element of personal fit here, some people like treadmills, I don’t.
I’d like to add a few more things:
If I were you, I’d consider this “a promising direction to explore” and not “problem solved”, because
I only have this for 2 weeks, I’m not an “expert”. (But I’d hope that my friends would recommend this to me without waiting to be “experts”, so here I am)
Lots of VR games are not polished, you might have to look for some that you like
This is an important mindset to keep in mind. As I like to say, “keep your expectations low and you’ll be positively surprised”
Does boxing in VR (“thrill of the fight”) sound like something you could potentially enjoy? This game is an outlier in how much of a good workout it is, as far as I can tell.
You could also try playing at a friend’s place for a few hours before buying (or if none have it, then you’ll find yourself showing it to them. :) )
You’ll have to spend some more money on games. Each game costs about $8 to $40
For reviews, my friend recommends: https://uploadvr.com/
A Telegram bot to tell you when game prices drop: https://t.me/questStoreWatch
I recommend buying a few games at full price of course
I’m pretty happy this is useful to someone, feel free to ask things. :)
Thanks! This is really informative.