VR as exercise

buffalojoe29

Does anyone use the VR games as exercise? I have been and being overweight, I'm burning quite a few calories playing holoball, sparc and sprint vector. Heck, I even get on an exercise bike and play skyrim.

I'm curious if any of you have found results doing this regularly?

mom23mangos

I haven't, but my son loves playing frisbee golf and gets very out of breath. It's got to be pretty good cardio.

ZRunner5Lulaica

Not VR, but I previously lost weight playing DDR, and my hubby got me Just Dance, so that is my rainy weather workout. I definitely get a pretty good burn I'm playing.

GoHybrid67

I workout for 45-60 minutes nearly every morning, and all but two or three days have become VR workouts, I needed something lower impact several days a week to counteract all the higher impact Zumba I'd been doing. Current favorites are Holopoint, BoxVR, and Holodance, with Sparc, AudioShield, Fruit Ninja, and Sprint Vector coming in as alternates for variety. Can burn off some decent calories with Holopoint and BoxVR in particular.

JeromeBarry1

You ought to be able to log is as calisthenics.

feisty_bucket

I don't play it with the intention of exercise, but Soundboxing is great if you like rhythm games, and gets me sweating pretty quickly. You're incentivized to "punch" the notes hard as they come at you, unlike other games in the genre where you just put your hands in the right space.

BOX VR is purpose-built for exercise, but I haven't tried it.

These people rate VR games for estimated calorie-burning:
http://vrhealth.institute/

GoHybrid67

feisty_bucket wrote: »

I don't play it with the intention of exercise, but Soundboxing is great if you like rhythm games, and gets me sweating pretty quickly. You're incentivized to "punch" the notes hard as they come at you, unlike other games in the genre where you just put your hands in the right space.

A lot of people really like Soundboxing, so I gave that one a go. Three separate times, to really try to give it a chance, then uninstalled it. I just found the screen too cluttered, and felt like I was just flailing to the music vs connecting with any punches. I'm with the folks who prefer AudioShield. Definitely not as on the beat as other games, but it felt a little more musical to me.

However, after playing Holodance, may never play AS again either. Holodance has the best of both worlds, it's very musical, the beats make sense, it's only as cluttered as you want (many MANY different choices of environments, and punching items - guns, lightsabers, or just punching with the default blockers) AND two different ways of playing: Free Play, which is like AS or SB, or Story Mode, where you get to play in different environments with some really cool dragons.

Its only fault, like with AS and SB, is that it's on Steam. I have issues with getting VR games to run on Steam without a lot of restarting, since they almost never start up with any audio. Whereas BoxVR and Sprint Vector run first try right out of the box with Oculus.

Just my two more cents.

CricketClover

This sounds like fun, but probably stupid question. How are you playing these? Like what equipment do you need/have etc?

feisty_bucket

GoHybrid67 wrote: »

I have issues with getting VR games to run on Steam without a lot of restarting, since they almost never start up with any audio. Whereas BoxVR and Sprint Vector run first try right out of the box with Oculus.

I'd guess your settings are different in the Oculus client vs. Steam VR? There are audio switching options for both, and they'll take effect or not depending on which is launching things.

To avoid potential conflicts, I have most of the things that can activate on Steam VR turned off (boundaries, etc.), because the Oculus client insists on running all the time. For audio, I just switch it manually to the headset before launching things, via the Windows selector.

feisty_bucket

CricketClover wrote: »

This sounds like fun, but probably stupid question. How are you playing these? Like what equipment do you need/have etc?

A "VR-capable" PC (pretty much any current gaming rig) and a VR headset. Those currently range in price from ~$250 for the Windows MR ones, $400 for an Oculus Rift, or $600 for an HTC Vive. And there are frequently sales.

GoHybrid67

feisty_bucket wrote: »

I'd guess your settings are different in the Oculus client vs. Steam VR? There are audio switching options for both, and they'll take effect or not depending on which is launching things.

To avoid potential conflicts, I have most of the things that can activate on Steam VR turned off (boundaries, etc.), because the Oculus client insists on running all the time. For audio, I just switch it manually to the headset before launching things, via the Windows selector.

What drives me crazy is I'll play it one night, everything will work perfectly fine, then the next day, after changing absolutely no settings anywhere, all the settings are identical to when it worked fine, and the sound is gone. Works fine in Oculus, but as soon as I switch to a Steam game, *poof* audio is gone.

feisty_bucket

GoHybrid67 wrote: »

Works fine in Oculus, but as soon as I switch to a Steam game, *poof* audio is gone.

It might be that some Steam games are using the Oculus SDK, and some use SteamVR's, and maybe the audio is routed differently in each case. I don't know for sure. It can be frustrating, I know!

It will always work right if you manually use the Windows setting though.

Or Go Steam VR > Settings > Audio > "When SteamVR is active" > Set Playback device to > "Headphones (Rift Audio)".

GoHybrid67

feisty_bucket wrote: »

Or Go Steam VR > Settings > Audio > "When SteamVR is active" > Set Playback device to > "Headphones (Rift Audio)".

That's how I have it set, and sometimes it works, and the next time it doesn't. *head-desk* Everything that I can think of to change to use the Rift while I'm trying to use it IS, so really don't know what more I can do than keep restarting it and swearing at until it works. And if it still doesn't, just switch to an Oculus game before I throw the controllers against the wall.

I barely try to use Holodance or Holopoint during the week anymore, I just don't have enough time in the morning before work to try to make them work. Usually give them one shot, and if they don't work after one restart, it's over to Oculus. Which is a shame, those are two of my favorite games to work out to.

sun_cat

I just got Beat Saber. It's supposed to be a decent workout. I've only played a few times, but I can see why.

mom23mangos

sun_cat wrote: »

I just got Beat Saber. It's supposed to be a decent workout. I've only played a few times, but I can see why.

I'm addicted to Beat Saber. You can download fan made songs now through Beat Saver. Kung Fu Fighting and I'm Gonna Walk 500 Miles are so much fun. I totally suck at it compared to my son who is a drummer, but it's been a really fun way to get some extra movement in.

emmies_123

buffalojoe29 wrote: »

Does anyone use the VR games as exercise? I have been and being overweight, I'm burning quite a few calories playing holoball, sparc and sprint vector. Heck, I even get on an exercise bike and play skyrim.

I'm curious if any of you have found results doing this regularly?

My husband and I have a stationary bike with a calorie counter attached to it. We would both sit and play games on console while exercising. He managed to lose 100lbs (from 300+ to 215) with this method in a year. He also watched portion sizes to a degree, but never watched what he ate as far as type of food.

As far as the games are concerned, just gotta find something in the happy medium that distracts you from the cycling motion (so you aren't watching the clock), but also doesn't cause you to lose your rhythm because it requires too much mental power. For example, I could not play games like Zelda or Mario because I slowed considerably while trying to solve puzzles or perform difficult platforming. He usually plays something more actiony, like God of War.

If you go this method I recommend you track your workout with the calorie counter instead of time on the clock. If I had a good adrenaline game I could complete 200 calories in 45 mins. If I got distracted and slowed, it may take me 1.5 hrs for the same number on counter. This way if you aren't pedaling at a steady rate you are at least completing a calorie goal. Even better, use a fitbit or something that tracks your input consistently.