Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Health & Fitness
  3. News

Travel to another world and level up your at home fitness with virtual reality

VR fitness offers a higher level of engagement and could improve more than just your fitness level

By
man wearing VR headset punching boxing fighting workout fitness virtual reality
Capondesign / Pexels

You might be entering another virtual world, but the potential for maximizing gains is most certainly real. Technology and gaming have advanced leaps and bounds, and the era of virtual reality fitness or VR is here. Even if you’re not a big gamer, you might still enjoy putting on a headset and traveling to another realm to improve your fitness and try a more interesting way of working out at home. Of course, you’ll need a VR headset, but you won’t need to use dumbbells, a treadmill, or other gym equipment. The industry is growing rapidly, and more VR headsets are hitting the market. Let’s look at the benefits of VR fitness.

What is virtual reality?

man wearing virtual reality headset and hoodie vr
Mali / Pexels

Virtual reality or VR is a technology that uses 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to provide you with a simulated experience. Unlike playing a game on the television, you place the headset over your eyes and use the hand controllers to perform different tasks and movements within this virtual world. You’ll see what’s on the headset screen in front of you for an immersive experience. The headset has built-in speakers or comes with earbuds for audio.

Recommended Videos

What are the benefits of VR fitness?

guy playing VR virtual reality fitness with blinds in background
Capondesign / Pexels

If you’re involved in another fun and interesting reality, you might be more likely to continue with your workout and keep those muscles moving for longer. VR fitness offers a higher level of engagement and could improve more than just your fitness level. For example, one study showed that VR exercise could positively impact an individual’s psychological, physiological, and rehabilitative outcomes. 

Here are several of the benefits of VR at-home fitness:

  • Enhance your muscle strength and endurance.
  • Work on your balance and stability.
  • Get your body moving.
  • Forget about the day-to-day as you transport to another universe.
  • Work your whole body from the comfort and privacy of your own home.
  • It’s portable, and you can take it with you.

Some fitness games and apps allow you to track your progress, which motivates you to continue towards your goals.

The versatility of VR

VR virtual reality headset person in room
Julia M Cameron / Pexels

VR fitness is versatile; you can sit down and get moving or stand up. Make sure you have plenty of space to move around. Many of the apps and games require you to be active and involve moving your arms and legs to swing a sword or a bat or hinging at your hips to bend forward and pick an object up off the ground. New games are constantly coming out with various themes, stories, and levels of interactivity.

Five fun VR fitness games and apps to try

man playing virtual reality VR in room reaching u
Julia M Cameron / Pexels

To get you started, here are five fun VR fitness-based games and apps to try:

  • Supernatural
  • X-Fighter
  • Beat Saber
  • Creed: Rise to Glory
  • Pistol Whip

For example, Supernatural is one of the most popular that has captivating locations from around the world, including places like Iceland. You’ll listen to popular music as enthusiastic trainers guide you through either of the two primary workout types: boxing and flow. With the boxing portion, you have to duck and move around, and you’ll get an intense workout. With some workouts like boxing, you can burn over 200 calories in just 20 minutes.

Steph Green
Steph Green
Steph Green (Steph Zee) is a singer-songwriter and professional writer with over 12 years of experience in healthcare and…
Topics
Tired of shaky workouts? Meet the MERACH UltraWalk W60 Plus – a walking pad built to last
Animal, Canine, Dog

Finding time to exercise is hard enough. The last thing you need is fitness equipment that feels unstable, sounds like it's about to fall apart, or struggles to keep up with your pace. Yet that's exactly what many budget walking pads deliver. Lightweight frames, noisy motors, and limited performance often turn what should be an enjoyable workout into a frustrating experience.

The MERACH UltraWalk W60 Plus aims to change that. Instead of simply offering another compact walking pad, MERACH has built a treadmill-grade under-desk fitness machine designed for long-term reliability, stability, and everyday convenience. Whether you're walking while working, squeezing in a quick cardio session, or looking to stay active without leaving home, the W60 Plus is engineered to make movement feel effortless.

Read more
From wheelchair to walking: The power of mindset, movement, and never giving up
Sometimes it's the hardest roads that lead us to a deeper sense of purpose
Steph Zee Christmas Secret Music Video Steph Green

I never expected I'd have to learn how to walk again. That journey took me from writing for doctors and magazines to spending thousands of hours researching health and autoimmune disease. When we have excellent health, many of us don’t give it much thought until those sneaky symptoms start to show, and one day it all comes crashing down. Now, our health becomes one of the most important priorities. When we feel good, we can be more productive and chase our dreams. When our health declines and we don’t feel so good, one of our biggest dreams is just to feel better. 

I became a health writer 12 years ago, shortly after graduating with my creative writing degree and getting a diagnosis of the autoimmune bone condition, ankylosing spondylitis. In an effort to improve my health, stay mobile, and help prevent my bones from calcifying and fusing, I spent thousands of hours studying everything from nutrition and naturopathy to conventional medicine and holistic healing. I heard this somewhere, so I can’t take credit, but I like to say I went to “save my ass university”, because pain and illness are some of the biggest motivators.

Read more
I tried Magic Mind for a month and here is what happened to my productivity
Does Magic Mind really help with your productivity or is it just another buzz.
Furniture, Business Card, Paper

I am proudly an all-brown beverage man. I say it often: I am coffee in the morning, bourbon in the evening, and Pepsi/Coke in between. I know what you're thinking: What about water? Well, all of those are mostly water. And who wants to drink the same thing they bathe in? That sounds gross. All jokes aside, the coffee addiction is real, and I am not alone. Who thinks they can truly conquer a day without a hard shot of caffeine? I would get it in an IV if it were feasible to do on the subway instead of a cup to go. But that doesn't have to be the only way you develop your productivity. Instead, you can look to the more natural and healthy methods to maintain and increase your effectiveness. I got my hands on some Magic Mind recently, one of the many different products that claim to elevate brain health, increase mental performance, and, of course, replace the coffee without losing the energy boost. But does it work?

The scientific hoolah

Read more