Leading a healthy lifestyle is highly important. Staying physically active is a major concern for me and I never get tired of doing it.
So I’m always on the lookout for innovative ways to improve my training to bring it to the highest possible level. I don’t mind trying out new things as long as they work. That obviously doesn’t include me being inactive by watching the Polish team in the FIFA competition, which you can read more about on slowosportowe.pl, or betting with Coral sign up offer 2020, but actually involves me getting into something more interactive and interesting.
So I hear there is this new thing called Virtual Reality (VR), you might have heard of it. You can play all sorts of games on it and see all kinds of different places with it. For instance, visit a museum or stepping on the surface of the Moon.
Booooring!
The latest trend with VR is that it can help people train without leaving the comfort of their homes. In fact, there are numerous games that are designed with the intention of getting your heart pumping.
For instance, the game Beat Saber is roughly the same as playing a whole tennis match. The Thrill of the Fight in equivalent to a 20-minute workout. There are other games that come with an exercise angle to go along with the entertainment factor.
The Virtual Reality Institute of Health and Exercise actually keeps a database of all the games and their fitness scores. Meaning that each game is intended to give a certain workout. The data they are compiling is still rough so it might take more time for actual evidence to be completed.
But what are the benefits of VR training?
Plentiful as I see it.
First of all, it takes away the hassle of going to a gym. A lot of people don’t exercise because they don’t have time to do it. It is hard to commute each day after a long day at work when you only want to lie down and rest. Not a lot of people are mentally tough to do a drive each day even if it’s beneficial for their health.
Secondly, it makes the workout easier to bare. I read about a lot of people who claim that they have an easier time dealing with the pain compared to doing an actual training session in a gym. This is because these games do not require so much exertion from the player but they do come with something we will call “the fun factor”. A lot of people simply forget about the pain when exercising because they are having so much fun.
Finally, there are even some claims that suggest that VR assisted training can help in improving cognitive abilities. But it is really too early to get into that. For now, let’s stick with the physical factor.
So am I all for exercising with VR?
Hell, yeah!
It is always better to do something than not do anything.
Even though I still don’t think that VR is capable of substituting the experience of going to a gym and sweating it out, I still think it is can be highly beneficial. People who are not active can see the potential of physical exercise and start from there. As a starting point it seems great and who knows, if it develops to a certain point it might even make gyms and personal trainers obsolete.