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When I start a new workout routine, I coast through the honeymoon phase. Then, boredom strikes. Resentment builds. Skipping one day turns into skipping a weekend, which turns into skipping weeks and then never touching that workout ever, ever, ever again. Turns out, when you work out with a gaming device, it’s actually fun: I’ve been using the Meta Quest to work out for months now, and I genuinely look forward to getting my sweat on.
The Meta Quest 3 is a wireless virtual reality headset that can be used in any room of your house (just make sure you have enough space to swing your arms and take a few steps). No TV is required and you can play, sorry, work out, for a few hours without needing to recharge. It offers VR (virtual reality) and MR (mixed reality) modes. VR is fully immersive, with 360-degree visuals that transport you to another place. MR lets you see your real environment, layering virtual graphics on your existing world, which is great if you have limited space.
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The device includes controllers that let you interact with what you’re seeing, and the headset tracks your movement. Because the tracking happens on the head and hands, a lot of the workouts are low-impact (and many have accommodation settings to let you avoid moves you can’t or prefer not to do).
One of my favorites is Supernatural. This app places you and a coach in a gorgeous landscape like the ruins of Machu Picchu, a glacier on Mount Everest, or even the surface of Mars (or use MR mode if you prefer your living room). You can choose between Boxing, where you’ll duck under bars while jabbing and uppercutting targets, or Flow, which is a dance-like workout where you slice targets and squat and move through triangles. The workouts are typically 9-25ish minutes and feature songs you’d recognize from hip-hop, rap, pop, punk, and country. Supernatural also offers guided stretching and meditation, for recovery.
FitXR is another chart topper with a bevy of workout types, some of which see you hitting targets, others mirroring the movements of a coach’s avatar. You can take Zumba, HIIT, Cardio Dance, Combat, and Boxing. I love that I can play against other community members or friends; if you find that you get your best workouts in a class, it creates that same energy of collaborative competitiveness.
Shadowboxing hits new heights in Thrill of the Fight, where you punch, jab, and duck at an old-school boxing gym. Practice on the heavy bag or dummy before getting in the ring to spar with a virtual opponent. Full disclosure: I found this way too intense, but my husband did a few rounds and was dripping sweat by the end (now might be a good time to strongly recommend you grab a sweat-proof silicone cover so the fabric face pads don’t get soaked).
Unlike a stationary bike, the Meta Quest is also a gaming system and nearly every game gets you on your feet and moving. Games like Beat Saber (think Dance Dance Revolution but using your arms instead of your feet) or Ragnarock (pound drums to Nordic tunes on a Viking ship to push your crew further, faster) are not billed as workout apps, but easily make you break a sweat.
And once you’re done sweating, there are games and features that make you stop and think, “Are we living in the future?”. You can watch movies on a floating movie theater screen (or in a full virtual theater) or play a round of mini golf on the moon with your friends across the country (shoutout to the Walkabout Mini Golf crew!). And new games get released regularly— when’s the last time your elliptical surprised you with something entirely novel?
Starting at $499, the Meta Quest 3 is an investment, but less than your average treadmill or even a year of gym membership fees–and you’ll enjoy using it more. I was worried that having a device strapped to my head would be uncomfortable once I started sweating, but I found it no more inconvenient than sweating during a regular workout—with both, I usually pause a few times to wipe the sweat off my face and then hop back in. The first few times I used the Meta Quest, I had a bit of a motion-sickness-like response. Common advice is to start with short sessions to give your inner ear time to adjust. And adjust I did: now, the only limit on my Meta Quest workout sessions is my stamina, but thanks to all the time I’m logging in Supernatural, that’s getting stronger every day.
