7 VR Fitness Games That Will Get You Hooked and Make You Sweat

Slicing orbs to the beat of your favorite song, jumping over and ducking under laser beams, or sword fighting orcs in the middle of a forest — if these workouts sound like a lot gym wear clothes more fun than clocking miles on the treadmill, read on.

With virtual reality (VR) technology, you can break a sweat and burn some serious calories from the comfort of your living room, says Jimmy Bagley, PhD, an associate professor of kinesiology and research director of the Strength and Conditioning Lab at San Francisco State University, where he studies virtual reality health and exercise. Plus, the games can be a whole lot of fun.

“Virtual reality games aren’t always marketed as exercise, but our research shows that when you play them, some can deliver the workout equivalent of walking on a treadmill or cycling on a stationary bike,” Dr. Bagley says.

To start with VR fitness, you’ll need a VR headset, like a Meta Quest 2 (formerly Oculus Quest 2), an HTC Vive Pro, or a PlayStation VR. Then you’ll need to download a few games.

Supernatural
Supernatural was the top pick from Bagley and Aaron Stanton, founder and director of the VR Health Institute, an independent research organization launched in 2017 to study the effects of virtual and augmented reality technology on fitness. (Bagley and San Francisco State University have partnered with the VR Health Institute for research projects.)
Beat Saber
Bagley calls it “addictive.” With a controller acting as a lightsaber sword — one red and one blue — in each hand, you’ll slice oncoming shapes to the beat of the music. The shapes are either red or blue, and your job is to slice them with the corresponding sword. You’ll also need to duck and dodge oncoming obstacles.

Thrill of the Fight
If you’ve ever wondered how you’d fare in a boxing ring, download Thrill of the Fight and slip on your VR headset.

Stanton says researchers at the VR Health Institute measured how many calories players burned in a variety of games, including Thrill of the Fight. Turns out, this sparring game had one of the highest energy expenditures per minute of the games they looked at. Players burned between 9.74 to 15.32 calories per minute, which is on par with calories burned during a traditional, real-life rowing workout.

Holoball
When Tim Donahey, an Ohio-based National Academy of Sports Medicine-certified personal trainer, turned to VR fitness in August 2016 to help him lose weight he had gained earlier in the year, Holoball was one of the four games in his daily rotation. (Donahey stuck to one hour of VR exercise five days a week for 50 days, chronicling the experience on Reddit.)