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My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

nathanlippi.com

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Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#131

Post by zmmmmm »

wingerlang wrote: post #89
zmmmmm wrote: post #86

VR exercise was a bit of a revelation for me. Used to run 8km per day but lockdown convinced me to try exercise at home using VR and I fell in love with it. Apart from being fun (you're literally playing computer games), I got a much better workout, exercising parts of my body that running didn't touch. I actually started bulking up in my upper arms for the first time in my life. Really surprised me and sold me that…

> I actually started bulking up in my upper arms for the first time in my life. Correct me if I am wrong, but there is no way VR will bulk up your arms in a way that a simple dumbbell won't do better in 5-15 minutes per day, right? > exercising parts of my body that running didn't touch Similarly, running will exercise parts of your body that VR won't touch right?

I can't really tell you if using a dumbbell would have done more - probably you are right. But there's no way I would persist with dumbbells, I find them excruciatingly boring.

> Similarly, running will exercise parts of your body that VR won't touch right?

Perhaps but not nearly as many as VR hits that running doesn't touch. It certainly forces you to do squats.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#132

Post by Broken_Hippo »

wingerlang wrote: post #103
littlecranky67 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no way VR will bulk up your arms in a way that a simple dumbbell won't do better in 5-15 minutes per day True, but you underestimate the most important thing when working out: consistency - doing it regularly over long periods of time. VR/AR trainings will take off in the future, as the "gamification" (read: instant gratification) will help motivate people to stick with a workout routine and achieve that consistenc…

I don't think I underestimate it, just in case someone is coming here and thinking that VR is a good way to bulk up their arms, I'm just saying that it won't compare to even the minimum of using dumbbells.

I'm just saying that it won't compare to even the minimum of using dumbbells.

Using dumbbells is the main thing here: It doesn't matter if dumbbells do better if it simply isn't an activity you keep up long term. Daily VR is going to be more meaningful and develop more muscle over time than sporadic dumbbell use. And lets be honest, realistically this is what we are comparing. Fun activity with side effects to an exercise in boredom that has better side effects.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#133

Post by WalterBright »

playpause wrote: post #113
WalterBright wrote: post #97

Geez, go outside for a run. Get some fresh air, smell the rain, say hi to the neighbors, watch houses being built, get chased by a dog, check the Little Library for something interesting, swallow a bug, see if anyone has a cool car in their garage.

This sentiment is so predictable and boring. Also the article literally says the motivation was knee pain meant he couldn’t run more than a few minutes. Maybe people aren’t the cartoons you have in your head.

I suffered from knee pain from running, too. I was concerned I was going to cripple myself. I finally switched my technique from heel-strike to ball-strike. This dramatically reduced the impact load on my knees, and the pain faded away after a month or so and has not returned.

The reason this works is because your body is designed to ball-strike, the heel-strike is unnatural. The ball-strike enables the tendons in your feet to act as shock absorbers. Those tendons will hurt for a bit under the unaccustomed load, so it's best to back off the running a bit until they strengthen.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#134

Post by caslon »

WalterBright wrote: post #122
caslon wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: No. VR is great. You don't have to spike your risk of skin cancer, you don't have to deal with allergies, you don't have to run along a road that constantly has drunken teenagers crashing into mailboxes, there are no mosquitos that will make your life miserable, and you can play with friends, regardless of the fact that they're traveling, or live elsewhere. You don't have to deal with motion sickness as…

A few comments (I know I won't change your mind): I run when the sun is lower in the sky because of skin cancer risk. For 6 months of the year, it's low enough that it isn't an issue any time of day. I also wear a hat and long sleeved shirt. I know this works because I don't have a tan. I've never been bitten by a mosquito when running, it's when I stop they get me. As for it being boring, I zone out and work on my p…

The second to last part actually does give me a few ideas, thanks.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#135

Post by [deleted] »

zfnmxt wrote: post #125
hombre_fatal wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) The best exercise is the one you do. 2) You are too dismissive, hand waving/wringing behind the word “effective”. You don’t need to min/max and obsess over progression and optimization to get good exercise. I’m jacked just doing push-ups, pull-ups, and body weight squats here and there. I don’t count them, I just do some, but I do some every day. Where people fail is the daily consistency and making the lifestyle…

> You don’t need to min/max and obsess over progression and optimization to get good exercise. You're right, but I'm not talking about exercise, I'm talking about training. You do need to "obsess" over progression if you intend to progress. > I’m jacked just doing push-ups, pull-ups, and squats here and there. You almost certainly are not. Having low bodyfat is not the same thing as being "jacked". Weight/height? How…

[deleted]

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#136

Post by zmmmmm »

watwut wrote: post #117
zmmmmm wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps because I'm an introvert, but never quite understood the motivation for social exercise in VR. Half the advantage of it is that I can work out on my own time, in private without being coupled to fixed schedules or other people's expectations.

Fixed schedule is one possible system that will push you to keep going even while you go through demotivated period. Same with "other people's expectations". Seeing other people exercise is motivating for a lot of people. And being seen is one more nudge to actually do it today. Moreover, many people are motivated by competition. That does not need to be official competition or large scale one. Pretty often it is jus…

So I reckon there's about 50% of the population for whom what you say is true and then a giant slice for whom all those factors work in reverse. They are demotivated / scared by the thought of competition, and social activity is tiring rather than stimulating and intrinsically enjoyable.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#137

Post by zfnmxt »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #130
zfnmxt wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You don’t need to min/max and obsess over progression and optimization to get good exercise. You're right, but I'm not talking about exercise, I'm talking about training. You do need to "obsess" over progression if you intend to progress. > I’m jacked just doing push-ups, pull-ups, and squats here and there. You almost certainly are not. Having low bodyfat is not the same thing as being "jacked". Weight/height? How…

Continued habits are not formed by discipline, they are formed by finding something you enjoy in the habit; at least some component of the habit itself must become compelling. You keep applying this to exercise, though, and obviously you have gotten enjoyment from it that others don't - but then you are putting down what other people manage to do. I don't care how much I could lift, nor do I think that I need more st…

> but then you are putting down what other people manage to do.

This is a bizarre argument to me. If I argue that Rust is better than Pearl am I "putting down" Pearl programmers? There is no personal attack here--I firmly believe the methods I outlined in my post are superior. If you cannot find it in your being to find something enjoyable in that method that's unfortunate and if that means you have to do something else that's less optimal, so be it.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#138

Post by Kiro »

zfnmxt wrote: post #128
Kiro wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done a lot of stronglift and don't think it's fun. It's a chore I do because it's good for me. VR training on the other hand is extremely fun and I still look forward to each session. It's not until I take off the headset I notice that I'm soaking in sweat.

That's too bad. Out of curiosity, do you have meaningful progress on Stronglifts? Can you tell me what your starting lifts were and what you're at now?

I always start with just the bar and keep adding every time until I hit a plateau. I don't do stronglifts right now (just VR training) but something like 120 kg in squats and 150 kg in deadlift last time.

Normally when I hit the wall I transition to a regular split program with biceps curls and whatnot, which I find much more stimulating and fun but it's still a chore compared to VR training.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#139

Post by frereubu »

WalterBright wrote: post #133
playpause wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sentiment is so predictable and boring. Also the article literally says the motivation was knee pain meant he couldn’t run more than a few minutes. Maybe people aren’t the cartoons you have in your head.

I suffered from knee pain from running, too. I was concerned I was going to cripple myself. I finally switched my technique from heel-strike to ball-strike. This dramatically reduced the impact load on my knees, and the pain faded away after a month or so and has not returned. The reason this works is because your body is designed to ball-strike, the heel-strike is unnatural. The ball-strike enables the tendons in yo…

Be careful. I did the same and it worked fine until I started to run more than 15k at a time, when I started to develop issues with my metatarsals that still haven't gone away more than 6 months later. I saw a physio who specialises in running and he said that long-distance runners don't ball strike any more, it's more of a flat landing (so still not heel strike) and then you spring off from your ball. That stopped my feet really hurting after long runs, but as I say I'm still paying the price for pure ball striking.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#140

Post by Tenoke »

zfnmxt wrote: post #120

VR exercise is a remarkably poor allocation of time (if your interest is physical fitness, efficiently). It also leaves out the most important adaptation of all: strength. Effective training (not exercising) requires a progression model. That is, on some time frame you must exceed your performance at the end of that time frame when compared to the beginning of the time frame. This must be done in some measurable way-…

This post is clearly about cardio while your whole comment dismisses it for not being strength training and talks of strength training. Just because you do strength training it doesn't mean cardio is useless and in fact many people do both.

As for progression you do it the same way as running presumably - by putting more time and/or doing it faster.

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