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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

#191

Post by alexknowshtml »

I'm 38. Never had a workout or fitness routine in my entire life except for a few brief and unsustained periods of working with a trainer, but quit.

Last May I bought a Quest 2 specifically to try Supernatural, a mix of Beatsabre with a Pelaton-style experience with pre-recorded song-driven sessions.

I did one 5 song session (20 mins or so) and for the first time in my life I was dripping with sweat and thought to myself "that was fun as hell, I want to do another one."

That want did not fade. I haven't missed a day since May 5th of 2021. I go harder some days than other. I take my Quest on vacation and do at least one session. I focus on closing rings on my Apple watch. I have become more mindful of my eating too.

I was also surprised that with Supernatural specifically, the inclusion of a game mechanic that translates to squats and lunges means has translated to pretty significant increase in strength as well, even though it's "just" body weight exercises.

I was skeptical about the additon of Boxing to Supernatural, but it's become my fav mode. I get to a target heart rate faster, and I've seen significant changes in my body since adding it.

Over the last 12 months I've lost almost 60lbs, feel better, am stronger, and enjoy the process. I'm headed towards a weight I haven't been since college, and it's clearly within reach.

This never happened before VR in spite of time and money spent on professional services, products, and trainers.

I'm adding a Tempo Move for some weight training, but I don't expect to give up Supernatural anytime soon, if ever!

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#192

Post by usrusr »

foolfoolz wrote: post #15

the most outlandish thing about this post is waking up at 5:30am to work

I late-rise with the best of them, but 5:30 still pales next to 'My 25-year direction is to "facilitate innovation."'

But, well, if it works for them - I suppose it correlates with likelihood of writing a blog?

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#193

Post by strken »

zfnmxt wrote: post #154
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 exe…

The fallacy everyone is making here is believing that consistency trumps all else. But it doesn't if you're consistently subjecting yourself to a stress which does not result in any new adaptations--then there will be no change. An oft repeated example of this fallacy is in the case of tanning. If you go out into the sun for 20 minutes and get a tan, what will happen if you continue to go out in the sun for 20 minute…

"Consistency" in this instance probably means exercising more than once a month. I think you're comparing VR exercise with a hypothetical ideal based on your own exercise routine, when it should really be compared with what a given individual was doing beforehand, which is probably some kind of cardio with no upper-body impact, or absolutely nothing.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#194

Post by strken »

zfnmxt wrote: post #175
waterproof wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I argue that Rust is better than Pearl am I "putting down" Pearl programmers? Only if you come in telling the Perl programmers that they can’t possibly have written useful code. Which is what i hear when zmmmmm says > I actually started bulking up in my upper arms for the first time in my life. and you say > No you didn’t Or when Kiro says, > Pistol Whip is great for building leg muscles and you say > bodyweight…

> Only if you come in telling the Perl programmers that they can’t possibly have written useful code. Which is what i hear when zmmmmm says In hindsight, perhaps the analogy was poor. Perl and Rust can express exactly the same computations (and no more and no less) and are in some sense interchangeable which is not what I was trying to express. I am indeed arguing that the utility of the strength training I outline e…

If your goal is to "obtain physical fitness," which as stated is a totally unquantified goal that could be defined in any way you want, then you are infinitely better off waving your arms around with a VR headset on than sitting on the couch.

The attitude of "well actually you're doing it all wrong and this is poorly optimised, watch me piss in your cornflakes" fails to take into account the merits of doing anything at all. Sure, they might plateau after a few months. That's not a problem. Anyone who plateaus is going to either A) decide they've made it far enough, which is their business, or B) find a way to push themselves, which will get them doing everything you're talking about.

What is your goal here? Get the excited people who like VR to stop exercising because they're not doing it efficiently enough for you? Why?

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#195

Post by multjoy »

zfnmxt wrote: post #183
multjoy wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If the session is easy, what is the stress which sufficiently disrupts homeostasis to lead to an adaptation? Easy things do not result in adaptations An "easy" run is a stressor on the cardiac system, because you don't spend all day with an elevated HR and commensurate lung work.

Everything is a stressor. Doing nothing is a (negative) stressor. The question is is it a sufficient stress. And it is not. Squatting 120 kg x 5 every day is a stressor, and provided you do no other strength training, it will feel hard. But you'll never get stronger than you already are.

>Everything is a stressor. Doing nothing is a (negative) stressor. The question is is it a sufficient stress. And it is not.

You are wrong.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#196

Post by multjoy »

mutatio wrote: post #181
multjoy wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone who can lift 440lbs but who sweats when they eat isn't fit, either. >What sort of adaptations? As far as I'm aware, adaptations are the result of significant stress. What are the stressors of a "long easy session"? The adaptations come from the cardiac system. Basically, the body can use more oxygen more efficiently. >Low-intensity, long endurance cardio is adversarial to increasing strength Increased strengt…

> The adaptations come from the cardiac system. Basically, the body can use more oxygen more efficiently. I'm quite sure HIIT is near optimal for improving VO2max - and if you look at it through the less of time vs. benefit then it's unrivalled in terms of cardiovascular health.

Arguably it's the only way! A rising aerobic tide lifts all boats...

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#197

Post by tawan »

celdon25 wrote: post #90
tawan wrote: post #13

Shameless plug: if you are into VR fitness but you think the existing solutions are missing multiplayer options, my brother and I are building Space Punch [1] which is a multiplayer fitness app. It is currently released in early access on Sidequest, and it’s functional. We are working out Monday to Friday 4:30pm UTC. If you have a Quest and want to work out together as group, then drop into our Discord sever. I’ll pe…

Quest only?

At the moment yes.

Re: My First 80 Days of VR for Exercise

#199

Post by ricardobeat »

zfnmxt wrote: post #168
multjoy wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>bodyweight squats don't make you stronger Complete nonsense.

I should've written more explicitly: bodyweight squats don't make people who harbor a decent level of fitness stronger. Like any novel stimulus, they will make you stronger for a short while and then it will stop once you've adapted.

It's pretty obvious that the target audience for VR exercise is not 'people who harbor a decent level of fitness'. You're looking at the wrong baseline.
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