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Comment by chaostheory | Hacker News Reader

If you’re struggling with exercise and with getting it into a routine, I can’t recommend standalone, wireless VR enough. It was fun and engaging enough to keep me coming back without feeling that I was doing a boring chore, and nearly every game has you moving, with the exception of the flying and driving sims.

Imagine fighting ninjas and dodging bullets as your workout. You can literally get that and more with VR.

It was my gateway back into fitness.

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Stepmania [1] (open DDR clone) just requires a (decent) dance pad, no VR. That's as good a work you as you'll get from a game, I suspect.

[1] https://www.stepmania.com/download/

Can you recommend any specific games that meet these requirements? I don't have VR, but I remember playing "Super hot VR" and getting a surprisingly good workout from that game.

It sounds like they're talking about pistol whip.

If I can promote one myself, Synth Riders can be a hell of a workout. People like comparing it to beat saber. Unlike beat saber, there's no swords, so there's a lot less wrist movement and a lot more arm/full-body movement. It feels a lot like dancing while you're doing it. I'm no great fan of exercise, but if I'm not careful I can exercise myself deep past exhaustion in this one -- especially on the harder difficulty charts.

And beyond that there's a mode where you punch the notes instead of trying to catch them. I haven't tried it, but that sounds even more demanding.

But aside from anything else, it's just fun! Great option for training cardio, it really works out the arms.

Whoa! You’re one of the people behind Synth Riders?!! That’s a great game with great music. I like the immersive add-ons and the fact that it looks like you’re actually dancing to onlookers instead of moving weird like in Beat Saber.

My only criticism is that I’m not a fan of the Swing EDM music.

Beat Saber

Thrill of the Fight

Synth Riders

Pistol Whip

Body Combat

Les Mills XR Dance

Supernatural (paid subscription)

Fix XR (paid subscription)

Holotfit (paid subscription) works with rowing machines

Racket Club

Until you fall

Blade and Sorcery

Dragon Fist Kung fu (if you want to go all the way with Pc and don’t mind wires, this one supports foot tracking)

Blast on!

Stride

Battle talent

Space pirate trainer

Racket NX

Gorilla tag

Stride

Blacktop Hoops

Masters of Light

Mothergunship forge

There’s so many other games that I missed listing.

Really any action VR game where you’re the first person hero will get you moving enough as a habit. You are now the character instead of a puppet master controlling one via buttons. Need to duck or crouch? You will feel it and sweat sooner or later.

I'm curious about this so I hope you'll indulge a few questions:

1) What kind of free space do you need? 2) What would you recommend in terms of headset if one plans to be swinging around a lot?

About 6 ft X 8 ft give or take

Meta Quest 3. Quest 2 and 3s work but there’s no point in getting a headset with a fresnel lens anymore.

Why Quest? It’s standalone wireless. i.e. you don’t need a separate PC or console and wires are not conducive to working out and moving

Or you know just get audiobook on your phone and walk.

If walking had enough intensity to count as actual exercise, no one would have a problem with working out. The only time it works as exercise is if you don’t use a car to commute and you walk everywhere.

I walked for average 7km per day for the last 4 years. About 3 km before work + 20-50 km on weekends.

My back pain is gone, I lost 25 kg (also with diet change of course - but from my estimates about 300 kcal daily is just from walking).

I was already walking everywhere (I live in EU), but I work remotely so it wasn't enough.

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