The trend of the use of virtual reality in the world of fitness and personal training begins to gain momentum and is presented with force this 2018 and at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), in Las Vegas, a very attractive possibility was unveiled , for fitness lovers.
In the search for new ways to make physical activity attractive and try to captivate more people to the trend of healthy life, especially for those people who are not related to it. The firm Black Box VR presented at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), in Las Vegas, a very attractive possibility. It is a prototype in which virtual reality "plays" a very important role.
And when we talk about "playing" literally it's about that: doing gymnastics work, submerged in "a reality of another world", from the comfort of the house.
A routine of 30 minutes, using a special resistance machine and HTC Vive virtual reality helmet, in a space that takes the measure of a family-sized bathroom, is the basic approach. But here the perception will be extraordinary thanks to virtual reality, finding that the user can compete against an avatar or choose other participants as well. The trend of the use of virtual reality in the world of fitness and personal training is seen more strongly for this year.
However, there are those who do not see this proposal with good eyes, emphasizing the safety of people. "They will have to prove that they have taken into account the impact that the body can have on the helmet during an intense exercise session," says J P Gownder of consultancy Forrester, in a BBC Mundo job.
He also explains that "human beings find it very difficult, in general, to maintain the habit of exercising and there have been many attempts to make physical activity more attractive to people." He adds that "virtual reality makes sense from the perspective that it can make the gym a less boring place". "But the cost of the equipment will make it a very expensive alternative to start and I'm not aware that Vive has emphasized this type of use."
Weightloss?
For his part, Job Stauffer, who worked as a video game programmer and now does so at the VR Health Institute, which collaborates with Black Box VR in the promotion of the new device, said he has benefited personally from virtual reality training.
Speaking to the BBC, Stauffer said that he lost more than 30 kilograms while playing, as well as having considerably improved his diet. "It is likely that at the end of 2016 I was in the least healthy moment of my life, thinking more than 135 kilograms," he admitted.
But, "when I started playing with HTC Vive and Oculus and noticed that I was sweating doing the best physical work I had ever had," he confessed.
Stauffer said he started with the game Sound Boxing, which he described as a "Guitar Hero for the arms", and then tried his luck with the game Space Pirate Trainer, which he compared with the use of an elliptical machine for the amount of calories he burned. in each session. While playing with consoles is a sedentary experience, "VR changes that perception by activating your whole body," Stauffer emphasized.
This could mean not only the change of the traditional way of exercising but also a more realistic implementation for the world of gaming.
