RS Recommends: What It’s Like to Work Out for an Entire Week With The Meta Quest 2
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Meta’s Quest 2 has dominated the scene for a few years now in a world full of VR headsets. Each year has brought new VR experiences and apps to the forefront, with opportunities to attend your favorite concerts, bond with your friend virtually, or even interact with strangers across the world. Now, with so many fitness VR apps available you can even workout on your new VR headset just like you would at your local gym.
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Whether dance is your jam, or you’d rather break a sweat while you box, we tested out two of the most popular VR fitness apps available.
What is Meta Quest 2?
If you’re new to the world of VR, you’ve probably heard of the Meta Quest 2 but you’re not entirely sure what it is and what it does.
The Meta Quest 2 is a revolutionary standalone VR headset, meaning all the technology you need is built straight into this nifty gadget — no wires or PC connection needed. All you’ll need is a mobile device and a Facebook account to help you get set up. Plus, it’s battery-powered and is quick to recharge, so you don’t have to worry about waiting around too much.
In the box, you’ll get your VR headset plus motion-sensing controllers, all built with comfort in mind. The headset’s strap is fully adjustable, allowing you to fit it as tight on your head as you need before you dive into a workout. The ergonomically shaped motion sensors are easy to grip and hold and are also extremely accurate in mimicking your movements.
Set up is easy and geared towards beginners who’ve never used a VR headset before — like me. Once you’ve linked to your existing Facebook account through your mobile device, downloaded the Oculus app, calibrated your headset fit and set up your play area, you’ll be taken to the home screen where you can download hundreds of apps onto your new headset.
Meta
Does Meta Quest 2 Work for Fitness?
You can download a wide variety of fitness-based apps through the Meta Quest store but for the purpose of this review, we downloaded two of the most popular ones: FitXR and Supernatural.
Supernatural
If you’re a fan of fast-paced, heart-pumping workouts, you’ll definitely love Supernatural. Supernatural offers a full-body workout set in unique locations around the world. You could be boxing at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland or hitting your moves by Ethiopia’s Erta Ale Volcano — each location is extremely accurate and immersive. Supernatural’s quintessential workout is called Flow, where your motion sensor controllers transform into bats as you hit targets, squat and lunge to the beat of a heart-pumping playlist.
Supernatural also has a relatively new boxing mode, where you can choose to box to the beat of the music instead. The app also offers meditation courses if you’re looking to destress after a long day. While I wasn’t able to test out the meditation mode, I did try both the boxing and Flow workouts over the course of a week. Pricing starts at $18.99 a month or $179.99 a year, and new users get either a 7-day free trial or a 14-day free trial if they chose the annual membership. You’ll even be able to create up to four profiles, allowing you and your housemates to share a membership.
I started off by doing the tutorials for both modes, each of which was led by an instructor and lasted about six to seven minutes. These tutorials were thorough and easy to follow, and each instructor felt very realistic, motivating me throughout and reminding me to adjust my form.
From there, I went on to try out my first boxing workout. I’ve done multiple boxing workouts at my local gym before but chose to try out the low and medium modes to ease myself into it. While the beginner-geared workout was easy enough to follow, the medium mode definitely challenged me.
Over the course of a 12-minute workout, I was covered in sweat, feeling like I did a HIIT circuit on a gym mat. Though it was challenging, I still found each boxing workout to be extremely fun. There was even a warm-up and cool-down section, which made sure my muscles were ready for each workout.
I chose my workout based on the song playlist (you can see the songs included in each workout on the right-hand corner of your screen under ‘playlist’), which meant I didn’t have to suffer through music I didn’t like. I was also able to choose from multiple different instructors, all of whom had their own unique personalities and style which showed in their VR avatars.
Trying out Flow workouts was similar, with multiple options for difficulty modes, instructors and song playlists. Flow felt more like a full-body workout as I was squatting and lunging as well. At the end of each workout, I was able to see my stats, including power and accuracy measurements. I was even prompted to set up reminders depending on how many times I wanted to exercise per week.
If you have friends and family that also work out with Supernatural, you’ll be able to compare your stats on the leaderboard. Not your style? Supernatural also gives you your solo stats after each workout, letting you see if you’ve made an improvement in your skills.
In my opinion, Supernatural is easily worth its subscription fee. For just $19 a month you get access to multiple workouts, with new videos released daily. Plus, you get to work out in scenic locales, all while breaking a sweat — I have the sore muscles to prove it.
FitXR
If dancing and HIIT are more up your speed, you’ll love FitXR. FitXR is an immersive fitness app that has HIIT, dance and boxing workouts for players of all levels. There’s even a fun multiplayer mode where you’ll be able to work out with your friends. Pricing starts at $9.99 a month and you’ll get a 7-day free trial to get you initiated.
I tried all three types of workouts and can easily say the dance workouts were my favorite. You’ll be able to choose what kind of music appeals to you, from Pop to Hip-Hop to Electronic as well as the duration of your workout. From there, you’ll be put into a room with six other players and the instructor. You’ll even be able to choose where you want each workout to take place, from a rooftop to a nightclub to the gym floor.
For each dance workout, the instructor first shows you the move, starting off slow and then fast, giving you ample time to catch up. Depending on how well you follow, you’ll gain points. There’s also a leaderboard in each workout allowing you to keep track of how well you’re doing. If you’re competitive by nature, you’ll love this feature as it’ll push you to work out harder to get to the top — as it did with me.
As for which workout was the most demanding and sweat-inducing, it had to be the HIIT workouts. Again, you could choose your level (from beginner to advanced) as well as the type of music you were looking for and the duration of the workout (from short to long). There’s a quick video at the beginning showing you what to expect during the workout.
From there, you’re immediately thrown into a high-intensity workout with rounds ranging from 20 seconds to 45 seconds with about 10 seconds of rest in between. Points are scored by how accurate your movements are and how quick your reflexes are. The first time I did this I couldn’t find the targets and it took a while to get used to, but after that, it was easy enough and incredibly fun — definitely a workout I’d go back to again and again.
Boxing follows a simple format of hitting punches to the beat of the music. You won’t see the instructor, but rather the targets coming at you. You will, however, hear the instructor at the beginning, preparing you for the workout. Similarly, there’s a leaderboard, allowing you to keep track of your standing.
But the reason I liked FitXR is that you’ve got hundreds of workouts to choose from with new workouts and experiences released constantly. Plus, if you’re a fan of dance-based workouts, it doesn’t get much better than FitXR. I learned a bunch of new moves that easily compete with the likes of dance cardio workouts at the gym — at a fraction of the price.
Final Verdict: Is Meta Quest 2 Worth It?
Starting at just $299, Meta Quest 2 is worth the investment, especially if you’re curious about what VR can do. Both the workout apps I tested also had budget-friendly subscriptions compared to prices at my local gym.
Both Supernatural and FitXR deliver easy-to-follow, sweat-inducing workouts. Supernatural especially has a great set of instructors, all of whom feel like your own personal trainers pushing you throughout the workout.
You might have to make some fit adjustments to get it as comfortable as you need it to be, but Meta Quest 2 is still a great addition to your at-home gym routine, and its portability factor allows me to get a workout in wherever I am.
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