Popular fitness app Les Mills XR BODYCOMBAT (2022) just got its first paid DLC today, which features a slate of new workouts and features that will keep you swinging and sweating.
Called Power Strike, the $8 content pack includes eight new workouts which feature 22 new songs. Power Strike also includes new cosmetics, as premium environment, and a number of new moves, such as the ‘Power Strike’ and the ‘Final Target’.
Created by Les Mills and Odders Lab, the Power Strike DLC can be purchased both in-game and through the Store. Workouts can be played in both VR and MR modes, which is said to unlock “nearly 90 minutes of new content to help them destroy calories as they punch, kick, block, and strike,” Odders Lab says.
Additionally, the studio says it’s remained committed to supporting the base app with “regular free updates,” which is said to include performance improvements, bug fixes, and quality of life additions.
If you’re in the US, you can also nab an exclusive Meta Quest x LES MILLS XR BODYCOMBAT Fitness Bundle. Available from now until June 30th, you can choose from either the Quest 2 content bundle for $230 or the Quest 3 content bundle for $540, each of which includes the respective headset, Active Straps, and a copy of LES MILLS XR BODYCOMBAT at a reduced price.
Virtual reality (VR) gaming is pure escapism. That ability to put on a headset and be transported to any number of virtual worlds, going on quests, meeting friends, competing for leaderboards positions and much more. VR’s also a great way to warm up those muscles in the morning or destress at the end of the day with some virtual meditation. Here are some of the best ways on Meta Quest to keep your mind and body healthy.
The following apps are a mixture of fitness games to really get the blood pumping alongside those designed to help you unwind. So they’re listed in no particular order, simply some of the ones the gmw3 team like.
Everyone needs a bit of get-up and go in the morning so why not start the day with a rhythm action game. Meta Quest has some excellent ones in the store and one that’s definitely worth a look is Synth Riders.
Originally released with loads of Synthwave, Dubstep and other electronic beats, the videogame has greatly expanded to artists such as Lindsey Stirling, Muse, and Caravan Palace. Equally, Synth Riders has added plenty of new functionality, tracking calories, multiplayer, a 360-degree spin mode and much more. Thus you can always wake up in the morning knowing there’s something different to try.
If you’re after a more tailored workout experience then why not try one of the latest titles to arrive for Meta Quest, Les Mills Bodycombat. Bringing the world-famous workout into VR, you’ll find a perfect blend of fitness and martial arts all in one spot.
Featuring personal trainers that keep you motivated throughout each session, Les Mills Bodycombat has workout plans designed for those just starting their fitness journey and those looking for a more advanced workout. Utilising a full-body workout style, you’ll go from a few light jabs and hooks to squats, hammer fists and uppercuts, pushing that intensity with each session.
If you’re after a more fitness-focused approach to VR rather than a hectic rhythm game then this is a good place to start, and there’s no monthly subscription.
Now let’s switch to a far more chilled VR experience, Tripp. Winner of Best VR Meditation App by Men’s Health, Tripp has over 75 immersive mindfulness techniques to help relax and lift your mood.
Sit down and get comfy as Tripp takes you on an almost psychedelic journey through amazing environments, immersing you in waves of sound whilst encouraging breathing techniques to help enhance that sense of calm. Try the demo and you’ll feel like jelly.
Tripp is one of the few apps to offer a free trial followed by either a one-off purchase of $34.99 for lifetime access or a monthly subscription of $4.99, making access as stress-free as possible.
As an alternate to Tripp there’s always Guided Meditation VR. The name kind of says it all, enjoy a selection of over 30 hours of guided meditation experiences focused on Anxiety, Depression, Maternity, Resilience, Sleep, and Zen.
Set within 40+ beautiful environments, the meditation experience is enhanced with over 200 relaxing audio tracks as well as customisations options. Turn off the music for example or activate a timer for a more regulated experience. Or how about switching on the “Float On” mode, gently floating automatically through the peaceful environments.
Ahh, starting to feel super relaxed already, plus Guided Meditation VR is a one-off purchase.
Time to get back in shape and for that you’ll need the aptly named FitXR. Originally starting out as a boxing-themed experience the videogame has grown to include Dance and HIIT workout studios.
There are a range of classes depending on whether you’re after a 10-minute warm-up or a far more intensive 30-minute sweat fest. All the workouts are designed in-house by professional fitness instructors for a variety of music genres, so you can work out to rock, dance, RnB and more. Plus there’s a multiplayer so six friends can join in, adding a competitive edge as everyone strives for the best score.
Much like a gym membership, FitXR has an initial 7-day trial followed by a monthly membership of $9.99 (£7.99 GBP).
(Note: There’s a similar game called Supernaturalwhich is subscription-based but its region locked to North America so gmw3 hasn’t included it in the main list.)
How about an oldie but a goldie. Available since 2019, Thrill of the Fightputs you slap bang in the middle of the ring. This is one of those titles which doesn’t offer lots of flashy extras, just you and an opponent to punch it out. There are training areas with a speedball, punching bag and more to fine-tune your skills. The fights themselves are some of the best you’ll get in VR, no arms flailing here, you need to be accurate and punch with intention.
Which means one hell of an arm workout. Plus it relies on a lot of room-scale movement and footwork to really get the best out of it so make sure to clear some space.
One of the most unique fitness games available in VR, let alone on Meta Quest, VZfit was originally a cycling experience. And it still is, sort of.
VZfit employs the power of Google Maps so you can cycle the roads of the world, all without leaving your living room. Create your own routes or cycle pre-made ones, switching between radio stations for some tunes or listening to the optional personal trainer. VZfit has really benefited from its addition of a feature called the Exerboard, doing away with the exercise bike so you can step, lunge, squat and wave those arms with no additional equipment.
Again, this is another 7-day trial followed by a monthly membership scheme of $9.99. While the Exerboard portion of VZfit doesn’t require an exercise bike, to really get the most out of the experience you will need one plus a cadence sensor (about £30/$30). Not exactly cheap but if you’ve already got most of the kit then it makes more sense.
From the same team behind Guided Meditation VR is the ancient art of Tai Chi. Rather than sitting on your ass trying to relax why not employ this Chinese martial art that’s been practised for centuries for defence training and meditation. Guided Tai Chi has over 200 Tai Chi inspired workouts to help you find inner peace ranging from 3-minute to 60-minute sessions.
Feel that tension and stress float away with sessions set within scenic natural environments featuring calming music. Tai Chi has plenty of health benefits, strengthening and toning your body whilst aiding mindfulness. Plus, Guided Tai Chi has a few customisation options to suit most players needs.
When it comes to achieving your fitness goals stats can really help keep you motivated and focused, giving you info on where you’re doing well and where improvements can be made. REAKT Performance Trainer is one of those VR fitness apps designed to help in that endeavour, combining fast-paced training with real-time feedback to help monitor your progress.
After completing an exercise designed to improve your reaction time and hand to eye coordination you’ll get a wealth of information that’ll show your exact hand position, your reaction vs your field of view and more.
Oh, and don’t forget about Oculus Move, the built-in app on Quest that provides additional fitness tracking aids.
The just-released Les Mills Bodycombat offers a polished, effective and fun workout experience on Quest, and the lack of a subscription plan is a big bonus. Read on for our impressions.
Sensing the potential for VR fitness to one day be just as lucrative as membership gyms, many workout apps have moved to a subscription model of late. Supernatural paved the way with its daily workouts that earned it the attention of a Meta acquisition, and BoxVR completely overhauled its offerings to become the subscription-based FitXR (a move that earned it some backlash).
The benefits of consistently-updated fitness platforms are undeniable, but VR is still finding its feet in the fitness space, and these services don’t offer as versatile and intense a workout as your everyday alternatives. That can make the subscription commitment hard to justify to some. Les Mills Bodycombat’s one-time purchase approach might appeal to those still on the fence about the prospect.
For $29.99, Bodycombat offers 30 workout routines based around boxing. If you’ve played FitXR or most other rhythm-based VR games then you’ll know the basics: targets arrive to the beat of the music and you have to punch them, whilst obstacle zones require you to duck or squat out of the way. You select a playlist that runs anywhere between 5 – 20 minutes and you can even compete with other players’ previous scores to keep you motivated.
This isn’t the most original VR workout experience, then, but Bodycombat gets the basics right and then expands on them with some welcome personality. Instructors Dan Cohen & Rachael Newsham have pre-recorded tutorials and voice work for every workout in the app and talk to you consistently throughout a session. It gives each session a little camaraderie in the spirit of a spin class, and though their encouragement might sometimes be out of sync with your actual performance, their constant reminders on how to properly execute the moves are definitely appreciated.
The app also places a good amount of emphasis on technique and offers a few more motions we haven’t seen elsewhere, like punching high and low or swinging out your arms in a t-pose. In a 20 minute, high-intensity workout I found myself getting pretty out of breath, legs starting to feel heavy from the number of squats. I’m a pretty active person that regularly runs and bikes, so it’s always reassuring when an app can make me sweat in my first session.
Elsewhere there are some issues, like that usual thing with VR apps being over-keen on the calories burned counter, but overall the experience is pretty trouble-free. The music’s also your standard gym fare, though this isn’t as big of a focus as with games like Beat Saber.
Ultimately Les Mills Bodycombat might not be the most inventive VR fitness app out there, and it doesn’t have the novel ideas that developer Odders delivered with OhShape, but it gets the basics right and offers a polished experience and a wide range of effective workouts for a one-time price.
Looking for the new VR games February 2022 list? We’ve got you covered with our full rundown.
After a whirlwind January with huge releases like Zenith, Wanderer and Hitman 3’s PC VR support, February looks to be just a little quieter. This month is front-heavy with some big releases in the first week, though PC VR fans will have plenty of interesting new oddities to check out over on Steam, too.
As always, you’ll find most of these titles on the Quest, Steam and PSVR stores. Also don’t forget that we often see Quest games launch without notice, so expect more titles to arrive as the month goes on. Oh, and if you want to find out what’s coming a little later in the year check out our 40-strong list of new VR games for 2022. Now, let’s get stuck in.
New VR Games February 2022
Ultrawings 2 (February 3rd) – Quest 2, PC VR to follow
Arguably the biggest release on track for February thus far, Ultrawings 2 is a full sequel to the arcade-style VR flight game. Master a handful of new aircraft and take to the skies to tackle a wide range of new missions across the game’s open environments. Dogfighting is being added as a series first, and the developer estimates it’ll take around 20 hours to complete all of the game’s missions. Expect a PC VR version to follow on from the Quest release.
Les Mills Bodycombat (February 3rd) – Quest 2
OhShape and Chess Club developer Odders is back with a new fitness-focused VR experience. Les Mills takes martial arts inspired workouts to VR. You’ll box targets to the beat and dodge obstacles. With 30 different plans designed for users of all fitness levels, instructors to help you on your way, a full soundtrack and five environments to visit, this could be your next VR workout app.
Paper Birds (February 18th) – PC VR
Paper Birds is a roughly 30 minute VR movie starring heavy hitters like Ed Norton, Joss Stone, and Archie Yates. You follow a young boy named Toto, who navigates a supernatural world using music. With some light interactive elements, this is definitely one for those interested in VR storytelling.
Grid Leaper – (February 28th) – PC VR
Grid Leaper is another experiment in VR platforming, this time hurtling players through environments as they grab bricks with their hands and avoid obstacles. Expect physics-defying leaps across 90 different levels.
And that’s the list of New VR Games February 2022! What are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below!
A new fitness app for Meta Quest headsets is coming soon, this time associated with international gym and workout brand Les Mills.
Les Mills Bodycombat appeared on the Quest store this week, with no set release date besides a ‘coming soon’ tag. The app is a virtual extension of the Les Mills fitness brand, which offers gyms and fitness classes internationally. The brand is named after retired New Zealand athlete and politician Leslie Roy Mills. Mills opened his first gym in 1968 and was later Mayor of Auckland for eight years from 1990.
The international Les Mills brand is now managed by his son, with a variety of gyms, along with in-person and virtual classes, available worldwide. This new virtual experience — the first VR option in its extensive online workout catalog — will focus on adapting its existing Bodycombat classes into a new format for VR.
Bodycombat describes itself as a “premium fitness app” with “high-energy martial arts-inspired workout[s]”. This virtual offering of the Bodycombat class will cater to everyone, with 30 workouts options ranging from beginner to advanced levels. The trailer on the Oculus Store indicates the workouts will focus on virtual boxing.
The app will feature two class coaches, Dan Cohen and Rachael Newsham, along with five “dreamlike” environments to work out in — Mars, Neo City, Rome, Japan, and Tundra. Les Mills says more environments are on the way as well.
Bodycombat will be up against some tough competition, with fitness apps becoming more prevalent than ever on the Quest platform. That being said, the brief footage in the trailer for Bodycombat does look perhaps a little more polished, at least visually, than other options available, but we’ll have to wait to try it ourselves.
