Within, the immersive studio known for some of VR’s highest quality experiences, unveiled a new fitness app for Oculus Quest earlier this month that aims to give you a fun, fast, and intuitive cardio workout in VR. Starting today you’ll be able to dive right in.
Update (April 23rd, 2020): Supernatural is set to go live today on the Oculus Store for Quest at 10 AM PT (local time here). The first 30 days is free, however afterwards ‘founding members’ will pay a monthly fee of $19. We haven’t had a chance to go hands-on with Supernatural yet, but we’ll report back soon.
There’s still no word on when a version for Rift, or other PC VR headsets is due to arrive. The original article announcing Supernatural follows below:
Original Article (April 13th, 2020): Called Supernatural, the subscription-based app is said to launch on Quest April 23rd. The subscription includes new workouts published daily at a discounted introductory rate of $19 per month, as well as a free trial to see if its right for you.
And what exactly do you get with this ‘virtual gym’ membership? According to an Oculus blog post, Supernatural melds together VR rhythm game mechanics, daily personalized full-body workouts, expert coaching from real-world trainers, and music from popular artists, all of which is set in variety of photorealistic landscapes.
The promo video certainly gives off Beat Saber vibes, albeit with a decidedly less of a ‘European discotheque’ aesthetic and more of a crunchy granola feel from some Star Trekian future.
“When my Within co-founder Aaron Koblin and I realized we had developed dad-bods without having any actual children, we knew we had to do something,” Within co-founder Chris Milk says. “Neither one of us was fond of or good at sticking with exercise. We disliked the rigmarole of going to the gym and didn’t think the home fitness solutions out there were particularly fun. We wanted the benefits of exercising regularly, but we didn’t enjoy the short-term activity necessary to get those long-term results.”
The team hasn’t revealed what musical artists will be featured, however Milk says its will feature “some of the biggest artists from the major record labels, and amazing artists from indie labels as well.”
Supernatural is said to arrive with a companion app, which lets you pair your heart rate monitor, schedule workouts, and follow friends.
Supernatural from startup Within looks to be a bit like Beat Saber meets OhShape and BoxVR, with subscription pricing and a solid focus on getting you fit in an Oculus Quest.
The title was just announced by Oculus and Within with a launch planned for April 23. The software will be priced at an “introductory rate” of $20 per month with a free trial, according to the announcement post. It includes a mobile app for your phone and can pair with an Apple Watch to track heart rate during your exercises.
In the trailer above you can see how it makes use of the wireless freedom of Oculus quest with the software telling you when to turn your body 90 degrees to hit targets coming from the sides.
“We had the choice of doing a discrete one-time fixed price download with a locked amount of workouts, that would allow you to add more workouts and songs through DLC packs,” Within Founder & CEO Chris Milk explained in the Oculus blog post. “That works well for games but didn’t feel like the best approach for a fitness system, particularly given one of the big things we are solving for is helping people find, stick with, and ultimately love their exercise program.”
According to the blog post, the maps calibrate “to your personal range of motion” so targets, lunges, and squats should adjust “based on how your body is comfortable moving.” The title also includes “expert coaching from real-world trainers” and is said to include music from popular artists.
We’ll have hands-on impressions and thoughts for you about Supernatural when it launches later this month.
The cord-free, standalone Meta Quest system is one of the best options for VR fitness, exercise and workout routines. Here are our picks the best Quest 2 fitness and exercise apps to get your blood pumping.
[This article was originally published in March 2020. It was edited and updated in March 2021 and again in February 2022.]
The following list is in no particular order, however there are two general categories of apps on the list.
The first category is apps that are specifically designed for working out in VR — usually with specifically designed sessions that you follow for a workout session.
The second is incidental workout apps — apps and experiences that weren’t designed specifically for working out, but can be used in such a way because they get the blood pumping enough when played at a high intensity.
Despite all these new additions, the basic premise has always remained the same — it’s features rhythm-based boxing, dance and HIIT routines that gives you points for speed and accuracy. In July last year, the app also added a bunch of notable artists to its music catalog, including Calvin Harris and Tiesto.
FitXR is free to download on the Quest Store, with a subscription-based service in place for access to workouts. There’s a 7-day free trial for new users.
Let’s not beat around the saber – initially, Supernatural started out as a fitness-focused Beat Saber clone. Notes fly at you in time with music, which you have to hit in-time using bats and occasionally you’ll be forced to squat to avoid obstacles. However, the service has since added new boxing workout as well, expanding its offering of guided coach workouts.
Every 24 hours, there’s a new workout playlist/routine for you to run through. The aim is to get you sweating with big arm swings and quick squats. The better you perform, the harder the routine will get, thanks to Supernatural’s adaptive difficulty.
Supernatural is free to download on Quest, but is only currently available in select regions. Access to workouts uses a subscription pricing model, with a free trial period for new users.
One of the newer entries on the list, Les Mills Bodycombat is an attractive option for those looking to avoid a subscription model.
The app is brought to you by the Les Mills brand, which has gyms globally as well as a substantial online workout offering. The Quest Bodycombat app adapts one of these online workout classes into 30 boxing workouts for VR, available as a one-off purchase.
You’ll be punching and squatting to the beat of the music, with the option to select a playlist between five and 20 minutes. It’s not the most original VR workout option, but it gets the basics right in a polished experience available for a one-time price.
If you’re looking to pair a physical fitness machine with a virtual workout, then Holofit is one of two apps that lets you do so. The app pairs your headset with compatible bikes, elipticals and rowing machines, allowing you to use your physical machines in a virtual location.
However, even without any machines, the app also has HIIT, fat burn and time-attack programs that see you recreate skiing, running or cycling using movements with the Touch controllers.
Holofit is available on Quest via a yearly or monthly subscription model with a 7-day trial for new users.
VZFit
Another option for connecting physical machines and fitness trackers, VZFit uses Google Street View to let you virtually exercise anywhere you want. The app has Strava and Fitbit support, alongside connectivity with “most smart bike devices and trainer sensors.”
There’s also full body workouts and support for an optional cadence sensor, which you’ll have to buy separately, that allows you to connect a stationary exercise bike that’s missing smart bike functionality.
VZFit is available for Quest with a 7-day free trial and $9.99 monthly subscription.
Beat Saber was definitely never intended to be used as a workout app, but there’s a significant amount of people who use it for just that. A couple of levels on Expert or Expert+ in Beat Saber will get your heart rate pumping like there’s no tomorrow.
Beat Saber is available for Oculus Quest for $29.99.
Synth Riders is, yes, another VR rhythm game and while it takes some visual notes from Beat Saber and other entries in the genre, the gameplay is quite different. You’ll hit floating spheres to the rhythm of the music, and move your hands in circular or curved motions to follow tails that fly off each sphere. It’s similar in concept to other rhythm games, but with its own spin.
The game has implemented a variety of fitness-focused features, such as a calorie counter and a fitness update that arrived earlier this year and included live VR workout sessions, guided by a trainer.
Jamie described this game as “Beat Saber for your body” and said it was a “genuinely authentic fitness game.” It’s not a workout in the traditional sense, but it will get your blood flowing as you throw your body around to the music, fitting and moving yourself into all different shapes.
With the intensity ramped up, you might end up burning calories faster than some of the other fitness games on this list.
Pistol Whip might seem like a strange entry for a VR exercise list at first, but play a couple of the levels on harder difficulty and you’ll quickly see how Pistol Whip could qualify as a workout. The ducking and constant quick movements will have your glutes and quads burning after a long session.
While not designed as a fitness app, Until You Fall is a VR roguelike that will have you hacking and slashing in heart-racing melee combat. At its most intense, the game should offer you something comparable to a light upper body workout. That being said, its roguelike mechanics means it’s more game-y than other entries on this list. If you’re looking for something fun to play that also gives you a bit of a workout along the way, Until You Fall might be best.
There are a number of boxing games available on the Quest, but The Thrill of the Fight uses mechanics that aims to be more of a true-to-life simulator in a boxing ring, as opposed to a workout-first approach to VR boxing. A few rounds in the ring and you’ll be sweating profusely. We definitely prefer this one over Creed VR on Quest.
Oculus Move isn’t a VR workout app, but rather a feature that will let you track your progress, workouts and calories burned while in VR. It was announced in 2020 at Facebook Connect and should work Quest-wide on all of your apps. It’s a good option to natively track your fitness and workout sessions in VR across all activity on Quest.
Oculus Move can be enabled in the Quest system settings.
What are you favorite Quest exercise apps that keep you active in a VR workout session? Let us know in the comments.
