VR is finding uses in everything from art and design to training, research, and entertainment. An unexpected byproduct of VR’s immersion is its ability to flip the notion of in-home entertainment being necessarily sedentary. With the right games and techniques, VR can be in fact be an excellent workout. Here we’re sharing a Quest fitness routine that’s designed to be as fun as it is physical—you can also play all of these on PC VR and PSVR!

Updated – January 18th, 2024

Yes, there are dedicated VR fitness apps specifically designed for working out. But if you’re anything like me, the biggest challenge is not the ability to exercise, but maintaining consistent motivation. Luckily it’s easy to get yourself working out if it’s a byproduct of something inherently fun—the difference between lifting weights vs. playing a sport.

So I’ve put together for myself a three-game VR workout routine in which none of the games are explicitly made for fitness (which means they focus first and foremost on fun), but combined with the right settings and technique can be a solid workout. On the right you can see my FitBit tracked stats after a session.

Of course, what you get out of any workout depends on what you put in. Yes, you could play these games without putting in nearly this much effort, but I was playing for both fun and fitness, so I really put myself into my movements. I’ll explain below what kind of techniques will help you put the most into—and get the most out of—each game.

Since not all of these games are available on all VR platforms (we’ll note where you can find them), you can make up your own combination of games and time spent.

Grab a big cup of water (you will need it for breaks) and strap that headset on tight—here’s the rundown:

Arms: 1 Hour – Beat Saber

$30 – Available on QuestPC VR, PSVR 2
Image courtesy Beat Games
The Game

Beat Saber is a rhythm game that emphasizes motion over timing. With a solid set of built-in tracks (and plenty more available for download) it’s easy and fun to play, and very engaging trying to work your way up from Easy to Expert+ difficulty levels. Tracks vary in intensity, even at the same difficulty level; you’ll start to get a feel for which ones demand the most effort. [Read Our Beat Saber Review]

Settings & Technique

Play at the highest difficulty level that you’re comfortable with. Expert+ will of course be the most physical, and you should ideally build your way up to that, but even playing on Hard or Expert, the right technique will get your blood pumping. I highly suggest playing with ‘No Fail’ enabled; this will let you focus on fitness and flow rather than getting interrupted by failing a song.

The key is big swings. Keep your feet planted; focus less on your wrists and more on moving your arms. I find that the best way to have fun while putting in effort is to try to swing at each block with as much force as I can while still managing to reach the next block in time. The key is to smoothly move your swings from one block to the next. This makes a fun challenge where you need to strategize your movements to consider how to most efficiently move from one swing to the next even while making big, hard swings. When you really get into the zone you should feel that satisfying flow state that will carry you through.

You’ll want to take off the headset for a five minute cooldown and water break when you find yourself really out of breath. See if you can build yourself up to completing one entire ‘album’ before taking your break (albums have different lengths, so choose wisely).

Legs: 30 Minutes – Pistol Whip

$30 – Available on Quest, PC VR, PSVR 2
Image courtesy Cloudhead Games
The Game

Pistol Whip is a rhythm shooter focused on flow and target management rather than aiming precision. Enemies appear as you move forward through the level and it’s your job to dispatch them while also dodging incoming fire. It might not look it at first glance, but because of the way you need to move to dodge incoming fire Pistol Whip can be a great leg workout, making it a perfect complement to Beat Saber. [Read our Pistol Whip Review]

Settings & Technique

Similar to Beat Saber, I highly recommend playing at the highest level you can and with ‘No Fail’ enabled; this will ensure you don’t get interrupted or frustrated by failing a level. Higher difficulty requires more movement and will provide a better workout. I also highly recommend the ‘Dual Wield’ mode, which will put a gun in each of your hands instead of just one. With two guns it’s easier to find that satisfying flow state that will keep you going.

The key for a good Pistol Whip workout is to keep your feet planted as often as possible. From here you’ll need to move your upper body around to dodge incoming fire as you return fire to kill enemies. Moving in this way will make great use of your legs and core. Don’t be afraid to get down real low to dodge—not only is it an effective technique for dodging, it’s also going to get those leg muscles flexing.

Listen to the music and keep your body moving to the beat. Combining your shooting and dodging into a continuous flowing motion is the key to fun and fitness in this game.

Cooldown: 30 Minutes – Until You Fall

$25 – Available on Quest, PC VR, PSVR 2
Image courtesy Schell Games
The Game

Until You Fall is a rogue-lite melee combat game in which you battle as far as you can until you inevitably perish. With each run you’ll earn money which can be used to buy and upgrade weapons to make you stronger for your next bout. Being a successful knight requires patience and strategy, making this a great cooldown game because you can flex your brain while your muscles wind down. [Read Our Until You Fall Review]

Settings & Technique

Just like Beat Saber the key here is to make big swings. This isn’t just for your workout though, bigger swings in Until You Fall mean more damage dealt to enemies, so you’re killing two birds with one stone.

In the game you can choose from a handful of weapons to hold in each hand. If you pick one of the ‘talisman’ items (which give stat boosts but cannot block or attack), you’ll be able to concentrate all of your physical effort into one arm. Try alternating the talisman into your opposite hand each time you die, this will force you to train up the coordination and muscle memory in your non-dominant hand which will help you in the game later if you switch back to using a weapon in each hand.

– – — – –

Addendum

Mix it Up

The above is just a rough suggestion, modify the times to whatever feels suitable for you. If you want even more workout for your time, consider adding 10 crunches each time you have to take your headset off for a drink of water. In Until You Fall, consider adding your own fitness ‘penalty’ for dying (like 10 jumping jacks) to raise the stakes and make you fight harder to survive!

Wipe it Down

Don’t let your headset turn into a gnarly mess! After a good session you should definitely remove the headset’s face foam and give it a good squeeze down with a damp paper towel in hand, followed by a dry paper towel for any remaining moisture. Feel around the headset’s other straps to see if they need also need a wipe down. Your controllers may need some attention too.

Got suggestions for other great VR games which offer both fun and fitness? Drop them in the comments below!

Update (January 18th, 2024): Removed links to abandoned storefronts and added PSVR 2 availability and links for each game.


Great Resources for Quest 2 & Quest 3

The Very Best Quest Games

The Quest library can be daunting, but here are our picks for the very best Quest games.

Free Quest Games

If you’re looking to explore VR without investing money right out of the gate, definitely check out our list of the Best Free Quest Games for a bunch of fun options that won’t cost you a dime up front.

Essential Quest Tips, Tricks, and Settings

If you’re just diving into VR as a new Quest owner, you should absolutely check out our Quest Tips & Tricks Guide for a heap of useful tricks and settings you’ll want to know about.

Relaxing in VR

Are you less of a competitive gamer and more interested in how you can use VR to chill out? We have a great list of VR Games for Relaxation and Meditation.

Flex Your Creativity in VR

And last but not least, if you’re a creative type looking to express yourself in VR, our list of Tools for Painting, Modeling, Designing & Animating in VR offers a huge range of artful activities, with something for everyone from fiddlers to professionals.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Adrian Meredith

    I recommend gettting a vrcover so the padding is wipe downable it also makes it possible to train with another (you could even swap foams between sets)

  • Mateusz Pawluczuk

    Nice routine, but Until You Fall is still not available on Quest – which kind of breaks the universality of this suggestion article.

    • Marcus

      My daily routine on the Quest is:
      1. Beat Saber
      2. Pistol Whip
      3. The Thrill of the Fight
      Works great for me :)

      • Eric Draven

        nice routine! I was going with beat saber and thrill of the fight too, I’ll add pistol whip and see how it goes!

      • Tommy

        You can do all three in one game if you get Viro Move

    • Ad

      Unfortunately it is

  • We’re making a little fitness game in MR for the Vive Focus Plus called HitMotion:Reloaded, so we hope that our game as well will end in the fitness routines of many people!

    Talking about commercial games, I think that BoxVR is very valid as a training game. Maybe it is a bit less fun than the ones you mentioned, but it is very well done. Viro Move is kinda crazy, so it can make you sweat a lot, you should try it.

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    • Ad

      OpenXR?

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  • JesuSaveSouls

    Remember that saying of 12oz curls and workouts.Like sitting in a lazy boy recliner yelling at the tv while the players on the field do all the work.A couch coach. Like me sitting in my chair in vr in a social app using locomotion snapturn among others using actual roomscale while they are really standing and moving.

  • puzzlepaint

    Personally I prefer Soundboxing over Beat Saber for workouts. While
    Soundboxing as a game is overall much less polished than Beat Saber, I enjoy its core gameplay much more (same concept, but with boxing gloves instead of sabers, and without the need to cut blocks from a specific angle). For a good workout, try the “PopLove” mashups for example.

  • david vincent

    If you’re looking for a good sweat (and fun), try Blade & Sorcery with a lot of opponents at the same time + berserks mod.
    Or for an instant-sweat : the Thrill of the Fight…

  • ale bro

    Beat Saber is really limited for work outs – better to go with a game that has a punching mechanic as punching recruits more muscles than little wrist flicks.

    • Alan Harrington

      If you’re wrist flicking in Beat Saber you’re missing the point of the article…

  • Immersive Computing
  • bud01

    Chest = Elven Assassin 0-o

  • vtid

    Eleven Table Tennis is a great workout but i wouldn’t advise using vr to replace exercise! Sweaty headsets are gross.. Just go for a jog or a walk :)

    • benz145

      I advise doing whatever exercise activity that’s safe and motivating. No reason it can’t be VR.

      • vtid

        I didn’t say it couldn’t be vr but it’s an immensely inefficient way of exercising compared to traditional exercise. I said don’t replace exercise for vr ‘exercise’, which is accurate and good advice, whether anyone here wants to believe it or not. I do sweat a little when playing beatsaber etc but I don’t play it specifically in order to exercise because there are a million better ways to exercise.

        • david vincent

          “it’s an immensely inefficient way of exercising compared to traditional exercise”
          And yet you mentionned Eleven Table Tennis, which is as a good exercise as the real thing…

          • vtid

            Yes it’s a good workout considering it’s in vr. Very realistic etc. But it won’t replicate rl tt unless you have several metres either side and behind you, unless you just stand still then yes, it’s not a very good exercise. Why are ppl getting upset? All I said was traditional non-vr exercise should not be replaced by vr ‘exercise’, unless physical limitations mean that’s the only or best option. If you don’t agree with that then that’s madness or denial. Anyway this conversation is ridiculous. I’m not here to fight. Have a good day.

      • vtid

        And safe exercise never involves covering your face to obscure your vision with a hmd!

    • david vincent

      “Eleven Table Tennis is a great workout”
      Well it depends on your level, table tennis can be either the lazyest sport ever or one of the most intensive…

  • Rosko

    i would swap ‘until you fall’ with ‘downstream vr whitewater kayaking set on the hardest level.’

  • Lucas Cooper-Bey

    I play beat saber and then head over to pistol whip and turn on “deadeye” (no aim assist) on easy and am at full cardio pretty much instantaneously.

  • callen

    The single biggest thing holding back mass adoption of VR, right now, is the fact that none of these games (and plenty of others you could have put in this list) were designed for exercise. The day Until You Fall launched in early access, my friend and I both got repetitive strain injury from enjoying it too much. Asking a gaming community, used to buying $500 chairs to sit in for 12 hour gaming sessions, to stand up and move for their games, is a big ask. Asking the social-media-scrolling, Netflix-bingeing non/casual gamers to do it is a bigger ask. Look at PSVR (the best selling 6dof headset), the most popular games (apart from Beat Saber) are more couch-focused, and many only support gamepad play. There’s a balancing act between immersion and effort required, and devs need to figure out how to make VR more accessible, or we’ll never grow to our potential.

    • JB1968

      True, although I enjoy moving in real life (even it is getting thougher every year of my age) I believe the ultimate goal of Virtual Reality is to break away from our physical bodies as much as possible. I bet the VR consoles of the future would make people look like drug adicts and work more like the “bioware” based onesin the “eXistenZ” movie from Cronenberg. Or like in the “Virtual Revolution” movie where it’s cheaper for goverment to pay VR addicted people basic living beacuse they physical bodies won’t last more than 40 years because of the VR life style.

  • nejihiashi88

    the best exercise is knockout league the reflex training room is so much fun and challenging then you get to real matches where there is mechanics with each fight

  • Matteo Valles

    I can’t imagine getting all sweaty with a headset on haha. I’ll have to see if it’s as bad as I’m imagining.

  • Pablo C

    Prewarm: Lightsaver Dojo
    Aerobic workout: Holopoint
    Anaerobic workout: The thrill of the fight

  • Ad

    No dance central?

  • Zack274

    I use FitXR and PowerbeatsVR on Quest2; they are top!

  • Ragbone

    Please ignore this comment, it is pointless and is in no relation to anything at all. I don’t even know why i typed it.

  • Tommy

    Or you can just get Viro Move which already has these game modes in it.
    Viro Move is like a mixture of Beat Saber, Pistol Whip, and FitVR (BoxVR)

  • Arkenge L

    You forgot The Thrill of the Fight and FitX :)

  • Mekiver

    Audio-Trip is my go to. I tried Beat Saber, but returned it because Audio Trip was so much better. You can also side load a bunch of fan made songs that are pretty epic. Still working on the Boss fight song. I’m dead halfway through the song, but it is a blast.