The Virtual Reality Institute of Health and Exercise (VR Health Institute) is an independent research & ratings organization created to study the health impact of virtual and augmented reality. Working with the San Francisco State University’s Kinesiology department, we use scientifically reliable tools to rate the exercise potential of VR and Augmented experiences.
Thank you for exploring the next generation of exercise with us. We’re slowly reopening the labs at SFSU, and have some very cool new features coming. You may notice the “Connect Game” button in the upper right corner of the workout selection. This is the first step in experimenting with…
VR is becoming a powerful tool for combating adult & childhood obesity, but accurately tracking your calories in VR is difficult. General purpose fitness trackers struggle with new exercises like VR because they have limited metabolic data on VR-specific movement. The VR Health Exercise Tracker is built on hundreds of hours of VR-specific metabolic testing using research-grade equipment in the labs of the VR Institute of Health & Exercise and the Kinesiology labs at San Francisco State University. It is and will always be free.
Play games, improve health, and lose weight with the first workout and calorie tracker built specifically for VR. Official app of the VR Institute of Health & Exercise.
calories have been burned playing Beat Saber since its release:
According to SteamSpy.com, gamers played more than 18,530,000 hours of Beat Saber since its release in May 2018. Metabolic testing has shown that Beat Saber burns an average of 6.55 calories per minute during active gameplay. That’s at least 4,639,374,000 calories in this one game alone.
Doing 8,104,436,842 individual sit-ups
9,624,019 hours of aerobics
Running around the Earth 1,405 times
NOT drinking 24,313,311 lattes
Avoiding 18,478,116 hamburgers
Sprinting to the moon and back… and then to the moon and back again… and then again… and then another time… and 140 times more… and then to the moon and like, 84% of the way back, which still isn’t too bad…
info@vrhealth.institute
We encourage developers to share their ratings. Here are high resolution versions of the VR Exercise badges for use on Steam, webpages, or other promotions of rated content. There’s also video footage of subjects exercising in VR for promotional purposes, or for media b-roll.
If you are a game developer working on a title you think might be good exercise, please consider submitting it for rating. Our goal is to help players discover the games that have the greatest potential health benefits, and that’s far easier to do with your help.
We strive to be very transparent in how we calculate our VR Exercise Ratings. Observed metabolic impact is influenced by many factors like player intent, player skill, game level, and game familiarity. Please read about our assumptions, methodology, and rating processes.
The VR Health Institute exists to connect people interested in Augmented Exercise. We’re powered mostly by the passion of our members. If you are an organisation or individual interested in being involved with the VR Health community, please reach out to us.
The primary function of the VR Health Institute is to assess and publish VR Exercise Ratings. VR Exercise Ratings are assigned to virtual reality and augmented experiences based on metabolic testing to determine realistic calorie expenditure during play. VR Exercise Ratings make it easy to understand a game’s likely level of calorie burn by comparing it to common non-VR forms of exercise.
Dr. Marialice Kern, PHD, FACSM
Professor & Department Chair of Kinesiology
San Francisco State University
Ryan Durk
Head Strength & Conditioning Coach
& Teaching Lab Manager
San Francisco State University
Always consult your physician before beginning any exercise program. This information is not a replacement for your healthcare professional. Please read our full disclaimer and terms of use.
info@vrhealth.institute
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