Why AR will be the dominant medium for XR fitness
Augmented reality (AR) is well-suited for fitness because it allows users to bring digital experiences into the physical world. With AR, users can participate in virtual fitness classes or personal one on one training sessions, or use AR apps to track their workouts and set fitness goals without being fully immersed.
This makes it perfect for beginners, those with poor balance, or those prone to motion sickness, which sometimes people can experience in full VR immersion for the first time.
More interaction and connection
AR can also make workouts more interactive and engaging by providing users with real-time feedback and virtual challenges as you are actually seeing people around you.
Think of AR as an overlay on real life (the meativerse!) this is perfect for fitness classes or multi player games! Additionally, AR can be used to visualize and track progress, which can help users stay motivated and motivated, hence why dashboard overlays on real life keep you focused on the game or task.
Overall, AR has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach fitness, making it more convenient, fun, and effective, from a games developer point of view, they will no longer have to build expensive and time consuming VR environments, you're in your front room and you can still see the cat while working out!
Why AR and not VR will be the dominant technology
There are several reasons why augmented reality (AR) will eventually become the dominant immersive technology, surpassing virtual reality (VR). One reason is that AR allows users to bring digital experiences into the real world, rather than transporting them to a completely virtual alien environment.
This makes AR more accessible and convenient for users, as it does not require a separate dedicated space or equipment. You no longer need expensive additional VR realted tech, you can use your old yoga mat and weights just like normies.
AR has the potential to be more widely adopted because it can be used on a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets, whereas VR typically requires specialized VR headsets. Finally, AR has the potential to be more practical and useful for everyday tasks and activities, whereas VR is often limited to entertainment and gaming.
Cardio, but no weights?
Ok, so we're nearly wrapping this up, but just think, current VR headsets like the Quest 2 (I use this as it's the dominant HMD as a write) require, in some cases a lot of extra stuff to make the experience worth while, this is why cardio games are the dominant fitness game form, think Beat Saber, Fitxr, Supernatural etc, outside of these (and yes I know I have missed others), how can you realistically and safely add heavy weights into the mix, thats right you can't.
Conclusion
With the advent of the newer VR headsets (XR) that allow full colour passthrough, we are getting really close to be able to bring proper AR experiences to a range of sports and fitness games, my own product relies on mixed reality for it to be truly safe to use and in some parts, you just can't do whjat you need to do in VR, it's not practical. By the time it's built, Quest 3 will have launched and we'll be on the road to XR2.0, oh I cant wait!