Workout App

Shock, horror - I actually purchased an app for my Quest 2 headset this morning!  Could I have pirated it?  Yes, probably, but I decided to pay in the hope that it would lead me to use it more often.

The app is Les Mills Body Combat, a fitness "game" where you stand still and use different punches and techniques to hit targets as they come towards you.  Sometimes you will be jabbing, other doing uppercuts and other punches whilst avoiding walls as they come at you.  As you are supposed to stand still, you will be ducking, squatting and weaving to avoid the walls whilst punching too.

I had read that this app was quite a good workout and that people had used it to help lose weight and get fit, so I thought I would give it a go.  After all, I am sure I can squeeze in at least a 20 minute workout per day instead of scrolling Reddit of an evening.

Because the game is "online", when you enter a workout, you are paired with other people doing the same.  You can see them before you begin, and our avatars all wave at each other and do silly dances.  You then get placed into the leader-board with those people to see who comes out best.

For the first few practice workouts I came top each time, but I then moved on to a more strenuous routine and ended up 5th out of 8 people.  Not too bad.  It works out points based on your "combo streak" of hitting the targets and avoiding the obstacles.  There were times when I felt like it should have kept my streak as felt like I hit the target at the right time.  I guess I just need to work the timing on it.  Overall, my performance was rated at around 65%.

I wasn't really expecting to sweat, but I have come away feeling like I have done a small workout.  I do have a cold though, so am probably feeling a little more clammy than normal.  I can imagine that the longer and faster sessions will be quite grueling if done right.  Some can be done for over 1 hour, but I suspect those are made up of smaller workouts spliced together.

I have set my self a target to use the app every day, so will see how that goes.  I am not sure I love the continual chatter from the "trainers" and I am sure it will be the same each time, but I assume I can turn that off somewhere anyway if I wanted to.

I wasn't aware of Les Mills before I looked into this app - seems like it is big business!