Boxing Peloton is fun, challenging, and better in real life than virtual reality.

The fusion of fitness and video games has never been more natural than in the expanding realm of virtual reality.

I’ve been a fan of fitness games since my Wii Sports nunchuck boxing days and the tethered All-In-One Sports VR game for the Oculus Rift. Liteboxer VR now has the option of fully wireless boxing, exclusively on the Meta (née Oculus) Quest 2.

Liteboxer is one of the latest VR games that puts the gym and personal trainers right in front of you. This boxing class is interesting, fun and challenging even for an intermediate level boxer like me. The company hopes to become the boxing peloton, but VR may not be the best place for its software, at least not yet. We tried the Liteboxer VR preview to see how far we are from the real world gym workouts in the metaverse.

Virtual classrooms, virtual equipment, real sweat

Founded in 2017, Liteboxer is a relatively new fitness company that launched its first product in 2020. The trainer of the same name uses a “reimagined”rubberized punching bag, equipped with LEDs that show when and where to strike. Attached to this equipment is a tablet or phone rest area where you access the Liteboxer app for live (but not live) boxing instructions or mode selection. The equipment sells for $1,500 or $1,700, depending on whether you want to mount it on a wall or use it as a freestanding platform, respectively. For this amount, I expected to see a built-in screen instead of providing my own.

Liteboxer VR virtualizes the entire system into what it calls the “Metaverse”, cutting hardware costs down to the cost of a Meta Quest 2 ($300). You’ll still have to pay the $19 monthly membership fee for classes – that’s about $11 less than a Liteboxer physical hardware subscription. However, if you already have physical hardware with an active membership, access to VR classes is included in your $30 monthly fee. Unfortunately, there is no freestyle mode in Liteboxer so that non-subscribers can simply log in and turn on the virtual transmission.

The physical hardware subscription currently offers over 800 classes, compared to about 500 classes with a VR membership. The reason for the size reduction is to eliminate some workouts that are less comfortable for VR, such as burpees or jumping around. This is a good call; I’ve tried some of these workouts, and doing burpees in a VR headset is as pathetic as it sounds.

However, Liteboxer plans to release new VR content at launch, including a mode where the trainer is right in front of you, allowing you to punch in their virtual paws rather than watching them perform and follow a routine. It is in this (virtualized) physical interaction that virtual reality demonstrates its functional advantages over other home gym solutions.