Yesterday, the Swiss start-up Sphery presented the ExerCube in the popular Vox format "Die Höhle der Löwen". The likeable founders had to go home without one of the coveted deals, but their product has the potential to make a huge wave in the fitness market. The ExerCube combines the two most popular leisure activities of all, marrying fitness and gaming in a unique, motivating way that makes it no longer completely clear whether you're working out or gaming right now. Find out what the ExerCube can offer your gym here.
The ExerCube - idea and implementation
The ExerCube is an immersive fitness game, the user is surrounded by three video walls and acts as the main character of the game. In Sphery Racer, the player experiences a fast-paced sci-fi adventure underwater, racing around a track on a hoverboard. In the process, various obstacles are passed, each of which presents its own motoric-cognitive challenge. The twist? The difficulty and complexity are permanently adjusted to the player's individual fitness and cognitive abilities during the game. The result is a maximally attractive and effective training experience.
The ExerCube has answers to the justified criticism of lion Georg Jakob Kofler that "fitness" is becoming more and more a group experience and less in "single player mode": Sphery Racer can be played as a cooperative or competitive multi-player experience, for this purpose several players can train in one cube as well as players in different cubes can compete against each other online.
The walls are not only a projection surface, but also serve as a haptic interface for energetic body interaction. During the game, a special motion tracking system transmits the player's movements to the avatar on the virtual racetrack, and players also wear a heart rate sensor. During the game, for example, squats have to be performed to duck away from under an obstacle in the race, and other elements include jumps and burpees. On the walls to the left and right are sensors at different heights that have to be touched with the hand. The training is not only a physical challenge: the mind plays a part, reaction speed, coordination and good timing are required.
Virtual Fitness - Revolutionizing Group Training?
Sphery Racer - The training concept
The basis of the workout is functional training. The core of functional training is the work with holistic, functional movements with which large muscle groups and entire muscle chains in the complete body are activated. This increases endurance, strength and effectiveness at the same time.
At the same time, the ExerCube and the Sphery Racer enter deeply into the large trend area of Virtual Fitness. In connection with the functional training concept, the player is confronted with an additional cognitive challenge through audiovisual and game-mechanical signals.
The interactive element of playing in cooperation with other players or competing against each other in a competition makes an ExerCube session more than a mere workout, the joint training with at least one other partner and in a small group has significantly higher training effects than training alone. By using the Cube digitally, the individual trainee is able to train together at any time, but is still free and independent in his scheduling. The group does not have to train in the same studio to compete against each other in the Sphery Racer.
For the near future, the young team has planned more Experiences, new game scenarios and training concepts, and movement therapy ExerCube settings will also be available soon.
ExerCube - dimensions and scope of delivery
The front wall of the Exercube is 2.30 meters wide, while the open end offers an airy 3.00 meters of space. The height of the Cube is 2.80 meters, and the depth is 2.30 meters. Virtual Fitness naturally thrives on visuals and sound, so to ensure the best possible immersion, three projectors, a PC, the appropriate sound system and a heart rate sensor are included. At the end of each ExerCube session, each player receives an individual training summary and can thus keep an eye on their progress and successes at all times.
Conclusion
The ExerCube from Sphery combines the great areas of fitness and gaming in a unique way. The sports science-based training concepts become more than just functional training in exciting, action-packed games - they become an immersive experience that can be shared interactively with other users cooperatively or competitively. The ExerCube takes an important step toward the training world of the future - or to paraphrase the founders, "The playful future of fitness starts today!"
Find your suitable functional fitness equipment at an unbeatable price now!
Find functional fitness equipment now
Editorial fitnessmarkt.de (DG)
Picture credits: TVNOW / Bernd-Michael Maurer
Published on: 4 September 2019