In the world today, technology has advanced rapidly in multiple sectors of life, including the way people approach fitness. Virtual reality, streaming, and remote workouts have deemed working out at the gym and home exercise videos as “old school.” However, what is the actual benefit of leaving behind these traditional methods and allowing technology to integrate into fitness regimes?
Internationally trained personal fitness guru and certified yoga instructor Jolene Cherry aims to help her clients reach balance through physical activity. She believes that technology offers a wide range of benefits for personal fitness programs. Still, parity between the pros and cons of virtual reality, streaming, and remote workouts are essential to discuss, as she does below.
IMAGE: PEXELS
Virtual Reality
Through the use of 3D graphics and fabricated senses such as touch, sight, and sound, virtual reality is a form of technology software that creates an artificial environment that replicates reality. While in real life, an individual is riding on a stationary bicycle, virtual reality can take that individual for a ride through a beautiful national park.
Pros: Users can become excited about their workout routine when mental stamina can be distracted by virtual reality. No more having to stare at gym walls or a trainer in a small room when the virtual world makes way for better scenery.
Cons: Just like any form of technology integrated into reality, users are prone to addiction to virtual reality. Excellent experience can quickly turn into an empty feeling once the thrill is over and back to fact comes into play.
Streaming Fitness
The age of streaming fitness is here with options like Peloton. This streaming fitness startup company allows for an individual to hop online into a workout class with multiple other online attendees and follow a trainer from the comfort of home.
Pros: Streaming fitness allows for a higher success rate for individuals to stick to their fitness goals. Being able to practice a favorite workout style that includes a community class and a personal trainer from the living room is creating victorious fitness environments.
Cons: The cost to have a Peloton from home is not cheap. A stationary bike advertises at a $2,000 range. However, by 2024, the technology of streaming fitness is predicted to be apart of gym cultures for those looking for the benefits at a gym membership price.
Remote Workouts
Apps such as Do You Yoga and BOD allow instant access to various types of workouts. Workout from anywhere and on your schedule by merely opening an app on your smartphone.
Pros: Do You Yoga and BOD have large workout libraries making it easy to change up workout routines as you choose. With the focus on the critical word “remote,” the simple accessibility on one’s own time and place make a complicated schedule less complicated to work in a fitness hour.
Cons: Working out from an app still takes a lot of personal motivation, even though it might have community support opportunities as an amenity. The lack of opportunity to meet a trainer face-to-face and unsought accountability can set many individuals up for fitness failure.
As a certified yoga instructor, Jolene Cherry thinks there are many benefits to being motivated to work out as an individual and to make time for any fitness with the help of technology. However, she points out the importance of technique. If there is no one there to spot technique when doing a remote workout, the workout could be ineffective and even harmful. Cherry suggests seeking out guidance from a trainer to be educated correctly on any new workout practices to get the maximum well-being from a fitness routine.
About Jolene Cherry: Jolene Cherry is a certified and experienced yoga instructor and personal trainer based in Portland, Oregon. Her international training and experience, ranging from Hawaii to Thailand, along with her nurturing one-on-one sessions, have helped propel her to a prominent personal trainer and yoga instructor in the Pacific Northwest. She aims to help her clients reach that balance through physical activity, mindfulness, and healthy nutrition.
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