Step counter and beat saber.

[Snarkingjay]

So I have started playing beat saber which is a really fun game. I have no doubt I do take a lot of steps as you do side step, bend(or squat) move to the side and have your arms moving like crazy.

I noticed it counts after as, "aerobics" I'm wondering if the step count is accurate or if I'm cheating myself. I know there has been a number of topics on dancing which is similar, but I've never really seen it resolved as to whether it's over counting or if it is fair game because of how active you are whole your arms are moving all over the place.. any ideas ?

[WavyDavey · Accepted solution]

Hi @Snarkingjay,

Thanks for posting, I'd never heard of that game before, so I learned something today. 🙂

The steps that Fitbit counts are based on arm motion, and how that compares to natural arm motions of walking and running. There's no real way to gauge step accuracy with an activity like Beat Saber, because the arm motions aren't exactly what they'd be with walking. So it may over-count, or under-count. Same with things like dancing or even hair-dressing.

You didn't mention which model of Fitbit you have, but if it has heart rate monitoring, I find that is a better thing to look at to measure levels of exertion. Because it's measuring heart rate (and calories burned from that), it will give a clearer picture of how hard your body is working during the game. Hope this helps.

[Snarkingjay]

The Ionic does track heart motion. It counted it as an, "aerobic exercise" which is part of why I got curious as to how accurate it might be. 

I guess there is no sense sweating it if 2 hours of walking would give me 8k 2 hours of this gives me 8k and my heart rate is similar either way.

[WavyDavey]

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@Snarkingjay wrote:

I guess there is no sense sweating it if 2 hours of walking would give me 8k 2 hours of this gives me 8k and my heart rate is similar either way.

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Exactly correct. The steps may be different, but the heart is getting a workout regardless.

[Hylomorphic]

Anything involving VR with hand controls--the Oculus Rift's Touch controller or the HTC Vive's wands--will cause extra steps to be counted. 

It's not really cheating, though, because most VR games count as at least light aerobics.

If you want to step up your game, though, there are some VR games which provide some seriously intense cardio workouts. Thrill of the Fight and Soundboxing provide some of the hardest workouts, but you can find other games. Beat Saber will definitely get you moving, but it's best on the higher difficulty levels.

[SimonEllershaw]

Get it on Expert.  I nearly passed out after a couple of goes

[JPCuellarM]

Hello, what VR games do you recommend for cardio?

[LLCoolerJ]

BEAT Saber is excellent if you work on a high enough level to keep your heart level up.  And it's fun!   I would imagine Tennis would be good too.

[Jules3m]

Fitbit records my Beatsaber VR game play as swimming. I wish fitbit had a VR option.

[Jules3m]

My beatsaber vr play records as swimming on my fitbit. I wish I could change it,  or have a vr option.

[RiekoC]

Hello @Jules3m 

You might want to consider manually starting & stopping your Beat Saber sessions as "Workout".  I believe you should be able to edit the name of the completed activity in the Fitbit app. There was a bug that prevented us from renaming completed workouts. It's currently partially fixed and should work if you use "Workout".

[Jules3m]

Thank you. I'll try that