Black Box VR Delivers World's First Virtual Reality Gym Experience

Black Box VR uses the latest insights in fitness, gaming and technology to offer users the world's first VR gym experience.

Black Box VR combines virtual reality and elements of gaming with high intensity cardio and resistance training to immerse users in new experiences that help create lasting change in their lives. The platform offers the world's first virtual reality gym experience, combining the physical and virtual worlds to keep members motivated and to make their workouts go faster. Members can simply walk into the Black Box gym with a custom fitness headset to be immersed in full-body workouts.

Black Box VR allows gym goers to play different games instead of simply doing the same routine workouts every day, enabling them to take their functional training into fictional worlds. Members can, for instance, work out to save a city or find treasure and feel the resistance of virtual objects in the physical world while using their body as the controller. The real strength-building resistance is delivered using an integrated cable pulley system which is controlled by the Black Box virtual reality engine.

The games help players improve their strength, speed and endurance and players’ performance is rewarded immediately in the virtual world. Each training session automatically helps members reach their fitness goals. The platform tracks performance data and uses it to refine the speed, resistance and intensity based on the users' goals and progress. Only three 30-minute workout sessions a week will deliver results, increasing members' strength and endurance and shaping their body in the process.

The system includes machine learning modules, allowing users to get maximized fitness results from their workouts and reduce the risk of injury. Each minute of the workout session is optimized through artificial intelligence and adaptive workout prescription.

Black Box VR gyms will include multiple rooms with the latest VR fitness equipment, including treadmills, spin bikes and other cardio machines. Room-scale group classes will also be part of the experience.

Black Box VR was founded in 2016 by former Bodybuilding.com CEO Ryan DeLuca and Bodybuilding.com Creative Director Preston Lewis. The company's mission is to create innovative products and unique experiences that motivate people to reach their health and fitness goals. Based in Boise, Idaho, the company has developed a platform based on decades of research in the areas of exercise science and behaviour change to encourage users to consistently follow their fitness programs and routines in order to reach their personal fitness goals.

DeLuca told us "Running Bodybuilding.com for 17 years taught me that the biggest threat to a person's fitness goals was their couch. The secret to success is simply doing what you know you should do, consistently, for years, but it's extremely difficult to actually do it. We founded Black Box VR to create an addictive workout experience that you won't want to skip. Virtual reality makes it possible for the first time in history."

Commenting on the mission of the company, Lewis said: “We are big believers in the ability of technology and emerging platforms to change people's lives. Virtual reality, combined with our patent pending resistance training system, and the right game experience will push people to stick to their goals and will usher in a fitness revolution like never before. The dumbbell has remained largely unchanged for centuries, you’re essentially just lifting rocks and putting them down as you stare in a mirror, bored out of your mind. At Black Box VR we are excited to use these innovative technologies and unique experiences to help people achieve the results they desire, finally."

Watch the teaser for the Black Box VR gym below.