Moving up to higher intensity workouts can be overwhelming at first when it seems like targets are flying all over the place and there’s no way to keep up. But the higher intensity workouts come with their own benefits. Besides the extra sweat and movement, there is a “flow” that you can get into that is almost meditative. Where you are swinging at the targets almost without thinking about it at all.  It isn’t necessary to play at the higher levels to get good exercise, but if you’d like to try, here are some tips for making it happen.

First, get comfortable with the level of intensity you are currently at, and over time you’ll be ready to try a faster workout.

Repetition builds muscle memory and makes it easier, and once you’ve mastered one level, the next will come more easily.  Don’t worry about your score (we know, this one is easier said than done), just work on smooth full-body movements and don’t worry about missing targets.

Even though we do mostly H workouts we still like to do them a few times in a row as the repetition gets the pattern into muscle memory and the next tries are usually better and more fun than the first! Try a workout a few times, and you’ll become a pro at that one in no time!

You can skip a warm-up or cool-down. Wait until the warm-up or cool-down has started, then press the left Oculus menu button (It’s the one that is slightly depressed, not sticking up). Alongside options to Resume the workout or End it, you’ll also see an option to skip the warm-up or cool-down (pro tip: if you’re focused on increasing your points, skipping the warm-up can give you fewer total points for that workout).

Increasing power scores can be a frustrating challenge for some users. Here are some tips that can help.

• Hit the targets with full-body motion originating from your core.
  • Think about your arms as an extension of your core and move from your core, not the shoulders or elbows.
  • You should experience the additional benefit of tightening up those muscles which help you in so many other ways.
• Aim at the tip of the targets and swing all the way through them.
  • Accuracy seems to be part of the power score calculation as well and this is a tip we hear from the coaches often.
• Use your legs to increase your power.
  • We’ve had success with this ourselves. If you stay in your squat position after a triangle and then push up with your legs when the upward swinging targets come you get the benefit of the extra velocity that comes with that.
• Pay attention to the angle of the targets.
  • As a follow-up to the accuracy being part of the power score… You get credit for hitting the targets even if you don’t get the angle correct, but it’s been said that the accuracy of those swings to the direction of the target is also part of the power score calculation.

That being said, these things sometimes still don’t get you the powerscores you’re looking for. This can create an urge to swing like your life depended on it in some. Be careful if you do this, as you may sacrifice form to do this and increase risk of injury.

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How do you know you hit a target with power? Three ways:

• Listen for a louder burst. In your settings, you can turn up the sound effects all the way to better hear your hits.
  • Personally, I turn my sound effects all the way up and the music down a little and the coaches down a little more. As an experiment, try setting the music low and the coaches as low as you can. (You can always change the settings) Then play and see how it works. For me, it accentuates the feeling I get sometimes like I’m playing the drums to the music. It’s a personal preference thing. Play with it and see what works best for you.
• Look for colored sparks after the hit. Power hits produce sparks with bright colors.
• Look for a shockwave off in the distance. If you see a circle that looks like a smoke ring, moving off in the direction of your hit, you’ve hit with power.

Frustrated with your power scores?

You are not alone. It is a common complaint about this program that in almost every other way is stellar. We’ve observed this part of the program for the last year and our conclusion is that the devs are really doing their best to have a number that gives you something to strive for. So they adjust the score over an average of workouts (the number suggested was 20) and try to give you a number that shows improvement. If you get 100% every time, there’s nowhere to go from there.

This is not an easy thing to do and I’m certain they are aware and are looking at ways to improve it.

One suggestion, and it’s only our personal opinion, not necessarily the right one, is to use that score sort of as a gauge, but not to get frustrated when it isn’t what you think it should be. You can injure yourself trying to swing too hard and that just defeats the purpose of the app.

I’ve been playing for a year and every once in a while I get a Diamond. I’m happy when it happens, but mostly as long as I’m in the 90’s I’m happy. And I fairly often, especially on the H level ones that I love the most will get lower scores. If I’m sweating and I am smiling, I look at the power score and literally LOL. I’m accomplishing my goals of weight loss, muscle building, increased energy and overall am much healthier, score be damned!…But that’s just me. You do you. 🙂

Keep swinging those bats! 

What do you do with all those triangles flying at you in fast succession? When you get a “tunnel” of triangles try to follow it by keeping your head under the peak of them and follow the flow.