30 Te Good Life Health, fitness & specialist clinics Gamified fitness


From immersive VR workouts to gamified settings on your exercise bikes, we look at how home fitness is venturing out of this world. Words: Jennifer Barton


called exergaming, or active video gaming) is here, combining fun, novelty and cardio. Some exergames have been built into fitness equipment, such as Peloton’s new Lanebreak feature, which uses the bike’s resistance knob as a ‘wheel’ to turn an avatar. Others are available through fitness games accessed with an Oculus Quest virtual reality (VR) headset, which, at less than £300, now costs less than most home fitness equipment. Research into gamified VR


I


workouts shows exercising with certain games in VR burns more calories than a standard gym session — but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to potential benefits.


Different types of gamified fitness Getting stats while you work out also appeals, as users of Peloton’s Lanebreak game have discovered. According to David Packles, senior director of product at Peloton, “Lanebreak provides real-time, interactive feedback on performance during the workout” — something you don’t get in the bike’s instructor-led rides. Leanne Pedante, head of fitness at


PHOTOGRAPH: GETTY


VR workout app Supernatural, says the ability to modify your workout to suit your needs is at the core of the app experience. Supernatural is a coach-led fitness game, which immerses users in stunning, photorealistic 360-degree view wonders, from the Great Wall of China to Machu Picchu. You’ll spot birds flying overhead and rivers trickling nearby as you smash targets and


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f only we could do our daily yoga session on the moon, or turn an at-home cycle ride into an arcade experience?


Good news: gamified fitness (also


duck flying objects in Rhythmic Flow and Boxing workouts, set to music from Lizzo to the Rolling Stones to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and Disney’s Encanto soundtrack. “You’re not surrounded by


mirrors and competition or a fear of judgement,” says Leanne. “Tere’s this freedom to move powerfully, to have evidence that you’re an athlete who moves powerfully, without any of the self-consciousness that might come if you’re standing in a traditional studio,” Leanne explains, likening a Supernatural workout to a “moving meditation”. Te VR headset and controllers require users to be fully present for the duration of their workout.


The future Ensuring a strong social connection and ‘we’re in this together’ mentality is key to staying committed to a type of exercise, notes Professor Andrew Lane, a sports and exercise psychologist at CHHP London. And this is something these gamified workouts are trying to incorporate. But he stresses that gamified workouts shouldn’t replace being in nature, which has a positive impact on wellbeing. “I think they just need to come


with an education programme to help people use them in the best way possible,” he says. After so long spent cooped up


inside, it’s no wonder we’re craving something sublime in the everyday, especially as we work up a sweat. “When a song changes and the environment fades back up, you’re standing on Mount Everest with this huge mountain in front of you. I gasp audibly because it’s just overwhelming,” says Leanne.


the NHS and private hospitals, Mr El Gammal’s practice is dedicated to his private patients at the most pres- tigious hospitals and clinics at Te Harley Street Clinic & LOC (Leaders in Oncology Care), Te Cadogan Clinic (Sloan Square), Te London Welbeck Hospital and New Victoria hospitals, among other clinic locations. He prides himself on patient-cen-


tred care that’s personalised to the patient’s individual needs using a holistic approach, which follows the patient through every stage of treat- ment. Tis is an evidence-based prac- tice that’s designed with maximum safety and effectiveness in mind.


The best care from diagnosis to recovery O


Mr Mohsen El Gammal is a leading consultant oncoplastic, reconstructive and aesthetic breast surgeon


n top of his professional career and more than 30 years of unrivalled experience in


Mr El Gammal is highly qualified


with more than 25 years of expe- rience solely dedicated to breast surgery and breast reconstructive surgery. He has an MBBCh from the University of Cairo, a postgraduate diploma in Cancer Studies from Plymouth University and a postgrad- uate diploma in Microvascular Breast Reconstruction


from Universitat


Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB). Furthermore, he has a FEBS in Breast Surgery from the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). In addition to Mr El Gammal’s


career and academic achievements — which include being a leading name in sentinel lymph node and radio-guided breast surgery in the UK as well as Europe — he has top academic and clinical research experience. He was


an Associate


Professor of Surgery at the University of Kalamoon in Syria, has had his research published in numerous well-respected, peer-reviewed jour- nals, and is a noted speaker in his field of expertise. Mr El Gammal is a fellow of


the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the European Board of Surgery/Breast Surgery. He’s also a member of the Association of Breast Surgery (ABS), British Association of Cancer Surgery (BASO) and the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO), alongside the British Medical Association (BMA).


Mr El Gammal offers face-to-face as well as online consultations. If you’re interested in booking a consultation with him, you can do so via his profile on Top Doctors: topdoctors.co.uk/doctor/mohsen-el-gammal or by calling 020 3878 4872 or by contacting his PA, Megan Baker, on E: megan@medicalsecsev.co.uk or T: 01634 393071


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