ExerCube vs. Personal Trainer

TLDR

Current playful fitness solutions are either game‑first or fitness‑first, and most lack a holistic focus on attractiveness and effectiveness across body, controller, and game scenario. The study aims to design an adaptive fitness game (ExerCube) as a proof‑of‑concept and to outline future research directions for holistic fitness game setups. The authors evaluated participants' multi‑sensory and bodily experiences using non‑adaptive and adaptive ExerCube versions and compared them with personal training. The ExerCube matches personal training in flow, enjoyment, and motivation, but differs in perceived exertion, movement quality, social factors, feedback, and audio experiences.

Abstract

Today's spectrum of playful fitness solutions features systems that are clearly game-first or fitness-first in design; hardly any sufficiently incorporate both areas. Consequently, existing applications and evaluations often lack in focus on attractiveness and effectiveness, which should be addressed on the levels of body, controller, and game scenario following a holistic design approach. To contribute to this topic and as a proof-of-concept, we designed the ExerCube, an adaptive fitness game setup. We evaluated participants' multi-sensory and bodily experiences with a non-adaptive and an adaptive ExerCube version and compared them with personal training to reveal insights to inform the next iteration of the ExerCube. Regarding flow, enjoyment and motivation, the ExerCube is on par with personal training. Results further reveal differences in perception of exertion, types and quality of movement, social factors, feedback, and audio experiences. Finally, we derive considerations for future research and development directions in holistic fitness game setups.