The Supernatural Diaries — Week Two

One part Beat Saber, one part National Geographic, and one part Peloton, Supernatural is a VR workout subscription service aims to provide a more guided, tailored experience for the home exercise enthusiast through coaching, integration with heart rate trackers, and popular music.

Coinciding with the app’s launch (and free 30-day trial) three NoPro staff members — a competitive Beat Saber player (Will Cherry) and two casual players (Noah Nelson and Kathryn Yu) — with Oculus Quest headsets embarked on a fitness journey with the new software.

These are their stories.

READ WEEK ONE

The following will cover May 2nd through May 8th, 2020

DAY EIGHT — MAY 2, 2020

Noah, Session Eight, 6:30 PM

Somewhat by accident I’ve fallen into a routine: two sets somewhere between 5 and 6pm. I haven’t even planned this but it’s the groove I’m in.

Other things are getting routine: I’m getting more moments of flow, but the things that stick out like sore thumbs to be — fast crossover over syncopated beats — still stick out as too “gamey.” So I keep fighting what the visuals tell me in order to work on what the trainers tell me: focusing on drawing my (admittedly prodigious) gut in and twisting my torso for power.

There are moments in some songs where it all clicks, and then it’s back to arm flail city. I see videos online of high scorers pushing through workouts. What I don’t see are people really getting into the squats and lunges and let me tell you: that’s where the burn is.

I’m doing those at the expense of my leaderboard status. I’m worried less about hitting targets than I am with form and power. The good news is my power ranking is going up. I find myself pulling off when my heart rate gets way up there. This is good. This is sane. Thank god for the small gap near the nose that lets enough light in to peek at a heart rate monitor readout. (Although I would very much like that to be in the HUD of Supernatural.)

Speaking of light leak: the silicon cover that was the gift for being any early adopter arrived today. I kitted the Quest out with it and promptly found that while it did an amazing job of being cooler and of creating a great light leak seal that the nose section compressed my nostrils.

One of the great things about the Quest’s design is that it gives a good amount of space for a schnoz, and this cover counteracts that in favor of creating a seal against light. But for a workout you’re going to need to breathe properly.

Luckily scissors exist, and it didn’t take much effort to carve away the nose piece without risking the structural integrity of the cover. Hey: it was free. If WITHIN wants to get some branded versions of these into the overall package, they might want to consider a different form factor. Athletes gotta breathe!

DAY NINE — MAY 3, 2020

Will

I decided not to work out on the eighth day — my new job is leading to some late nights and I’ve become more lethargic on constant < 6 hours of sleep. But the positive to today: I received the sweat-proof liner in the mail!

Supernatural “founders” — those that sign up in this $20/mo trial period — receive a silicone liner for free that prevents sweat buildup on the Quest’s face cushion. Honestly it’s a blessing to have, not only for Supernatural play but for any power-Quest user in general. It feels flush to the face, soft and workable, and blocks out the Quest’s glaring light opening below the nose.

Considering this liner makes the whole trial period more than worth it. It may occasionally get the lenses foggy or slightly stick to my face. But the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. (You can get your own here. No affiliation, I don’t like Amazon, you do you.)

So today is Sunday, and the start of Week 2. I hop into “Girl Power,” which rocks (avg 158 bpm, 191 bpm max). I still have qualms with a few songs and their maps and it actually feels a bit boring at times. The frustration mounts: I know these songs. I know what’s coming. I still can’t hit some targets and get better scores.

I am encountering an issue where previous Beat Saber knowledge is getting in the way of Supernatural performance. Flicks of the wrist can do justice in the former while it’s frowned upon in the latter. Yet I’m discovering that’s the only way to hit some targets. It seems there’s a misfire on Supernatural’s estimation of fluid human movement at high level play, and I really want to see someone crush Titanium with their wrists locked.

Meanwhile, a colleague of mine, Joanna Popper, has opened up a WhatsApp channel for those who want to join the #SupernaturalChallenge journey with us. Feel free to join along and let us know your progress!

Noah, Session Nine, 3pm

Everybody is after “Girl Power” today, and when I check in, I see enough songs I recognize that I’m game. I’m also curious if the maps will be the same/similar to what they are on other iterations of the workouts. Plus the warm up track is Emilie Brandt’s “Mr. Big Shot,” which I’ve been loving and I need to memorize the name of the artist before I leave the headset. I kept remembering the song name, but it’s Nicole Bus’ song of the same name that comes up when you Google the track title.

Why Supernatural doesn’t list the tracks in the phone app, maybe with links to the Spotify/Apple/Google Play versions, I don’t know. Half the fun here is music discovery, and it took concerted effort to draw this knowledge out of the system. If only because I’m wiped at the end of a workout.

“Girl Power” is 26 minutes and the pre-warm up instruction and some of the coaching is convincing me that there really is a disconnect between the beat mapping and the intended physicality. At least on some tracks.

Gaga’s “Bad Romance” is the first full song and it’s chaos chaos chaos. There are sections that flow, and if I’m remembering correcting there was a really great section of side to side lunges (which I managed by swaying through them) that actually felt great to work through.

When flow hits in Supernatural I find myself grounding into my body. Indeed, a week plus into this and my upper back is stronger than it has been in years maybe? My posture is definitely better. My mood is far, far better. Not being woken up by workmen who then use power tools all around you while you try and work from home and you can’t go to a cafe to get things done also helps with the whole mood thing. Still: I am literally carrying myself differently.

Which makes the wrist flick and short strokes that some of the beatmapping calls for extra annoying. I think I’m getting a repetitive stress thing in my lower left arm because last night it hurt to draw it in. So: not great that. But my back is feeling awesome, and it seems like I’m walking around with better posture and a sense that I’m ready for all comers.

Which is the whole point of keeping any routine like this. If nothing else, Supernatural has me convinced that under the right conditions VR fitness is a real option. But the week ahead is going to test that something fierce, because the workmen are back tomorrow, and the stress is bound to build.

Kathryn, Session Six, 8:15pm

I have a vivid memory of standing in the MFA thesis space at school last year, holding an Oculus headset and trying to convince a classmate about the awesomeness of Vader Immortal.

We’re trying to adjust the Rift on another student’s head and it isn’t going so well.

“I don’t think this was made for… black people hair,” admits O.

That’s what is on my mind as I’ve got my new silicon sweat liner installed on my Quest and I’m slicing up a storm in Supernatural… as it slowly starts slipping off and sticking to my face. Halfway through the workout, it’s now crushing my nose. I can’t breathe. I’m miserable.

I pause the workout, yank the liner out of the Quest, and throw it onto the ground. The lenses of my headset have now fogged up and there’s a bead of sweat running down the side of my cheek, distracting me from the music and targets I’m supposed to be hitting.

In my moment of frustration, I flash back to all the VR arcades and festivals I’ve covered these past few years. How it became second nature to assume the headset would be too tight. So I quickly learned how to adjust the headband on most goggles, always right after a volunteer placed it on me. And how the headphones would be too small for my rounder-than-most head and how the headset would almost always fall down on my face due to the low bridge of my nose. I think about the anxiety that my friend experienced going to the VOID for the first time, concerned that the VR goggles would crush her afro. I remember how I appreciated the lone stall in the entire VR trade show that dared to provide a mirror to check one’s appearance knowing how VR can mess up hair and makeup.

Virtual reality is an industry beset with approachability problems, particularly for those who wear glasses, have head or neck injuries, wear head coverings, experience motion sickness, and more. So much of an embodied experience relies upon the design working for different types of bodies; when you design something to fit the “average person” you’ve actually designed it to fit no one, as the Air Force discovered decades ago. The Quest does an admirable job of accommodating more types of users than other headsets, but this sweat liner? I have to wonder if they tested it with more than your typical array of bog standard white males with narrow faces and tall nose bridges.

The low bridge of my Asian-American nose assuredly does not work with this piece of equipment.

So here’s where I’m envisioning my new sweat liner will live: the garbage. (Sidebar: I wonder if it’s recyclable.)

Funnily enough, it’s a metaphor for how I feel after tonight’s Supernatural workout.

DAY TEN — MAY 4, 2020

Noah, Session Ten, 4:30pm

The workout of the day is focused on glutes and I’m just not in the mood. So it’s another round of “Dark Forces.”

I do what feels like a good clip better but according to the app is just a few more points. I suppose whatever I made up for in Gaga’s “Bad Romance” I lost on the Kendrick track.

Is it just me or are the targets riding his lyrics in that and not the beat? I don’t know. It doesn’t work for me, I know that much.

Flow is happening on the others though, but the sweat liner is getting things fogged up. I’m going to need to tinker with the fit. That or maybe invest in something more tailored to me. One day. When there is money again.

I still find myself wanting to customize difficulty, see my heart rate, know how many tracks are left, and take individual tracks for a spin, so I can know the routine.

But the good news is that I look forward to my time in the app. And that push from engagement to attachment is the Holy Grail of immersive tech.

Tomorrow is probably going to be a rest day because of the need to hunt. But maybe I’ll want to blow off some steam when I get back. Depends on how much the grocery store takes out of me.

Will, Session Eight, 8:30pm

Today’s workout was a quick one — “Glutacious.” I appreciate the brevity as I went in after two margaritas (Cinco de Mayo prep).

What a welcome surprise — completely new songs! And these were absolute bangers. These tracks were completely new to me, and I wish I remembered the names so I could find them on Spotify. Oh, showing song names on the mobile app isn’t a feature? Well, never mind, then.

Margarita-fueled angst aside, this workout felt more fitting to what Supernatural aims to be. These songs weren’t Expert Plus-level Beat Saber, but a nice flow of movement to music that reminded me more of a workout than a challenge. The difficulty never really spiked and I can’t complain, actually. It seems like new songs are considering human movement.

Well, somewhat. It feels pretty obvious these tracks weren’t heavily QA-ed, as I’d be jamming through a chorus as a target comes out of nowhere on my opposite side. Some of these transitory points are smashed together and you’ll notice it. Plus, two songs featured targets I never noticed before: targets as just orbs.

I take it these are meant to be like Beat Saber’s “hit in any direction” beats, but I’ll be the devil’s advocate and say if you’re going to test out new features, I hope they’re in the tutorial. With this new addition in mind, I feel like us “founding” members are just paying to be beta testers and QA for WITHIN to test new features and maps. (This monthly write-up feels like free QA for them, I’m sure they know we know.)

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Did today’s beatmaps feel incomplete? Yes. Were they closer to what should feel good to workout to? Also yes. Is the name “Glutacious” fitting for this routine? No, but I love the name.

DAY ELEVEN — MAY 5, 2020

Kathryn, Session Seven, 10:30pm

Am I getting better at Supernatural? Or are the last few workouts simply better mapped? Am I progressing in this journey and learning Supernatural’s visual language better? Or are the folks who make Supernatural making tweaks to the way it feels behind the scenes as our diaries continue? It’s hard to tell and likely a mix of both, I’d say.

I return to working out on the Quest and decide to stack both yesterday’s “Glutacious” and today’s “Let’s Go” on top of one another since the workouts are both short, clocking in around 15 minutes each. Combined with the “Girl Power” playlist earlier this weekend, I’m starting to see the strength of Supernatural’s access to Universal Music’s archives. Over the last few days we’ve gotten to slice targets to Lady Gaga, Lizzo, Jet, the Ramones, Queen, and more. These aren’t the b-sides, they’re the hits. These are songs that you know, and likely can sing along to, unlike the obscure library of originals that comes with Beat Saber (sans add-ons).

The beat mapping for these two workouts is also easier to predict than in previous days; for some of these songs, it finally feels like there’s a natural ebb and flow to how quickly the black and white spheres come at you. I anecdotally count more pauses and places to do a quick rest. Once the chorus or a refrain is about to hit, I see myself doing the same slicing patterns four, five, even six times, getting incrementally better each time, though I continue to sacrifice power for accuracy. Some of the targets just come way too fast to be able to swing all the way out and all the way back like the app wants you to, though I make a good faith effort when I can. And it’s really fun to smash down hard on the targets during a classic like “Blitzkrieg Bop.” I’m feeling pretty good about Supernatural right now, in stark contrast to my previous entry, and looking forward to the May 6 “Retrofit” playlist they’ve promised. It’s going to contain “some classics from the 60s, 70s, & 80s.”

Plus: the coaches seem to have gotten quieter (finally). I rather enjoy some of the surreal generated, not-from-this-Earth surroundings they’re presenting us in “Glutacious.” And I’ve discovered I can see my score and heart rate on the display when I pause using the left Oculus controller between songs.

One other thought occurs to me: perhaps some of the songs we’re digging simply haven’t been released yet by Universal and only exist on the Supernatural app, which is why Google doesn’t know about them yet. The plot thickens…

Noah, Rest Day

Will

So I worked again through Cinco de Mayo festivities until early morning and didn’t get a workout in today. Looks like I will double-up tomorrow.

I also want to take the time to point out some confusion on the social interface of Supernatural. As I was looking into the companion app on my Samsung phone, I noticed some broken connections in the “Find Friend” section and Facebook/Contacts integration. I’m not usually one to integrate the F-book into apps, but this was worth a test. It bore no fruit. Not because I lack friends on the social media giant that play Supernatural on Quest, but because I actually think the feature is broken on Android. Same with contacts. None found, Supernatural? That seems a bit odd.

DAY TWELVE — MAY 6, 2020

Noah, Session Eleven, 4:00pm

Did “Retrofit” just sell me on the next month of Supernatural?

I think it did.

Today’s workout was designed to be low impact/for beginners/for rest day and all I can think is “why wouldn’t I do this one” on any given day when I have the energy at all. There’s a Fleetwood Mac track AND a Stevie Nicks track for goodness sake.

I get my first 100% this time out, and come in with a 99/99 overall. Lots of time in gentle squat/stretches. I could easily take on a harder version of this because I know the songs, and if the Supernatural pattern carries on I bet we’ll get a dynamic difficulty version of this at some point. I really can’t stress enough how familiarity with the songs makes a difference.

Leanne is the coach this time out, and the verbal guidance is firming up my conclusions about my overall approach. Having this set to work on form and flow boosted my confidence in my second playlist of the day: “Let’s Go.”

In that one I maxed out my heart rate and had to pull back for big chunks of songs. That set had more songs I knew than I didn’t, but that shift from the familiar to the unfamiliar is enough to really stall the physicality and contrasts hard with “Retrofit” where I felt like I was doing rhythmic gymnastics routines.

I was too wiped later in the day to come back in, but I was tempted by the idea of taking “Retrofit” for another spin.

Will

I lied. I couldn’t get to my workout today for two reasons:

• I hosted my weekly XR Social Club on my Quest for an hour, and that chewed the last of my battery.
• I’m so exhausted from late nights my body isn’t prepared for the beating.

Remember folks: proper rest is important to fitness. Eight hours of sleep a night is a requirement, not a goal. With rest replenished, I will triple my workout tomorrow for a full-fledged blast to the system and see how I fare.

DAY THIRTEEN — MAY 7, 2020

Will, Session Nine, 8AM

I woke up bright and early today to get three workouts in… but that’s just not how it went.

Backtracking to Tuesday, I fired off the 15-min set without issue. My power rating was lower today, and I’ve almost stopped caring about it. Not because I “care more about the workout,” but because I’ve given up trying to figure out what “hitting with power” means mechanically at high levels of difficulty.

I took a five minute break, and then decided to run today’s workout, labelled as “Hard.” It was a breeze through the first few songs, but every time the next one started to load, it would take longer and longer to appear. By mid-way through, I began to get text at the bottom of the screen saying “Song Title — Artist Name,” followed by an error message.

Normally, I’m not upset when this happens. Supernatural doesn’t want songs stored locally on your device, that’s fine. They want to stream songs instead, totally cool with me. But what do I do when a song fails to load and you leave me there with no way to retry streaming it or return to the menu? Come on, guys. Have you ever had your actual workout interrupted before? It’s a garbage feeling. We can tell our real-life trainers to try and remember a workout again — make your software do that.

Kathryn, Session Eight, 5pm

A big change over the last two days appears to be the emergence of explicitly labeled “Low” and “High” intensity workouts. Perhaps in response to user feedback that we’d like to choose our own difficulty levels? However, if you’re an avid Supernatural user and fitness geek counting on a brand new “hard” workout everyday to truly challenge you, I can see being disappointed when a “low impact” workout is the only new workout of the day.

Keeping on the trend this week, having familiar music in the “Retrofit” workout is a nice change of pace. As is the slower pace. I spend the workout focusing on really slicing the targets as hard as I can and get rewarded with a “Diamond” level achievement at the end. I suppose this is the level above triple Platinum? I don’t quite understand.

But doing “Retrofit” on it’s own doesn’t feel like quite enough of an effort. Unfortunately, today’s offering of “Out There” (a “high level intensity” workout) seems daunting after having already spent 20 minutes in Supernatural. I decide to compromise and do a shorter, dynamic difficulty workout from a few weeks ago. By the end, I feel pretty accomplished.

The other good news is that I didn’t have any difficulties streaming music, so perhaps the team fixed whatever was plaguing Will at the start of the day.

Noah, Session Twelve, 6PM

The workmen have advanced to my side of the building. Oh, yes. All the problems from last week were at a distance. Now they’re at my windows and there’s old paint dust — old enough that it’s probably lead paint, which explains why the windows are the color of rust — leaking into my apartment.

So not exactly great conditions and while I’m not having trouble breathing, exactly, I am experiencing a stuffy head. Which is wonderful to be experiencing when respiratory distress is one of the symptoms of the plague currently ravaging the world. Suffice it to say: my landlord isn’t getting any courtesy from me from here on out.

I only have enough juice in me to do “Retrofit,” and I like it even more than the first time. Plus: I discover that “Diamond” is a ranking. Who knew? Not me! I miss getting 100% on two tracks by missing a beat. I’m gonna work on “Retrofit” until I can ace it. And while I don’t get as much cardio, I feel like I can work my form and my core better.

Will, Session Ten, 11:20PM

I returned to Supernatural to finish what I said I’d do — three workouts total. Only when I put on my Quest, the app was… missing? Not even in my library!

After looking further on my Oculus phone app, it shows I didn’t download it. So I re-download, and it’s instantaneous. Presumably it was there all along, and my files are intact. Whatever happened here was odd.

I jumped in for two workouts, the one that failed this morning and “Retrofit.” I broke the 98% Power barrier for a song in “Retrofit,” but then also as lower than normal. Not understanding what it takes to improve in this category is frustrating beyond measure.

My girlfriend told me every time she walked in the room, I was either sighing or grunting of frustration. When I miss a target because tracking fails, it just hurts. Not really a fault on WITHIN for this one; the Quest just isn’t perfect when you want to do the movements Supernatural asks you to do.

DAY FOURTEEN — MAY 8, 2020

Noah, Session Thirteen, 6PM

Conditions here still not ideal, but I’ve got pent up energy despite spending much of the day feeling like there’s not enough airflow in the apartment since I have to keep all the windows sealed.

With that extra energy I decide to tackle something harder than “Retrofit” — although it’s nice to have a baseline — I think about “Let’s Go” but I don’t want to tackle those new songs. I think about “Dark Forces,” but Gaga will kill me at the end. So let’s put Gaga up front with “Girl Power.”

My form is much, much better. My accuracy and power are cranking upwards. I’m starting to feel like I’m mastering some of this. I still conk out a few songs in; my heart is in the red, so I don’t feel bad. Having the heart monitor to let me know that yes, I’ve been pushing it, that’s not just in my head really helps get a handle on my own limits.

I honestly feel less in shape than I did at this time last week, and I know much of that is from the stress eating that’s accompanying the whole workmen thing. Living in a fishbowl with not enough oxygen and construction particulates is not conducive to mental or physical health. What sucks is it also gives me cover to not push myself/clean up my diet. Because if I did that right now it would break me mentally, and I’m close enough to that as it is.

But this process is making me want to honor the physical effort I’m putting in and not undermine it through sweet, sweet carbs.

Will, Session Eleven

I’m losing interest. I’ll be honest.

Supernatural offers a lot on the fitness front, and I agree it bests Beat Saber in getting me moving. But the little things: un-QA’d maps, loading issues, “curated” limited playlists, and more minutia just frustrate me.

There’s no denying Beat Saber gets similar complaints. I’ve openly cursed during gameplay when I thought tracking was slow, or my hits didn’t register when I swore they did. But I always return, and blame myself (or hardware) over the game’s design. Their colliders, swing calculations, mapping and “forgiveness” values better interpret what I as a player intend my actions to be over what my actions actually are. This is a core principle of interactive design.

Beat Games gave a lot more thought to these nuances of the gameplay over the look. Supernatural went with the inverse.

Is that bad? Not necessarily. But I think we will see players begin to enjoy the feel of Beat Saber more than Supernatural over time — whether or not their favorite songs are included.

I fired off today’s session and just felt frustrated. I got a workout, but didn’t feel good. Maybe it was the playlist choice, or the maps made on the up-beat. Or the loss of tracking. Or the 5-minute song loading screen I had to leave the app to reset. Regardless, I wasn’t having the best time.

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