Mixed Reality Smart Fitness: Rethinking Personal Training for the Virtual Age

A Global Smart Lab Innovation

At the Global Smart Lab, we’re exploring how immersive technologies can improve lives—not just entertain or educate, but transform. We’re currently developing a new kind of fitness experience: a Mixed Reality Smart Fitness Platform that combines Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and motion capture into one adaptable and inclusive system.

This isn’t just about exercise. It’s about access, inclusion, and connection. Our aim is to reimagine what personal training could look like for people who can’t—or choose not to—go to the gym. Whether due to physical limitations, lifestyle constraints, or personal preference, this platform is being built to offer a professional, personalized, and empowering fitness experience from anywhere.

Why We’re Building It

The online fitness industry is growing rapidly—expected to surpass £250 billion by 2032. But most digital fitness offerings today fall into two broad categories:

  1. Gamified fitness (like AR boxing or VR dance games)
  2. Pre-recorded trainer sessions (essentially exercise videos with avatars)

Neither of these fully captures what a real personal trainer provides: real-time feedback, emotional support, and customized training that adapts to the person in front of them. That’s the gap we’re addressing.

What We’re Creating

We’re in the design and build stage of a virtual personal training system that can adapt to each user’s body, goals, and level. The platform will include:

  • A motion-captured library of inclusive exercises, featuring real coaches across a range of body types, mobility levels, and identities.
  • Real-time motion analysis to assess and correct user form.
  • A virtual trainer that offers both technical guidance and emotional support.
  • A user interface that tracks muscle engagement, performance, and progress while maintaining VR comfort.

We’ve paid particular attention to UX design, ensuring the platform is usable for a wide range of users and minimizing issues like motion sickness through a carefully structured “UI comfort zone.”

Our Research and Design Approach

This platform is being shaped by extensive research. So far, we’ve carried out:

  • 26 interviews with potential users
  • 4 focus groups with personal trainers
  • 6 in-person training observations

These insights have directly influenced the UX workflow and training customization engine. The system is being designed to dynamically build workouts using exercises from our motion-capture library, including standard, progression, and regression options to suit different needs.

You can view a demo of the early-stage platform here:
Watch the Vimeo Demo

Designed for Inclusion

From the start, we’ve prioritized accessibility and inclusivity. Every aspect of the platform—from exercise selection to trainer representation—reflects a commitment to meeting users where they are. Whether someone is new to exercise, managing a health condition, aging in place, or seeking alternatives to traditional gyms, our goal is to make fitness feel welcoming, empowering, and achievable.

What’s Next?

We’re currently building and testing the platform, with future stages focused on:

  • Expanding the motion-capture library
  • Enhancing real-time feedback algorithms
  • Exploring clinical and therapeutic applications
  • Establishing partnerships for pilots and trials

This work is currently unpublished and in active development. If you’re interested in collaborating, participating in testing, or helping shape the next phase of development, we’d love to connect.