Leanne Pedante has been my fitness coach for the better part of three years. She’s regaled stories of embarrassing fashion choices as we flailed our arms to riveting pop-punk, helped keep me in form during boxing sessions and delivered inspiring, uplifting words of wisdom as we barreled through Queen’s greatest hits. The thing is, I’d never met her until just a few months ago.
Pedante is the head of fitness for Supernatural, a virtual reality fitness app for the Meta Quest series that makes high-intensity exercise feel like a legitimately fun video game — one that’s gotten myself and countless others to truly fall in love with working out for the first time. Her voice is one of several you’ll hear when engaging with the app’s movement-based and boxing workouts, creating a connection between player and coach that I imagine isn’t all that different from what platforms like Peloton and Echelon use to keep their devoted trainees coming back.
I recently got the chance to catch up with Pedante, who’s just as energetic and warm in real life as she is in the virtual world. Here’s what I learned about her personal fitness journey, her thoughts on the new Meta Quest 3 and her everyday essentials that help make life better — both in and out of VR.
An unexpected fitness journey
Despite being the literal head of fitness for a major app — not to mention a founding member of such initiatives as Stride Treadmill Studio and Global Running Day Pasadena — Pedante says she wasn’t always much of an exercise person.
“I think that’s one of my superpowers,” Pedante, a self-proclaimed “band geek” who started out her career as a graphic designer, says. “I’ve spent a large part of my life not feeling like an athlete. And I know what it’s like to personally go through that conversion and start to feel strong and start to really like the feeling of moving.”
After living with depression and later an eating disorder in her late teens, Pedante found herself starting to exercise in a “very compulsive and scary way.” After seeking treatment, she feared returning to working out would mean going back to a dark place — until a step aerobics class at a YMCA gave her a new perspective.
“It was so different from what I had experienced,” Pedante says. “It was like people were feeling joyful and it wasn’t about punishing yourself; it was about celebration, and there’s all kinds of bodies and all kinds of ages, and it just felt like a party.”
This newfound passion for celebratory, inclusive and group-based exercise led to Pedante providing one-on-one classes for folks on a similar recovery journey — and later made her a perfect fit for Supernatural as the team was prepping for its launch in 2019.
Pedante has been heading up Supernatural’s fitness programming ever since, helping with everything from music and movement selections to managing the program’s coaching staff (all of whom are rock stars to the app’s devout Facebook community, with some interacting with fans quite often).
“A big question of [my clients] was always like, ‘Where can we work out that doesn’t have any mirrors?’ And that was a really hard thing to find,” Pedante says. “So when I first tried Supernatural, the first thing that I recognized was that this was the first workout I’ve ever done where not only am I not around mirrors, but I can’t even see my own body. When I experienced it, I was like, ‘Oh, this is actually the key to moving in this way that is so powerful and so empowering and freeing for people.’”
Meta Quest 3 or 2?
The Meta Quest 3 is our favorite overall VR headset, with excellent overall performance and full-color passthrough for immersive mixed-reality experiences.
While not as powerful or sleek as the new model, the Quest 2 remains an excellent value for those looking to get into VR gaming and exercise.
Considering that Supernatural lives exclusively on Meta’s Quest headsets (Meta acquired the app’s parent company, Within, in 2023), I was eager to hear Pedante’s thoughts on the new $499 Quest 3. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of the features that make the Quest 3 our best VR headset pick also make it a great workout device from a fitness professional’s point of view.
“There’s a level of clarity that I think is pretty noticeable when you move from one of the prior generations,” Pedante says. “I love that the controllers are a little more slim. Especially for boxing, I find that I feel more like I can move with just my fist clenched as opposed to feeling like I’m holding an object. I’m less likely to hit myself in the face, which I love.”
That said, if you can live without the Quest 3’s mixed-reality capabilities, sleeker looks and stronger overall performance, the $300 Meta Quest 2 remains a great value for folks looking to dip their toe into VR for the first time, especially since it has access to the same great library of VR games and apps as the newer model. That’s something that Pedante was quick to point out.
“I’m really happy that the [Quest 2] is still on the market and at the price point that it’s at, because, to me, as many barriers to entry as can be broken down for VR fitness as possible is a win for everyone,” she says.?“I have lots of friends who I think have been on the fence about buying a Quest over the past couple years and who finally committed to get the [Quest] 2 once the price dropped.”
Leanne Pedante’s everyday essentials
"When people ask how they can start working out with me in VR, I can just send them to our bundles, which offer a reduced-price subscription to Supernatural, plus a Quest 2 or 3 headset," Pedante says. "It's a perfect gift or a one-stop shop for folks ready to work out like they never have before."
"I use this mat anytime I’m working out in Supernatural in a small space, like a hotel room or bedroom," Pedante says. "The circular shape and the texture of the mat let me feel confident that my feet are staying centered, allowing me to punch and strike with confidence that I won’t hit anything but targets."
"I’ve always kept a journal and have a slight obsession with finding the perfect ballpoint pen. My search for the holy grail of pens is still ongoing, but I have found my favorite journal," Pedante says. "This brand has a flexible cover, which means you can fold it in on itself like a spiral notebook. The pages never fall out, and it's small enough that I can pop it into any bag. I think I’m about to fill up my fifth one of these — they're the best."
"I finally got serious about wearing sunscreen when I moved from the east coast to Los Angeles about 10 years ago. But I struggled to find one that I could wear every day — they would either leave a pasty-white cast on my skin, be overly greasy or come off in flaky clumps once I started to break a sweat," Pedante says. "My friend and skin care guru Christy Puente of Timeless Aesthetics finally showed me the Skinbetter Tone Smart sunscreen. It has a tone-adapting tint, so it's flattering on most people, and it feels good on my skin, even on days when I’m getting sweaty."
"Growing up, I was that constantly shoeless kid, running around on asphalt barefoot. I like feeling the ground under my feet," Pedante says. "While I still use cushioned sneakers when running, I wear these Vivobarefoot shoes when I’m lifting weights and doing Supernatural workouts. The wide toe box prevents your toes from getting scrunched up, and I can better control and transfer my body weight when I can sense the ground under me."
"'Bird by Bird' is one of those books that I keep extra copies of, knowing that I will want to gift it to someone sooner or later," Pedante says. "Even though it's technically a book about writing, it's also a book about making friends with your self-doubt, and laughing off your perfectionist tendencies and grief and joy and life. The honesty and levity that Anne Lamott writes with feels like a hug to me, so I always keep a copy of this to give out to someone I think might enjoy it."
"I have probably bought hundreds of ChapSticks and lip balms in my time on this earth, and this is, by far, my favorite," Pedante says. "I always have two in my bag and two extra at home for when I lose those."
"Earlier this year I strained a muscle in my upper back and was having the hardest time foam rolling it or reaching it with Icy Hot," Pedante says. "Someone gave me this Venom Go and it was a lifesaver. It heats up or uses percussive massage, and it sticks to your skin, so it was perfect for the hard-to-reach spot. I love that it's rechargeable so that I can always have it at the ready."
"I can’t believe how much joy I’ve gotten from my hummingbird feeder," Pedante says. "When I first put it up, I thought maybe I would see a few throughout the year. Instead, I have a handful of very territorial hummingbirds who camp out around it all day. My current feeder sits outside of my kitchen window and is dominated by one bossy hummingbird who I’ve named Genivieve after my grandmother, who was also tough as nails. Hummingbirds were not part of the landscape where I grew up, and it still feels like a bit of magic when I see them here in LA."
