I’ve never been as fit as when I was boxing regularly.
The combination of the intense, full-body workouts with development of a new skill always made the workouts fun and interesting, and gave me a sense of progression that is always fulfilling.
After getting over the initial soreness, I also felt better than I ever have in my adult life. I noticed the difference in my fitness on a daily basis, whether playing a different sport, or simply walking around.
I was reminded of just how much I love boxing when I tried out the new FightCamp.
What is FightCamp?
FightCamp is a home workout system that brings together boxing equipment, their smart sensors, and a library of content to bring you workouts at home.
This used to be just boxing workouts, but it’s now expanded to strength, weight workouts, kickboxing, stretching, and more. Everything you need to get fit, essentially.
I’ve known the cofounders of FightCamp since the early days, so I’ve had the pleasure of watching their progress, and I wrote an earlier review of the product back in 2019.
Despite being a fan of the people and the company, I’ll try and stay objective for the purposes of this review.
What Do You Get With FightCamp?
FightCamp has made a ton of updates since I last reviewed the product, with the biggest one being the FightCamp console and their new trackers.
The new FightCamp package comes with:
- Standing bag
- Bag ring (to keep it in one position)
- Heart rate monitor
- FightCamp console
And then depending on how many people you build your package for:
- Gloves (set for each person)
- Wraps (set for each person)
- Extra heart rate monitor
- Another set of trackers (for 4 total)
The additional HR monitor, trackers, gloves, and wraps mean that you can also take advantage of another new update: the ability to do partner workouts.
At the time of writing, the FightCamp package is on sale for $799 USD for one person, $999 USD for two people, and so on as you add additional people.
Then the membership is $39 USD per month, which is required to get access to the library of workouts.
The FightCamp Console
The new FightCamp console looks and feels like a premium product, and enables a few things.
First of all, you have a nice place to put your trackers when you’re not using them that will keep them charged. That’s nice, and certainly far nicer than having another thing to remember to charge.
The second is that you can plug it into your TV, and not have to worry about setting up streaming each time. This is big for convenience, and is particularly useful when you have multiple people in your house using FightCamp (anyone can use the console once you have one, unlimited extra accounts are included in the membership).
That said, you can still stream workouts on your phone or tablet if you prefer. The console also allows you to plug in an Ethernet cable if your Wifi isn’t consistent.
Once you’ve set up your console, you put on your wraps, trackers, HR monitor and gloves, and then select a workout:
When you’re in the workout, you’ll see something like this—this one is showing a partner workout—with the trainer in the background guiding you, the round timing, exercise timing & instructions (coast, 1, 2), and your punch metrics.
Once you’re done, you’ll see a workout summary with your output, strikes data, heart rate chart, and stats:
The FightCamp Trackers
I haven’t used the new trackers enough to determine whether they’re improved vs. the last set in terms of accuracy, but I can say that I’ve had 0 issues. They have worked reliably and without issue in tracking my punches.
They look and feel like a much more premium product now, and I appreciate the console and lights on the front showing charge amount.
They also now come with grippy covers to help avoid any slippage, though I haven’t personally had any issues with this (the wraps usually solve this).
I got a set of 4 trackers, and can verify that it’s nice to be able to do partner workouts.
I convinced my dad to join me for a partner workout, which he enjoyed, and that’s something that wouldn’t have been possible before.
Tracking of kicks for kickboxing is also apparently something that is coming in the near future, and I think I’ll enjoy that too. I’ve only ever done one kickboxing workout, but it had the same fun elements as boxing.
The FightCamp Standing Bag
You’ll find lots of debate about bags online.
I will personally say that I prefer a hanging bag to a standing one; they’re more stable and quieter, and having boxed in the past (and being a relatively big person), I would appreciate having a bag that is heavier.
That said, I don’t have anywhere for a hanging bag; I live in an apartment, and I can’t start cutting holes in the ceiling.
Even at my parent’s place, where I first set up the bag, I would be hesitant to install a hanging heavy bag; they require some planning and usually some destruction, and then can’t be moved around easily.
So, all that said, I do think the FightCamp bag is the best you’re going to get for a standing bag. It’s a branded version of a commercially available bag, and will cost you less since it’s rolled into the package.
They also have clear instructions for filling it up, which involves both water and sand, and this gets the weight in the bottom much higher than just water or sand alone.
Since the last time I used them, they’ve also added a rubber mat + ring around the bag on the floor, which prevents it from moving around.
I’d still put some rubber matting or other sound dampening underneath if I was using it in an apartment above someone, but it’s as effective a solution as you’re going to find.
The FightCamp Workouts
The workouts have come a long, long way since I last reviewed FightCamp.
There’s a much wider variety now, offering a huge range of classes from a bunch of different trainers.
There are strength and conditioning workouts, stretching, and more that wasn’t there either.
My favorite feature they’ve added is the “Prospect Path,” which is a guided series of workouts designed to introduce you to FightCamp and boxing, and slowly build fitness. This is the appeal of many of the fitness programs out there for me: not having to think.
They also have a nice series of instructional videos on the boxing aspects themself, which is great for new boxers.
And of course, it’s possible to do the workouts as partner workouts now, which is another great feature.
The FightCamp Community
One of the biggest losses when you compare working out in person to working out with an online service like FightCamp is the sense of community that you build at an in-person gym.
FightCamp has consistently done well at keeping their Facebook community active and integrating features in the app to help inspire that sense of community.
You can challenge your past self in the app, or challenge someone else. I see daily shoutouts and competitions being mentioned in the community, so it’s an active component for those that want it.
And the partner workouts are a great way to get other people in your house involved (which is included in the membership), or to have some friends over for a workout.
What’s Changed Since My Last Review?
Almost too much to mention, to be honest, but I’ll give it a shot.
Many of the things I mentioned in my last review have been improved, which is always awesome to see:
- The app is available on both iOS and Android now
- There’s support for heart rate monitors, and it actually comes with one
- There’s support for sending data to Apple Health
Other Improvements
The overall package: the overall package—bag, trackers, gloves, HR monitor, etc.—has been refined through the years to be a great setup. It’s a premium feel package, with everything you need and nothing you don’t.
Extra trackers: assuming you opt for the second set of trackers, I think the ability to do a partner workout and/or kickboxing is big. Working out together is fun, and if you get others in your household working out that adds a bunch of value. Kickboxing is another skill that you can develop while getting fit.
Workout quality & availability: the workouts are of the highest quality, and full of variety. I’m confident anyone using the product will find a trainer they love, and a wide enough variety of instruction and workouts.
Improvements I’d Like To See
At this point I’ve got very little to say on this front: I think the team has done a great job listening to customers and improving over the years.
I do have a few small things, however:
The first is better integration with third party fitness tracking. I said this in my last review, and they have added support for Apple Health, but I’d like to see support for some other major fitness brands as well, Garmin and Strava being my preference, given I’m already in their ecosystems.
Strava in particular I think could be good from a marketing standpoint, as those workouts get good visibility from others in someone’s Strava social network.
You can set up Apple Health to share directly to Strava, though I don’t tend to do this as it gets complicated tracking which services are uploading to Strava from where.
The second is a small thing, but I couldn’t figure out how to reconnect my HR monitor (which had dropped out mid-workout) during the workout. It’s obviously tough during a boxing workout to do anything on your phone, but being able to pause and access HR monitor settings during the workout would be nice.
The third is a tricky one, and something I’ve dealt with in my own professional life, but I found the documentation online lacking a bit. I think the reason for this is the introduction of the new console, and so some things have changed.
I was wondering exactly how to get my parents set up with FightCamp, so they could do a workout with me, and couldn’t find a clear answer as to whether they needed to create an account, how to invite them, etc.
In the end, they created an account and could see the console and start using it right away, so it turned out to be simple anyway. And I’m sure the documentation will continue to improve with time as they get a chance to update it.
Is FightCamp Worth It?
The final verdict: is FightCamp worth it?
Well, the cost of FightCamp, assuming you get the 1-person package, is going to be ~$799 USD (at time of writing, or $999 USD regular price) + $39/mo for the subscription.
So, ~$1267 USD for the first year, which works out to ~$106/mo. There aren’t many gyms around that offer a membership cheaper than $106/mo, and it’s easy to find gyms that are twice that price, often with caps on the number of classes you can do.
Could you assemble some boxing gear and do YouTube workouts for cheaper? Of course you could, but you’d lose the core value of FightCamp, which is the combination of the workouts with the tracking and data.
When I work out, I want to know that I’m improving. I want to see the stats, and I want to see how I compare to others. That’s the core value of FightCamp.
If you have others in your household that are going to use it, it becomes an even better deal.
I truly don’t think you’ll find a better at-home workout than FightCamp.
