6 best boxing fitness trackers
Make the most of your training and hit goals faster with these wearables
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Your support makes all the difference.Anyone who’s ever stepped into a ring for a three-minute round will tell you boxers have to be super fit. So it’s no surprise that cardio boxing and boxfit workouts, with their Rocky-inspired fitness drills, are growing in popularity. And whether you’re smashing seven bells out of a heavy bag to get lean or you’re working the pads to become the next Anthony Joshua, there are a range of new punch trackers that can help.
These boxing specific trackers use motion sensors to keep tabs on everything from punch speed and power, to how long you can keep up the workrate before you tire. Some are geared towards general cardio boxing while others are serious tools that cater for people with more ambitious aspirations in the ring.
Before you invest in a tracker you’ll want to consider which stats they track, whether they offer real-time feedback, coached sessions and video tutorials, and also what third party sensors – such as heart rate monitors – you can pair to improve your training insights.
Another major consideration is how they’re worn. Most of the sensors are held in place either under proper boxing wraps (so you’ll need to know how to do this), or they come with velcro straps that are easier to use and more applicable for your general gym classes. Some offer both.
The weight and size of the pods is also important as this affects how comfortable they are when worn on the wrist, and of course you’ll want to consider how much fight time you get from the battery.
With all that in mind we spent a month testing the very latest boxing trackers, with a range of drills that includes bag work, sparring and shadow boxing. We looked at what they tracked, the in-app features, comfort and battery life and then picked the best pound for pound boxing tracker you can buy right now.
Corner Boxing Tracker: £89.99, Corner
Battery life: 7 hours
Weight: 10g per sensor
Straps or wraps: Both
Android/iOS: Both
One of the lightest and most compact trackers, this is just as at home in a proper boxing gym as it is a boxing fitness class, Corner’s two sensors can be worn two ways. They sit comfortably under boxing wraps or in the supplied straps. They track an impressive range of stats including punch rate, punch type, speed and power, along with total punches, combinations and workrate. All of the data is fired in real time to a very easy to use partner app with colour-coded graphics that make it easy to follow your performance as you workout out.
Clever features like auto round detection and tap gloves to to start help to bypass some of the obvious problems that come with trying to control a smartphone while wearing boxing gloves.
Hykso Tracker: £174.99, Hykso
Battery life: 10 hours
Weight: 5.75g
Straps or wraps: Wraps
Android/iOS: Both
Worn under boxing wraps rather than in straps, Hykso’s sensors are extremely light despite being longer than some of the other sensors. They sit comfortably on the wrist and capture a level of detail that makes them a powerful tool for serious boxers. This includes punch type, punch count and velocity for each hand, all of which can be compared to other boxers in the partner smartphone app.
You also get an intensity score that shows how your work rate changes round to round and we love that you can log the drills you do most regularly and then compare your performance over time. The battery life is also big stand out, with 10 hours of boxing time from a single charge.
Everlast and PIQ Wearable Boxing Sport and Fitness Tracker: £89, Amazon
Battery life: 8 hours
Weight: 9.8g per sensor
Straps or wraps: Both
Android/iOS: Both
You can buy PIQ sensors for tracking many of sports, including tennis and golf, and these Everlast branded versions combine the same hardware with software specially adapted for boxing. They’re suitable for shadow boxing, bag training, sparring and pad work, providing real time stats on punch type, g-force at impact, speed and retraction time. After each round, PIQ tells you what worked best and where you need to improve. The strangest thing about PIQ is that you only get one sensor, unless you buy two, and that’s definitely a drawback in a two-handed sport.
PunchLab App: £37 per year, PunchLab
Battery life: Uses phone battery
Weight: Dependent on phone
Straps or wraps: Attaches to bag not wrists
Android/iOS: Both
Rather than wrapping sensors on your wrists, this subscription app turns your smartphone into a punch tracker. You stick your phone into a strap that’s much like a running armband (in fact you can actually use a running armband provided it’ll stretch around the bag) and attach it to the heavy bag. From there it uses the existing motion sensors in your mobile to keep tabs on your total hits, force percentage and give you an overall workout score.
Because your phone does the tracking instead of the sensors on your wrists, PunchLab is only useful for bag work and it can’t spot a jab from an uppercut. But despite those obvious limitations, there’s a pleasing simplicity to the whole set up and in-app challenges add a fun, competitive edge.
Moov Now Tracker: £46.42, Moov
Battery life: 3 months
Weight: 6g per sensor
Straps or wraps: Straps
Android/iOS: Both
Even when you factor in the need to buy two sensors, one for each wrist, Moov Now is a competitively priced piece of kit. Designed for cardio boxing drills, the lightweight lozenges come with their own soft silicone straps, rather than the velcro straps you get with some other sensors, and are really comfortable to wear. Moov tracks your hardest hits and fastest punches and also offers tips on how to improve your form.
There are real-time coached sessions to follow and video guides to help you learn how to throw punches correctly. It pairs with heart rate monitors for useful added fitness insights, such as more accurate calorie burn. Unlike the other sensors here, it can also be used to track running and other workouts too, making it a brilliantly versatile option. Just don’t expect the blow-by-blow detail on offer from some of the boxing specific sensors on this list.
StrikeTec Sensor Kit: £232.29, StrikeTec
Battery life: 10 hours
Weight: 10g per sensor
Straps or wraps: Wraps
Android/iOS: Android only
The first version of StrikeTec was only available for professional boxers, but the sensors are now on sale for anyone who fancies stepping into the ring. The pods are light and compact and have to be worn under proper boxing wraps. Unsurprisingly for a tracker aimed at the pros, the level of information you get while you’re throwing haymakers is extensive.
You get real-time feedback on your speed, power, endurance and punch accuracy. At the end of the session you can review your average speed, average power, your most popular punch combinations, round by round performance, endurance and fatigue. The app also provides videos and guided training to help you work up from the boxing basics, through combinations, routines or full workouts.
The verdict: Boxing fitness trackers
If you’re looking for a boxing tracker that can handle all levels of boxing from gym-fit bag work to in-the-ring sparring sessions, then the Corner tracker edges it on points from the more expensive Hysko. Bang for buck, it’s the most fully featured, comfortable and detailed sensor you can buy. On the other hand, if you’re after a really simple low-cost way to get started hitting a heavy bag, then PunchLabs is well worth a try.