The Liteboxer Lets You Duke It Out to Your Favorite Tunes, and Teaches You New Moves
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Some products show up everywhere — subway ads, Instagram, celeb endorsements. With this series, we're testing such products to conclude one thing: Does it live up to the hype?
What’s everyone talking about?
Liteboxer, an at-home exercise unit that’s being hailed as the “Peloton of boxing.”
What’s the buzz about?
Combining the hand-eye coordination of boxing and gaming, this exercise unit features six punch pads, with colorful lights spreading from the center to each pad. Hit the lights just as they reach their designated pad to earn points, either during guided Trainer Classes, in rhythm to Punch Tracks, or during Freestyle.
Where’s all the hype coming from?
Robust follower counts on Instagram (58.7k) and TikTok (454.3k), creating viral content
A new VR version that's making waves
So does it live up to the hype?
How’d we come to this conclusion?
➥ Round 1: Why We Fight
People pick up boxing for many reasons. For some, it’s an appreciation for the sport Pierce Egan once called “the sweet science of bruising” in his crucial 1812 work Boxiana. For others, it’s a means of gaining confidence and finding stress relief, as Prince Harry once did, citing boxing as a therapeutic act. And others simply turn to it as a means of physical fitness for a thorough, stress-relieving workout.
For me, it was all of those things. But while I’ve always wanted to learn the proper technique, the idea of taking classes with a stranger always carried a bit of embarrassment regarding my fairly poor current form (both boxing form and doughy physique). And even when my hometown friend offered to teach me, I resisted, fairly confident that during the lesson, he might well break my jaw.
That’s what made the allure of the Liteboxer, the at-home boxing machine all over Instagram and TikTok, all the more appealing to me as a means of exercise rather than punching a slab of beef like Rocky Balboa.
➥ Round 2: How It Arrives
For the purposes of this review, Liteboxer kindly sent out a standing unit to demo, and once arrangements were made for its delivery, I used the days before its arrival to pump myself up for this pugilistic experiment. I rewatched When We Were Kings and Raging Bull. I read up on the great champions of yesteryear, from Ali and Rocky Marciano to Willie Pep and Primo Carnera.
Assembly took about 45 minutes altogether, with the most difficult portion being connecting the two pieces which form the base. Once assembled and adjusted for my height, it’s an undeniably striking unit, especially once plugged in, with its colorful, near-neon lights dancing from its center to its six punch pads, illuminating my otherwise dim garage with a beautiful glow. It's a pretty piece of machinery when you consider it exists solely to be battered and beaten — with an aesthetic that’s equal parts exercise equipment and Dave & Buster's arcade game.
➥ Round 3: Freestyle & Trainer Classes
And let’s talk about that battering and beating. Liteboxer’s various exercise programs are all contained right within their app. Simply load it onto your phone or tablet (the standing unit even features a handy stand for your tablet to secure it in view while your work out), connect your device to the unit via Bluetooth, and the lights will sync with the app, and track your score.
Workouts in the app are divided primarily into three categories: Trainer Classes, which offer 10 to 45 minute guided exercise classes, with the on-unit lights responding to the instructor’s directions; Punch Tracks, which light the punch pads in rhythm to your chosen song (think Guitar Hero with fists); and Freestyle, which as the name suggests allows you to punch to your hearts’ content, unguided, and the app tracks your hit frequency, speed, and average force.
Let’s just say no matter much boxing stamina you may think you have before you step onto the platform, the Liteboxer unit is quick to show you how much you overestimated. After a shamefully short freestyle session with very sore wrists (seriously, use the wrist wraps), I stepped back and decided to take one of the available Trainer Classes, opting for the 20 Minute Pop Rock Beginner class with instructor Myles.
Truth be told, I genuinely felt myself improve by the end of those 20 minutes. The beginner class, set to the aforementioned music genre, provides clear, careful instruction that still guides you to work up a sweat. And being able to watch someone exhibit proper form while I punched helped me to improve my own form. Plus, being able to box in rhythm to music turned my little garage workout into my own personal training montage.
➥ Round 4: Punch Tracks, or Songs for Swinging Fighters
Litboxer also features a third option in the app, Punch Tracks, a bonus feature that's totally worth the investment if your budget allows. As alluded above, it's essentially a rhythm game, which requires you to time your punches to when each punch pad lights up, in time with a particular music track.
In the basic version of the app, there are 25 songs to choose from. However, if you opt for the Liteboxer Membership ($29.95 a month), you'll get access to not only an ever-updating catalog of 300-plus trainer classes but a vast catalog of popular songs from the Universal Music Group, including hits from Bon Jovi, Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, and more.
After getting a round in set to “Down With The Sickness” by Disturbed, I recognized that this could be more than just a solo workout. In the following days, I had my partner, my family, and some friends all come by and take turns getting punches in to the tracks of their choosing. In truth, like the exercise equivalent of those basement Guitar Hero parties of yore, there’s a surprisingly social element to the Liteboxer, a pugilistic party game that I honestly used it as frequently as I did my more intense individual workouts.
What’s the bottom line?
Ultimately, I loved the Liteboxer, not just for the exercise and instruction but for the social element it offers too. But that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the downsides. The unit is obtrusively large, and no amount of fun or fitness can be worth sacrificing the space for those in small apartments or other limited spaces.
For those who, price-wise and space-wise, can afford the physical unit, I can’t pretend it isn’t fun as hell to exercise by colliding your fists with something in a safe, constructive way. The Liteboxer proved to be everything I wanted it to be and everything it was hyped as. But it’s also great to know that if the physical unit is just simply not an option, Liteboxer offers a VR alternative for anyone who wants to take a swing at boxing.
Whether you prefer the real-world experience with the Liteboxer unit or opt for the virtual alternative, one thing is for sure: Liteboxer is a knockout.
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