Teaching Complete Beginners to Box With One iPhone Camera
JabMax turns the iPhone a beginner already owns into a boxing coach. Prop it where an opponent would stand: one camera tracks 33 body points on the device, counts every punch and coaches one cue at a time.
Beginner boxing coach for iPhone
Fitness · Sports training
Product Design, iOS App Development, Backend & Delivery
In development · App Store launch next
Videos can't see you, mirrors can't count and coaches cost money. JabMax gives a complete beginner a coach's eye using only their phone: prop it up at chest height and a single camera tracks the whole body, counts every punch and tells you what to fix next.
The app has two halves. The Roadmap is a course of short levels with targets to hit and moves to dodge. Shadowbox is timed rounds with punch counts, punch types and an AI-written summary. One rule runs through both: only show what the camera actually measured. If the app is unsure about a punch, it says so rather than guessing.
Prop it up, get tracked, throw punches, see your punch mix and share the card.
Body points tracked live from a single iPhone camera, entirely on the device
Punch types recognised (jab, cross, lead and rear hook, lead and rear uppercut), mirrored for southpaws
Minimum accuracy per punch type before punch types are switched on for users
Videos or body data uploaded: footage and tracking never leave the phone
JabMax is in development. Screens are from the design prototype, so a few details (such as calories, a score out of 10 and punch speed) differ from the final build, which shows only what the camera measures.
A beginner training at home has no one to watch them. Videos can't correct them, a mirror can't count, and failing a drill with no feedback feels like being locked out. Returning boxers want numbers on their shadowboxing, and the founder needed to publish new lessons without waiting for an app release.
The camera itself is hard: wrists hide behind the body, the selfie view is mirrored, and everyone stands at a different distance and in a different room. The question was how to give a complete beginner a coach's eye using only their phone, without ever inventing a number.
One camera, one cue at a time, and only the numbers the camera can actually see.
Calibration checks only that the whole body is visible, never technique: step back, light in front, phone steady at waist height. Thresholds scale with each person's shoulder width, so distance from the phone does not matter, and hands are named lead and rear rather than left and right, so the mirrored view never confuses anyone.
Shadowbox rounds can be set to 1, 3 or 5 rounds of 1 to 3 minutes, with 15 to 60 seconds of rest. The clock only runs while the user is tracked: step out of frame for about a second and the round pauses, then resumes after a three-second countdown, so every number reflects real work.
The app decides when a punch happened and which hand threw it, then classifies it as a straight, hook or uppercut. Punch types only switch on once they pass a strict accuracy gate: at least 90% per type, the wrong hand under 3% of the time and double counts under 2%. Anything unsure is logged as "Other".
Every session logs punches by hand and type, pace, the best 10-second burst and guard drops, feeding a six-axis skill radar, weekly streaks and history. A stat the camera could not measure shows as unavailable, never zero, and a session tracked below 90% cannot set a personal best.
The Roadmap is built to teach a beginner from stance and guard upward:
Five visual directions were tested on the same screen. "Obsidian" won: a near-black interface that disappears around the camera feed, with one red for the rear hand and actions and one blue for the lead hand. Live numbers use a monospaced face, colour is never the only signal, and Dynamic Type and VoiceOver work throughout.
Video and body tracking stay on the phone and are never uploaded. Account data is protected so each user can only reach their own records, and the app is built and tested automatically on every change.
Screens from the JabMax design prototype.
One phone camera is enough to coach a beginner, as long as setup fixes one problem at a time.
Showing only what the camera measured, and saying so when it is unsure, is what makes the numbers trustworthy.
Body-relative thresholds and lead/rear naming make tracking work at any distance and in a mirrored view.
A level builder lets the founder keep the course growing without waiting for an app release.
