FightCamp's boxing workout made little ol' me feel like Ali and Dempsey

With noodles for arms and a frame that carries a little extra padding, you can instantly tell I’m not an athlete just by looking at me.

Like a lot of others, I have dabbled in personal fitness - typically around early January - but time and I again drop off for one reason or another (leaving a trail of like-new trainers in my wake). Be it laziness or illness, I fall off the wagon and never have a desire to get back into the routine.

I’ve tried tech-based solutions to get around this. I bought a FitBit to track my steps and keep fitness on my mind, and I thought I’d give Nintendo’s Ring Fit Adventure a go to appeal to my gamer side. However, these and other tactics prove fruitless - my FitBit is now a fashion accessory more than a fitness tool and I couldn’t tell you where my Ring Fit kit has ended up.

So, it’s safe to say I was a little skeptical that FightCamp would be any different. I thought I’d probably try it out for a few weeks, write up the review then return to the well-defined groove in my couch.

I was wrong.

The competitive element FightCamp introduced alongside its supportive trainers meant its workouts left me feeling not like the unfit slob I am, but a champion in the making - and I won’t be stopping anytime soon.

Stepping into the ring

FightCamp is like Peloton but for boxing instead of cycling. Using a mix of traditional equipment (gloves and a punching bag), plus some technological upgrades (a Bluetooth punch tracker for each glove) expert trainers guide you through pre-recorded workouts that involve you throwing jabs, hooks, and uppercuts.

The punch trackers do what they say on the tin - they monitor the speed and frequency of your punches. These are also the tool through which FightCamp’s competitive nature shines.

Unlike a traditional boxing match between two people, boxing against a bag is a fairly one-sided affair. So to introduce an adversarial aspect to the workouts FightCamp’s trackers allow you to get real-time data on how you compare to the average user.

When I saw that I was just behind the average person’s pace, I felt invigorated to work harder; I’m not about to lose to this ephemeral competitor. On the rare occasions I was blazing ahead, that same competitive nature kicked into overdrive; I didn’t just want to win, I wanted to demolish my rivals.

Plus, you can use the trackers to compare your own scores. When you return to a workout that you first attempted earlier in your FightCamp career you can see just how much you’ve improved by blowing past your previous best scores.

The coaches in my corner

A boxing match isn’t won alone, though. Sure, when the punches are getting thrown in the ring it boils down to a battle of you versus them, but even then you need someone in your corner cheering you on.

As you take on FightCamp’s workouts and its Paths - multi-stage programs that teach you basic and next-level boxing skills - you’re guided by an eclectic cast of trainers that are there to support you from day one.

The coaches are obviously experts in their craft, but their approach to teaching never left me feeling inadequate because of my low skill level. While taking me through the most basic boxing fundamentals, the coaches actively encouraged me to rewatch the videos as often as I needed. They understand that perfection takes time, and only comes with practice.

On top of that, even though the workouts are all pre-recorded, the coaching had a personal nature to it - leading me to sometimes forget I’m not working out with them live. This more human approach to training is also echoed in aspects of the app’s Paths.

Between workouts, the Paths include videos narrated by the instructors. These clips give you an insight into their personal lives and how boxing has played a positive part in them.

While only short - the clips are around five to 10 minutes long - these videos transformed the typically impersonal nature of workout videos. Whenever I wanted to stay in bed for another 30 minutes instead of hitting the home gym I didn’t just feel like I was letting myself down, but that I was letting down Tommy Duquette, Coach PJ or Shanie Smash, too.

Getting back up again

FightCamp is about beating what you achieved the day before, forever striving to push harder. The only negative is that workouts left me feeling like I was beating myself a bit too literally at times.

On several occasions in the early days, I forgot to add a warm-up to my routine and I could feel the regret echoing throughout my joints and muscles in the days after. While there are some basic warmups included in some routines - and the app offers a simple way to include a warm-up before the main event kicks off - I wish there was a way to automate the process like you can with the post-workout abs session.

Over time you develop these good habits, but for an utter beginner like I was - where proper workout etiquette still had to be nurtured - I think a more hand-holding approach could have made my experience better (and less sore).

However, these brief stints of having to let my shoulders recover - where I had to step away from the bag for and rest a few days - showed me how different FightCamp has been for me. Rather than indulging in my time not working out like I normally would, I was instead desperate to return.

I’m still a long way from becoming a champion boxer, or from achieving my fitness goals, but I think FightCamp could finally be what helps me go the distance.

Netflix is missing the biggest TV trend of 2022

For a time, the world couldn't get enough of tech startups.

In the same decade that Eminem ruled the airwaves and Bluetooth emerged as the greatest thing since sliced bread, Facebook ( now Meta ) was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard roomies, Niklas Zennström launched Skype with long-time partner Janus Friis and Netflix doubled down on ending video rental stores forever.

Silicon Valley as we know it today was born in the noughties, and the exclusive crop of companies who still occupy that hallowed plot of land in the San Francisco Bay Area continue to dictate digital (and by extension, popular) culture to this day.

It’s only natural, then, that film and television studios would want to take audiences behind the scenes of these technological success stories – but more specifically, those of their entrepreneurial (and often fascinating) CEOs.

The Social Network is perhaps the greatest example of a tech tale-turned-Shakespearean drama. Although David Fincher’s 2010 biographical movie documents the indomitable rise of Facebook in absorbing detail, it’s even more interested in the moral fall from grace of its founder, Mark Zuckerberg – and television in 2022 is tapping into that same gleeful schadenfreude.

A trio of takedowns

You’d be forgiven for thinking that every streaming service but Netflix has a shamed CEO in their sights this year.

Showtime Anytime, for instance, recently added Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber to its library; a seven-part drama charting the demise of Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Kalanick was ousted from the company in a boardroom coup following allegations of harassment and bullying in 2017.

Disney Plus and Hulu have The Dropout, which stars Amanda Seyfried as disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who was recently convicted of defrauding investors through her company’s phoney medical machines in the early noughties.

Then there’s WeCrashed on Apple TV Plus , an eight-episode skewering of property rental startup WeWork and its CEO, Adam Neumann, whose success came undone when evidence of his hard-partying lifestyle (funded by the company’s dime) came to light.

All three series take a microscope to once-impressive youngsters whose arrogance outran their innovation, a like-minded premise that makes for equally gripping television, and Netflix would do well to cash in on the trend while the iron is hot.

Great Success(ion)

Of course, it must be noted that Netflix is doing just fine without a slew of corporate drama series in its original content armoury. The platform continues to rank as our number one pick for the best streaming service in 2022, with shows like Stranger Things , The Umbrella Academy and Sex Education still among the most popular television around.

But the entertainment industry is a constantly shifting beast, and the surprising success of HBO Max shows including Euphoria and Succession suggests a renewed appetite for mature (dare we say old school?) TV drama in recent years.

Succession, in particular, is an interesting case. There’s an argument to be made that it too sits alongside WeCrashed, The Dropout and The Battle for Uber in the black-and-white genre of biographical drama, it being a fictionalized take on the Murdoch media empire.

But even if it doesn’t – and, admittedly, Brian Cox's Logan Roy is certainly no carbon copy of Rupert Murdoch – the buzz Succession creates among millennial viewers with every new season suggests audiences enjoy looking inside the glamorous but cutthroat world of big business. After all, who doesn’t like seeing corporate greed get the better of unlikeable rich folk?

Showtime’s Billions, too, plays off the same psychology, and while Netflix has dipped its toes in the boardroom bust-up water before with Suits and House of Cards, it hasn’t commissioned a Succession-like business drama – biographical or not – for some time.

A move towards human drama

The good news, for Netflix fans, is that the streamer appears to have preempted the trend highlighted by the aforementioned Apple, Disney and Showtime shows (though we suppose a $13.6 billion spending budget must inevitably buy some degree of foresight).

We recently published a list of seven Netflix series to look out for over the next 12 months, and there’s at least a couple of office-based dramas on the way. The Diplomat will find Americans star Keri Russell juggling politics and marriage while working in international relations, and The Night Agent will follow a White House FBI agent drawn into a conspiracy involving (ding ding!) a young tech CEO.

At present, neither project has the attached star power of a Jared Leto or Amanda Seyfried, but they nonetheless hint at a renewed focus on realism for a streamer that has spent recent years occupied with (admittedly profitable) fantasy lands.

Might we see a ten-episode takedown of TikTok on Netflix in 2023? The jury is out on that front, but the last few years have proven that reality is often stranger than fiction when it comes to good sources of entertainment.

PS5 SSD heatsink explained: what is it for and do you really need one?

With the sheer size of games this generation, your PS5 hard drive is going to fill up fast. But as of September last year, PlayStation 5 owners can expand their storage with an internal SSD.

Sony has various stipulations around the minimum performance and size requirements, so you can't just grab any old SSD willy nilly. Helpfully, we have a list of the best SSDs for PS5 that you can check out before you commit. But the company also recommends a heatsink which not everyone is going to be familiar with. So let's dive in and break down what it is and if you really need one as a PS5 owner.

What is a heatsink and what does it do?

Basically SSDs chug along and do their own thing, getting all hot and bothered in the process. A heatsink essentially transfers the heat away from a device so that its performance isn't impacted by rising temperatures. They're often made from materials with high thermal conductivity to achieve that end.

There are two kinds of heatsinks: passive and active. Passive heatsinks are less effective, as they rely on natural convection. So there are no fans, and it doesn't require power to work.

Active heatsinks use fans to blow the hot air about, so they're more efficient in terms of cooling. The trade-off there, then, is that active heatsinks are more power intensive.

For the PS5, you'll be looking at passive heatsinks.

Can I buy a PS5 SSD without a heatsink?

The short answer is yes. You can pick up a PS5 SSD without a heatsink. And you can also buy a heatsink separately if you prefer. Whichever SSD you end up choosing, it will definitely need to meet the requirements put out by Sony. You can read more on that in our PS5 SSD installation guide .

You can find some pretty good deals on PS5 SSDs here , but SSDs with no heatsink are typically cheaper than those that already have one built-in. So it begs the question: do you actually need one? Or should you save yourself a bit of cash and go without?

Does a PS5 SSD need a heatsink?

If we're listening to Sony, then the answer is a resounding 'yes'. The dedicated page on its site for installing an M.2 SSD in your PS5 says exactly that:

"Using an M.2 SSD with your PS5 console requires effective heat dissipation with a cooling structure, such as a heatsink and a heat transfer sheet."

Digital Foundry tested a PS5 with an SSD that has no heatsink and over the course of a few weeks, didn't notice any issues. But if an SSD is getting hot, its performance will undoubtedly be affected, running slower than intended.

At most, you could get away with buying an SSD first and then a heatsink a bit later. But if you want peak performance from your console, we recommend you do as Sony suggests and get a heatsink.

And buying a PS5 SSD with a built-in heatsink will save you having to deal with taking your machine apart and messing about in its innards more than you need to. Those faceplates are a nightmare to get off, after all.