The Premise. Muhammad Ali once said that he was so fast, he could flip the light switch in his room and be in bed before the room was dark. While maybe a little shy of the 300 million meters per second, he was still able to dodge 21 punches in 10 seconds. The Greatest have been even greater, though, had he access to the advanced training tools of today — including ones that are putting a digital twist on tried-and-true methods.
The Product: Reflex Strike Technology (RST) is the training glove from the future. Using adjustable lights, a built-in reflect stopwatch, punch counter, and successful strike beeps, the RST training gloves give realtime assessments to the trainer and allow the fighter to prepare for the spontaneity of a realistically unpredictable fight. With RST, fighters can practice with the same intensity of an actual fight, and have a distinct advantage over their opponent in terms of preparation.
The Pitch. The video shows the RST in action as a young boxer squares off with her trainer. From the video, the mitts look well-made, and it’s easy for the fighter to see the lights and throw the appropriate punch that the trainer dictates. RST creator Jermaine Simpkins goes into great depth about the RST in the written description on how he has combined his passion of teaching youth fighters with the technology of his product. He comes off as passionate and honest about all the RST’s strengths and downfalls, leaving the buyer no doubts about what they’re buying if the campaign can reach its $12,000 goal.
The Perks. The price is steep but the reasoning is honest. Simpkins explains that the gloves offer slightly more than the most expensive gloves on the market. Therefore, the fundamental gloves for beginners will cost $219 and the advanced version with punch count, reflex test, and training features costs $399. He expects the delivery of the fundamental gloves to arrive in February 2014, and the advanced pair to arrive in May.
The Potential. It’s great to see that Simpkins is passionate about evolving the resources that fighters have available, and it’s a good foundation for future improvement. However, Simpkins notes his product’s own downfalls such as durability and price. RST is an ambitious product, but the design needs to improve before it’s ready for production. As the product is refined, it may be more valuable if it measures strength of impact as well.