Why I'm building the bag coach DUCKIN.

Like how most MMA fans start out training, I joined a local gym and started learning the fundamentals of the sport. I wanted to get good, really good, and early on I realized it was a discipline game over anything else. Yes, technique is important, but getting there and drilling the same thing repeatedly is what makes a punch, kick, knee, whatever you want, dangerous. Just like Bruce Lee said, "I fear not the man who has practised 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the one who has practised one kick 10,000 times."

So like everyone in the MMA space, boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing alike, I used kickboxing and boxing bags to train my kicks. After my first couple of sessions I realised that I had no idea what I was throwing, zero combination skills, so what did I do? I asked my coach.

My coach gave me what I thought at the time was a brilliant suggestion: just listen to Spotify combinations or YouTube ones. So I did, and although I think I improved, in these combinations they weren't going at a speed I liked, or they kept calling a move I couldn't even do in competition, or it would be the same combination in the same sequence. The best way to learn is to not know what will be next but to have the muscle memory to execute.

So I had the idea to check if there were apps that had fixed my problem, because I'm sure that many people struggle with this, but I was dumbfounded. Nothing, except one that did weird generic workouts built for cardio rather than high class training. I wasn't just going to quit and accept less, so I'm building DUCKIN to be the best, most premium bag coach on the planet.

I tested an early prototype first hand and the changes I made were brutal. I found that the voice was emitting everything at 100% speed but then paused for 5 seconds before the next punch. I want beginners to love this app, to keep them pushing their limits so they become better fighters, to hopefully save a life if they are ever put in a dangerous, unavoidable situation. I have also given the app to around 10 testers and I have a 90% 5 star rating from them. I want to really take the time and improve this app to be as quality as possible, so I am going to be taking my time with development, and to help motivate me please sign up for the waitlist so I can help others improve their fighting abilities and create a safer and more competitive mixed martial arts environment.

I want my analytics stored, I want to see my improvements over the weeks so I can stay motivated and disciplined in my practices, and I want a coach in my ear telling me to keep going when things get tough.

The first prototype sounded like a robot, and I showed my brother and he hated it, saying, "this is supposed to be premium, why does it sound like Stephen Hawking is my coach." He was right, and a fundamental switch occurred: the addition of different coach voices and personalities to help train individuals to the premium standard I wanted.