Ringside Notes

Why My Hardest-Working Students Were Still the Slowest in the Gym

It wasn't effort. It wasn't talent. After 18 years, I finally figured out what was actually holding them back.

By Coach Ray Delgado · 18 years coaching · 2× National Champion · 2× Regional Champion

Ray, 50, standing ringside in his gym, arms crossed, wraps hanging off the ropes behind him

I've been coaching fighters for 18 years. Before that, I competed long enough to win two national titles and two regional titles. I've seen a lot of people walk through my gym door.

And there's one thing I've watched happen over and over that used to drive me crazy.

I had a kid, I'll call him Danny, who never missed a session. Not once in two years. First one in, last one out. Did every round I asked for and then some.

And every Thursday, in sparring, he got timed. He'd see the jab coming, try to beat it, and arrive second. Guys who'd started months after him were handling him.

The effort was there. The speed wasn't.

Danny wasn't the only one. Some of my hardest-working students were the slowest people in the room. For a long time I didn't have a good answer for them.

Why more rounds weren't fixing it

Here's what I eventually understood, and I wish I'd understood it ten years earlier.

Your body adapts to what you ask of it. Nothing more. If you ask it to do ten rounds on the bag, it gets good at doing ten rounds on the bag. It builds endurance and volume.

But if you never give your muscles a reason to fire faster, they don't. More rounds just ask the same question again, and your body keeps giving the same answer.

So I did what most coaches do. I got Danny on a strength and conditioning plan. It helped a little. But he was working full-time, he didn't have the hours to stick to it properly, and he wasn't seeing the results he wanted in the ring.

We still had a problem.

Why I don't let my fighters shadowbox with weights

The other thing people always suggest is weights: wrist weights, hand weights, shadowboxing with a couple of pounds in each hand.

I understand the appeal. Anyone who's done it knows the feeling: you take the weights off and your hands fly. It feels incredible.

But I've had multiple students overextend and badly mess up their joints doing exactly that. When you throw a punch with weight in your hand, that weight is yanking on your elbow and shoulder at full extension, every rep. I've seen what it does over a few months.

So in my gym, we don't do it. Which left me stuck: I knew my slower fighters needed resistance, but I didn't have a safe way to give it to them.

Where I found the answer

A couple of years ago I came across a young guy out of London called Joshua Iyalla.

His story stopped me. He'd been frustrated with his own speed, the same way my students were. So he built his own training system around full-body resistance: training the actual punching and kicking movements against resistance, without weights swinging off the end of his arms.

That system took him to three Guinness World Records, including 453 full-extension punches in 60 seconds. The fastest puncher ever recorded.

I don't take anyone's word for things, so I looked the records up myself. They're real.

And for years I'd half-believed what I heard from slow fighters: “some people are just born fast.” Here was someone who'd trained his way to being the fastest in the world.

What happened when I tried it with my students

I'll be honest: I expected very little. I've seen a lot of training gadgets come and go in 18 years, and most of them end up in a corner.

I started with Danny and a few of my other fighters who'd plateaued. They wore the bands during the sessions they were already doing: shadowboxing, pad work, bag rounds. Nothing else changed.

Within 7 days, I could see it. Their hands were snapping back quicker. Combinations that used to drag were coming out clean. A couple of them said the same thing to me without prompting: “Coach, my hands feel lighter.”

A few weeks in, Danny was landing first in sparring. The same kid who'd been getting timed every Thursday for two years.

I've been doing this a long time. I don't get surprised often. I was surprised.

The band is called the Ji Full Body Resistance Band, built by Joshua and his brother Joel, a 3× British Taekwondo champion. It's now part of how we train in my gym.

“Is it actually working, or does it just feel faster?”

This was the question I kept asking myself, even after seeing my guys improve. The “take it off and you fly” feeling is real, but a feeling isn't a result. I wanted to know why it was working.

I'm a coach, not a scientist, so I went looking. Here's what I found:

A 2024 study on elite national-team boxers. Boxers training with resistance bands significantly improved their punch speed, punch force and punch power, along with their overall strength.
A 2026 study on young karate athletes. Band-based training significantly increased how many punches they could throw in 30 seconds.
Broader research on elastic resistance. It builds strength comparably to conventional weights, and the resistance works along the direction of the movement, not straight down like a weight.

Then I saw UFC fighter Michael “Venom” Page training in the same bands. That's one of the fastest, most unorthodox strikers in the sport.

So no, it's not just a feeling. It's the right stimulus, in the right direction, finally giving your body a reason to get faster.

My first worry as a coach: technique

This is the one that almost stopped me.

My job is protecting technique. I've read the posts from strength coaches saying resistance bands ruin your form, and with some bands, they're right. Hold a band in your hand, anchor it wrong, and you'll train sloppy punches.

Here's what I found with this one:

Your hands stay completely free. Nothing in your grip, nothing changing how you make a fist or turn the punch over.

And the part that surprised me: the band pulls your hands back toward your guard after every punch. People worry that's a problem. I see it the opposite way. Dropping your hands after you punch is one of the most common mistakes I correct. This drills the habit of bringing your hands home, rep after rep.

My coaching tip: mix your rounds. A round with the bands on, a round without. Your technique stays sharp, and you feel the speed carry over immediately.

“The band isn't replacing your technique work. It's loading it.”

“Some of my smaller students said they couldn't feel it”

This came up with a couple of my shorter guys, around 5'3". Their arms were shorter, so the bands had some slack.

The fix took five seconds: cross the bands behind your back. It takes up the slack, and they felt the resistance straight away.

5-second clip showing the bands being crossed behind the back

It's 200lbs of full-body resistance, and it's suitable for all abilities. You can also run it upper body only for boxing, or legs only for kick work. My Muay Thai guys love that.

“But Coach, timing beats speed.”

I say this to my own students all the time, and it's true. Timing wins fights.

But here's what I tell them now: timing and speed are two halves of the same punch. Timing is what I build with you in the gym, with partners, in sparring, where you learn to read people. Speed is the half you can build on your own.

The perfect-timed punch that arrives half a second late still misses. You don't have to choose. The best fighters I've ever seen had both.

Who I'd recommend it to

If you're just starting out: it comes with training guides and a QR code for free follow-along workouts. That matters, because the biggest problem with beginners training at home is they don't know what to do. This takes the guesswork out.

If you've been training for years: you don't need to change anything. Wear it in the sessions you already do: shadowboxing, pads, bag work. Some of my guys even wear it for shoulder press.

Sizing: it fits most people from 5'3" to 6'5". If you're on the shorter side, cross the bands behind your back.

“Why not just grab the cheap one on Amazon?”

I get it. There are knock-offs for $20, and some of them look pretty similar.

We've been through it. My gym has gone through multiple sets of the cheap ones. They break easily, and the resistance is poor: you barely feel anything. I've had students buy them to save money, then come to me a couple of weeks later complaining they'd snapped.

That's why we only trust Ji now. Yes, it looks similar to the knock-offs. The difference is it's better quality, it has more resistance, and it's the exact one the pros are using.

A $20 band you have to replace three times isn't cheaper. It's just more annoying.

“Will they actually use it?”

Every coach has watched students buy gear that ends up collecting dust.

My guys actually used this one, because it doesn't ask them to add a new workout. It goes into the sessions they're already doing. It folds down small enough for a gym bag side pocket, so it's with them at the gym, at home, even on the road.

What my students (and others) are saying

★★★★★

“Cheat code for improving speed, 10/10.”

★★★★★

“My hands feel a lot lighter and faster 😎”

★★★★★

“Amazing, perfect for increasing punching power as well as increasing hip strength essential for TKD and KB, 10/10.”

★★★★★

“Easy to use and set up!”

Ji Full Body Resistance Band

£49.99

£59.99

Train Like a Fighter. Move Like One Too.

You're not slow. You're just missing the right system.

The Ji Full Body Resistance Band is worn like a suit — hands completely free — so every drill, every round, every session you're already doing becomes a weapon. 200lbs of resistance forces your nervous system to adapt faster, fire harder, and move with the kind of explosive speed your combinations have been missing. Take the bands off, and you feel the difference immediately.

What's Included:

Ji Full Body Resistance Band — 200lbs of full-body resistance, worn like armour. Works across shadowboxing, pad work, bag work, footwork, and strength & conditioning. Lightweight, portable, and built specifically for martial arts movement by the man who threw 453 punches in 60 seconds.
How to Punch Faster Guide — The science behind real speed: fast-twitch muscle fibres, neuromuscular coordination, and the kinetic chain. This dismantles everything you thought you knew and replaces it with a system that actually works.
50 Exercises to Increase Speed & Power — Fully structured for all levels, beginner through advanced. Every exercise is tied directly to fight performance. You'll never walk into a session not knowing what to train again.

Same Session. Same Time. Dramatically Better Results.

You don't need to train more. You just need to train right. Wear the bands during your existing sessions and the resistance does the work — forcing the kind of neuromuscular adaptation that most fighters never address. Results felt within days, not months.

Used by UFC fighter Michael "Venom" Page. Built on the system behind three Guinness World Records. Less than a single PT session.

Everything you need to get faster — nothing you don't. £49.99 + free shipping.

TAKE ME THERE

If you want to try it

I don't recommend much. Most gear I see is hype. But I've watched this work on my own students, and it's the first thing I've found that trains the speed half of the equation safely.

Here's what you get with the Ji Full Body Resistance Band:

200lbs of full-body resistance
The How To Punch Faster guide
The 50 Exercises to Increase Speed & Power guide
Free follow-along video workouts (just scan the QR code)
A 30-day money-back guarantee

It's $70.

Honestly, the guarantee is why I told my students there was no reason not to try it. If you don't feel the difference in 30 days, you get your money back.

One heads-up: they've already sold out once, and from what I've heard, stock is getting low again.

👉 Shop now

Quick questions I get asked

How often should I use it?

I have my fighters use it 3–4 sessions a week, mixed with rounds without it. I have them stop about a week before a fight.

Will it fit me?

Most people from 5'3" to 6'5". If you don't feel enough resistance, cross the bands behind your back.

Is it too advanced for a beginner?

No. It's suitable for all abilities, and the guides and follow-along workouts are built for exactly that.

Is it durable?

It's made from premium material, not cheap latex. That's the big difference from the knock-offs we went through.

About Coach Ray Delgado

Ray has been coaching boxers and kickboxers for 18 years. As a competitor, he won two national and two regional championships. He writes Ringside Notes to share what he's learned the hard way.