In part one of “How to shadowbox” I talked about the different reasons to shadowbox and which mistakes to avoid. Lets take a closer look at those different variations.

Disclaimer: you can shadowbox any way you like. There are no limits to what you can do. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I mean, sure, you can do three rounds of jump spinning back kicks and pretend you’re sparring a tough opponent but why would you? Fun as it may be, it’s not all that realistic.

Now we have that out of the way, how should you shadowbox?

I see shadowboxing as a way to increase my martial and self-defense skills, so I train with that in mind. That means I usually have a specific goal when I shadowbox or several goals. I believe that having a plan for each round is a more productive way of training than just winging it. That said, I invariably shadowbox for a few rounds where I just flow and go by feel, nothing planned about it. That’s OK too. In fact, that’s the whole idea: working towards the point where you can pull it all off without thinking. But you don’t get there without some planned training first, so I like to do a lot of that.

One more disclaimer: Don’t look at the technical details of what you see in these videos. If you do a technique differently, that’s fine. These clips are just illustrations of how you can shadowbox and not instructional material on specific techniques. Substitute with whatever works for you if you disagree with how certain things are done.

Warm-up

In this clip, you see a boxer warming up by shadowboxing:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6ol2GhYoLA

Some key points: [Read more…]

If you train in Mixed Martial Arts, muay Thai or boxing, you already know what shadowboxing is: A solo-drill in which you practice all your techniques against an invisible opponent. In that regard, shadowboxing is the equivalent of the katas and forms you find in traditional martial arts. I know many fighters won’t like to hear me say this (heaven forbid their training has anything in common with that stupid traditional crap…) but that doesn’t make it less true. The real issue is: solo training works, regardless if you do it in a free-flowing format or in a more structured way.

In this “how to shadowbox” guide, I’ll talk about the things I like to focus on in my own training. As always, if you prefer to do things differently, that’s perfectly fine. But if you can pick something up and use it to your own benefit, then I’m already happy.

First, let’s look at the different reasons why you should shadowbox: [Read more…]