No one carries with them a bigger aura of confidence than hard punchers, and there is a good reason for that. Power punchers are feared by their opponents. There is also a good reason for that. The reason is a power puncher can put you down and out at any time during the fight. You can win rounds 1, 2, 3 and then boom, lights out, one punch can end it all. That is why more power never hurts, at least if you’re the one wielding it, otherwise, it hurts pretty bad. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a super skilled, defensive fighter, power punching isn’t just for fighters who come forward. Increasing punching power can help any fighter, no matter the style.

Benefits of Punching Power

There are a few things that happen when you have heavy hands, and all of them work to your advantage.

Confidence

The first, is you will feel more confident in the ring or cage. When you know you hit hard, it’s hard to get discouraged in a fight because you know you can still end the fight at any time. If you look back at Connor McGregor’s fights, you will see that in any fight, even where he struggled, there is never a look of concern on his face. This is because he knows that he still has the ability to win the fight at any moment. In the Chad Mendes fight he was getting taken down and pummeled, and yet every time he got up he would ask Chad “is that all you got?” The fight ended with Connor knocking Chad out.

It will also give you the “take one to give one” level of confidence. If you know you’re the harder hitting fighter in there and are up against a defensive fighter that is hard to catch, then you can always time to catch his shots and dish out one of your own, knowing that yours are doing more damage.

Respect

Another thing that punching power allows you to do is fight at your own pace. This is because once you touch the other fighter with your power and they feel it, they will seize to take risks rushing in or trying to walk you down overly aggressive. Floyd Mayweather may not be a heavy-handed fighter, but when he hit guys, their plans of rushing him and walking through his punches went out the window. Once he hit them and they felt that his punches could knock them out, it became a fight that was fought at Floyd’s pace.

Pacquiao is another fighter who hit you to let you know how the fight was going to go. In his fight against Cotto, Miguel was dominant with his jab in the first 3 rounds. After a few hard counter left hands by the Pac-Man, that jab was no longer seen in the fight. Manny used his counter, and power to take the jab away from Cotto.

Fear

Nothing drains a fighters skill level and full potential more than fear. Fear can take a great fighter and turn him into an okay fighter in a matter of seconds. This is why it is important that your opponents fear you in a fight because it will make things much easier for you. The best way to scare your opponent is to hit them and hit them hard. Let them know that the next one landed, could be the last one needed. It also helps to have a long streak of knockouts prior to the fight to demonstrate what happens to guys who get into the cage or ring with you.

The 5 Steps to Increasing Punching Power

Even though I’m sure you already knew the benefits of hitting harder, a reminder helps. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about the 5 steps to increasing your punching power.

Step 1: Strengthening the Body

The first thing you will have to do is strengthen your body. Whether you believe punchers are born or made, strengthening your body will increase your power no matter what your belief is. However, it isn’t traditional bodybuilding or weight gain that will help you get there. Here are a few things you can do to strengthen your body for power.

Power Puncher Exercises

To increase your punch output we are going to mostly focus on compound exercises. These include calisthenics and compound lifts. All of these work on connective strength in the body rather than a focus on individual muscles. They also help with explosiveness and core strength, where a lot of your power comes from.

#1 Pushups

One of the best, if not the best exercises to increase punching power. Push-ups work most of your upper body and build the explosiveness necessary to let off bombs. Guys like Mike Tyson, Charles Bronson and just about every other fighter out there has been known to have a strict, high volume push up regimen. A good number to aim for is a 400+ a day.

#2 Pull-ups

Probably one of the toughest workout there is. The pull up builds up your lats and core strength. A lot of the power from the punches comes from your lats and building strength in that area is a good idea. The benefit of doing pulls ups instead of weight machines is you’re also working on your overall body and core strength. You are forced to pull your own body weight up and it forces you to use more than just lat strength.

#3 Squats

These can be weighted or bodyweight squats, either one will work. You can do the weighted squats if you don’t mind putting on weight or are focused purely on increasing punching power. With the weighted squats go heavy and focus on sets you can only do in 3 to 5 reps.

Body weight squats will take longer to get through the workout but, on top of power, will also assist you in explosive agility on your feet. Think Roy Jones Jr hopping around when throwing his uppercuts or Mike Tyson leaping from a dip in his knee into a straight right hand.

Most of what we call punching power comes from the legs so it is important to make sure your legs are strong.

#4 Shoulder Press

When it comes to hitting hard, strong shoulders are the second most important muscle after legs. Your power will come from your leg, core, and shoulder snap working together in unison.

The shoulder press will work your core, shoulders, and back. This will increase the output power of your shoulder when you throw every shot. This is one of the most often forgotten exercises for punching power but is super important. It will also strengthen your neck so that you can not only give but take a better punch. Cus D’Amato is rumored to have had Tyson doing shoulders shrugs to strengthen his neck and shoulders. This was said to be the only weights that he lifted in his prime.

#5 Deadlift

The ultimate testament to strength is the deadlift. Nothing says you’re strong as hell like lifting something directly off the ground and dropping it, especially if it weighs 3 times more than you. The deadlift works close to 70% of your body and strengthens your core and legs(see a pattern), as well as neck shoulders, and back.

Combined, these will all make you an explosive monster and not only will your punching power increase, but it will make your body strong enough to take punishment. You will be more durable in the body and more capable of taking a strong punch, which is a great ability to have with heavy hands.

#6 Isometrics

Bruce Lee was the biggest proponent of this and it definitely helps you build the body. It makes you denser and forces muscles in your body to work together and strengthen as a whole. Isometrics is essentially holding a position for as long as you can, putting consistent, and built up the strain on your body. Holding the pushup position is an example of an isometric exercise. You can incorporate this into the routine mentioned above.

Hardening Your Punch – Adding Hard to Heavy

Punchers aren’t all built the same, you can hit heavy, and you can hit hard. I fought a lot of guys in my day who wore skinny, not necessarily heavy-handed, but when they hit me I felt like they had concrete in their gloves. Not a fun fighter to fight. Think Golovkin, when he hits guys you can see the pain they’re experiencing.

You can accomplish that two ways: strengthening the knuckles and strengthening the forearms.

How to Harden the Knuckles

To get your knuckles to feel like concrete you have to take Wolff’s Law into consideration. Wolff’s law states the following:

“…bone in a healthy person or animal will adapt to the loads under which it is placed. If loading on a particular bone increases, the bone will remodel itself over time to become stronger to resist that sort of loading. ”

This means you have to expose your fists to a little bit of pain.

Knuckle Pushups

The first and most convenient way is incorporating it into your pushups routine since you will already be doing that to increase your punching power. The harder the surface the better. If you can’t handle the pain, try starting out on a yoga mat or a carpet, the thinner the better. Keep using it until you progress to harder surfaces. The harder your knuckles get, the harder they will feel to your opponent.

Heavy Bag Without Gloves

Start off hitting the heavy bag with wraps only, this way you prevent any long-term or built up damage. Don’t begin offloading all you got and instead work your way up in power to see what your hands can handle. You can make it part of your heavy bag routine. Just take the gloves off at the end and go hard without them. As time goes by you will see yourself being able to dig into the bag harder and harder without feeling any discomfort, that is when you know you knuckles are toughing up.

The Newspaper Method

Back in the glory days, when men were still tough, there was something called the Newspaper Method. I’m making up the name but the method did exist. The way it works is you put up a bunch of newspaper on the wall, you can nail them in or whatever you prefer. This will have to be a lot of newspapers depending on how fragile your hand is. You stick them to the wall and proceed to hit it every day for about 5 to ten minutes. Then every day you will peel one sheet off the wall until you’re basically hitting the wall. Expect some sheets to tear, that’s a good thing, it means you aren’t as big a sissy as you thought you were.

Forearm and Wrist

If you ever watched Popeye, then you know how important big forearms are. The forearm is a place where the energy of the impact will travel through. The harder the forearms, the more impact stays in your opponents face.

Your deadlifting will definitely help strengthen your forearms, however, the most convenient way is to get a Crush Trainer, Grip Trainer, Hand Gripper or Hand Trainer. They’re all different names for the same item. You can do this while you’re driving(at your own risk) or while you’re at home.

That’s it for strengthening the body. You do this I guarantee you will feel a difference, but the best part is that we aren’t even close to done.

Step 2: Improving Form

When it comes to punching power, the most referenced and thought of person is usually Mike Tyson. This, of course, is with good reason. Mike was able to run through guys who are world champions in a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds. Ironically enough, Mike attributes his power to working his form on the heavy bag and has very detailed explanations as to how to throw punches. The truth is a lot of big guys don’t hit hard and it’s because they don’t know how to. If you could only practice one thing to hit harder, proper form is it. Normally a coach or some tutorials can help you with that (coming soon) but here are some words in the meantime that can paint that picture.

Here is What to Do:

Hip, Pivot and Shoulder Snap – All One Motion

A lot of rookies look to pros and say “Why do I have to pivot? Roy Jones doesn’t always do it.” Well to put simply you aren’t Roy Jones, yet. When you first begin learning the fundamentals you have to pivot every time you throw a power punch so that you can feel what it’s like to throw your body into the punch. Eventually, you will be able to learn how to do it without doing every time, although you still should because you get more leverage on your shots. If you feel like you skipped out on this lesson, it’s time to re-learn how to throw a punch.

Whenever you throw a power punch, make sure that the foot associated with the punch is always on the pivot. The point of the pivot is to get the hip into every punch. You should feel your hip snap and twist and propel the punch in one fluid motion. Once you let the punch go you have to snap your shoulder into it and deliver force from your body, into your relaxed hand.

Your shoulder must “roll” into a different position and you have to feel it snap as it extends fully. This is best seen during Mike Tyson shadow boxing.

The key here is fluidity.

Throw Efficiently

The fastest way to get anywhere is in a straight line. Make sure your hands are up to your chin, and when they roll out the extended all the way out, snap the shoulder, and then pull it back as fast as you can to create a whip-like impact. Make sure your pivot, hip, and shoulder all flow as one, rather than separate motions. They all have to compliment each other and while forceful, you have to remain relaxed. Practice throwing each power punch individually until you feel you are throwing your hardest each time.

Step 3: Increase Your Speed(or Size)

Sometimes you have to bring a little science into the sweet science and in science, Power = Speed x Mass. Without having to do the math, all that means is the faster you throw and the heavier you are, the harder you will hit. So one of the ways to cheat punching power is to eat a lot of cheeseburgers while doing everything mentioned above and your power will increase.

However, if gaining weight isn’t an option, you will have to increase your speed to hit harder.

Throwing fast punches is much like anything in life, the more you do it, the more you will be able to do. So the faster you throw, the faster you will be able to throw. However, since we are focussed on speed and power, we can’t just shoot out arms punches with the hopes of looking fast.

What you have to do is focus on one punch or one combo at a time, and throw it as fast and as hard as you can each time. After you do it, try throwing it faster and harder than that. Once that’s done, throw even faster and harder than before. Max out the power and speed of your punches when you are on the heavy bag or shadow boxing and you will see your power increase.

Other ways to increase speed include using resistance bands, and speed bags in your workout.
If you increase the speed of your punches without compromising form and intensity. You will punch harder.
Keep in mind though if you aren’t training as a pro and just simply want to hit harder for the sake of it, you can always put on mass, preferably muscle mass, and it will translate to power as long as you follow the rules above.

Step 4: Be More Accurate – The Art of Precision

As Connor McGregor is often quoted saying: “timing beats speed, and precision beats power.” I say why not have all of the above and you’re unbeatable. A part of a “Hard Punch” is the accuracy in which it lands. Hitting hard is about hitting your target and hitting them in the right places. If your goal is to punch walls and inanimate objects ignore this step. However, if you’re looking to win fights, you will have to train your brain to land where you want to land.
The best way to do this is to Put X marks on the heavy bag and land combinations on them consistently. Gauge how many times you’re off the mark either by recording yourself or having a partner watch you.

The sway bag and reflex ball are also great to practice your coordination.

Last but not least, sparring is where you will get real live training. Instead of just trying to hit the head or the body, pick specific points on the head and body that you need to land on.

The Power Puncher Workout

Now that you know the steps, let’s run through a workout you can do. You can treat it as a buffet and implement this daily, split days, or split hours. But here is a sample on what you should be doing.

Strength Training Routine

Pushups on Knuckles: 400+ (Daily)
Pull-ups: 200+ (Daily)
Squats: 400+ Body weight squats or 5 sets by 5 rep max weighted. (3 times a week)
Shoulder Press: 5 sets by 5 rep max (three times a week
Deadlift: 5 sets by 5 rep max (twice a week)
Abs: Sit-ups 5 sets to failure and leg raises 5 sets to failure
Isometrics: Implement at the end of each bodyweight workout.

Bag Work

Heavy Bag – No rounds
Max Potential – As Hard and As fast as you can each time.
100 Jabs to Max potential
100 Straight Rights
100 Hooks (each hand)
100 Uppercuts(each hand)
100 Combos(No Gloves) – make sure you aren’t holding back on either punch. Here you can practice your favorite variations. Each combo counts as one.

Step 5: Mindset is Everything

Whether you’re training or fighting, you will have to change your mindset. Don’t go in that ring and try to compete with the man in front of you. Don’t go and try to hit the bag, go into the ring or training to destroy everything in your sight. Feel it in your bones that you’re heavy handed and have confidence in your punches. I’ve got suckered punched by a lot of big guys that could’ve put me down but didn’t because they punched me with a defensive mindset, they were afraid, and their body followed suit. You have to go out there and you can’t be afraid of yourself or the other guy. Make sure you’re putting everything you got into that punch and eventually your mind will be in sync with your body and you will be able to knock someone’s block off whenever you decide to.

If you want to hit harder, hit harder!

Drop me a comment or contact me if you have any questions.

Brawl all day!

It is a famous adage in boxing that it isn't the hardest punch that knocks you out, but the one you don't see coming. This happens to be extremely true and it's a big reason why hand speed is important. Especially because basic physics tells us that “Speed x Mass = Power.” So the faster you throw, the better the chance you have of beating your opponent.

Blinding hand speed can provide you with a big edge in the fight. Guys like Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, Roy Jones, and Manny Pacquiao have proved it to be true.

So let's discuss the benefits of hand speed. Then, we'll dive right into how to punch faster and what you can do to increase your hand speed.

Benefits of Hand Speed

There are a few things that throwing fast punches will help you within a fight. Let's list them out here.

Landing More Punches

One thing that will happen when you're the faster guy in the ring is confidence. You’ll know that your opponents will have a hard time reacting to your punches so you will throw with confidence, knowing most of the time, you are going to land. Having fast hands will provide you with more opportunities to find openings. It allows you to take advantage of counters more readily and confuse your opponent when you throw combinations and in turn, landing a higher percentage of your punches.

Controlling the Fight

Another benefit of hand speed is fear that your opponents will have after getting hit a few times. After the first few shots, they will realize they didn't see them coming and this will allow you to dictate the pace of the fight. They will slow down their output if you continue to land blazing shots over their lazy attempts. This will make your opponent less likely to engage and be more careful with how they pick their shots.

More Knockouts/TKO’s

If you have a good sting to your punch already, increasing hand speed should definitely help you get more knockouts. Not only will it help increase your punching power, but also land those shots that your opponent doesn't see coming. As far as TKO’s, it’s much easier to bewilder your opponent when throwing fast combinations. This means stoppages by the ref or corner are easier to come by, due to high volume punching that yields a lack of response from your opponent, think Joe Calzaghe.

Of course, this is all assuming you have a good foundation of boxing IQ. Just hand speed isn't enough to win fights but it will definitely improve your chances. Most guys don’t know how to deal with hand speed and are plainly scared of it, so it will definitely help you in fights.

I’m assuming you already knew most of the benefits which is why you want to know how to throw faster punches. Well, let’s dive right into it, here is your guide to being lightning fast.

The 5 Steps to Punch Faster

Some things you can do almost immediately to increase your hand speed and some things will take time to develop. Overall it will be a combination of training both your body and mind to work together to make you a speed demon.

#1 Punch Faster

If you want to throw faster punches, well then, you have to throw faster punches. This may sound confusing at first but let me explain. A lot of times boxers throw at a certain speed just because it's a habit for them to throw that way. They don't consciously realize that this isn't their full potential. A lot of times we fight how we train and throwing subpar punches in practice will turn to throw subpar punches in the ring. The worst part is now you’ve built these neurological connections so when you’re in autopilot mode, you will throw at the speed you train with.

The solution is simple. Start off by throwing one punch, this can be any punch you choose. Now ask yourself, was that the absolute fastest you could throw it? I guarantee you it isn't. So throw it again but faster. Now try and throw it even faster than that. Then faster than that last one until you are absolutely maximizing your effort and speed. This will make you realize you have been throwing lazy punches and holding yourself back from your full potential. Keep doing this until it becomes a habit for you to throw every punch as fast as you can. Take this exercise seriously and you will be surprised by the result.

This is a piece of wisdom I once inherited from my coach when I was a young kid. I asked him “How can I do more pull-ups” to which he very wisely replied, “do more pull-ups.” This simple, yet brilliant logic can be applied to everything in life, including hand speed. I’ve done this drill successfully and increased my hand speed dramatically.

There are tools you can use to track your hand speed, as well. See below under "Tracking Your Hand Speed."

#2 Relax the Punch

This is a lot easier said than done but it a must to throw at your full speed potential. For this, you will have to channel your inner Ali. Too many fighters are engaging every muscle in there arm as they throw the punch at every step of the way. The key is to explode the punch outward while leaving your hand completely relaxed. Once you get to the end simply bring back as fast as you can. Even when you look at guys like Tyson and Roy Jones, they may look explosive but that shoulder snap will tell you that they’re hands are relaxed when throwing the punch outward. Watching Ali shadow box give you the best idea of what this means. Try and practice relaxing your form as you throw a punch. This can be done by letting your hands hang loosely at your side and throwing them at a target without flexing, just so you can get the idea of what it feels like. This involves mostly using your shoulder to get the torque out.

#3 Snap and Whip

The next step is to snap and whip your punches. With this, you have to keep the punch relaxed as mentioned above and this will allow for you to create a whip-like effect. Imagine hitting your opponent with a whip. It will hurt if you just swing the whip at him, however, if you swing the whip and then pull back as hard as you can at the point of impact, it will hurt much more. Do the same thing with your punches. if you ever heard a coach say to “snap” your punches, that is exactly what they mean. Once your punch reaches full extension, make sure you bring it back as fast as you can.

#4 Improve Stamina

This may surprise a lot of people but hand speed has just about everything to do with stamina. The difference between the greats and a lot of top contenders is that the contenders have the ability to be great spots, but are not able to maintain it. This is all because of stamina. When you look at guys like Roy Jones and Mayweather, what made them amazing is that they had the ability to stay fast and explosive all the way to the twelfth round. Being fast takes the juice out of you, so in order to actually have fast hands consistently, you have to be in tremendous shape. So do your miles, your ring work, and make sure you're throwing at your full ability with every punch. Do NOT save yourself for later rounds, make every punch be your best punch. You will find yourself getting tired quicker, and that’s the point.

#5 Throw Straight

We’ve all heard that the fastest way to get from A to B is in a straight line. For some reason, some fighters forget this simple rule. A lot of times when I watch fighters training, I will see they're adding unnecessary motion into their punches. When you're throwing a jab, the moment before it leaves your chin, it should not travel up or down but only straight, directly at your opponent. The same thing with hooks, there is no need to give it more destinations. The goal is for your punch to travel directly from your chin, straight on to your opponents. Try to keep the distance your hand travels the shortest possible to land the punch. Sometimes recording yourself will show you exactly where you're adding extra time.

These are some steps you can take to see a quick improvement in hand speed. Work on these things and you will definitely see yourself punching faster, however, that is only part of the equation. Let's talk about the types of training you can do to increase your speed.

The Hand Speed Workout

Now that we know of the tweaks we can make to get our hands faster, let's talk about the training we can do to allow our body to be faster. There are things you can do daily in training to increase hand speed, the key will be a clear focus on this particular goal.

Shadow Boxing - The King of Hand Speed Workouts

Most of what you can do to get faster will revolve around a shadow boxing drill of some sort. Shadowboxing allows your hands to fly freely and forces you to pull your punches back which is what contributes to speed and snap, just as much as throwing the punch out. Because there is nothing to land the punch on, you also work on your fast-twitch muscles more than you would hit a heavy bag, for example.

Let’s get into the shadowboxing drills.

Regular Shadow Boxing - With a Twist

The first workout you will start just like any other shadow boxing workout but you will have to tweak it just a little. This will be exactly what we mentioned in #1 above. As you begin your shadow boxing workout, isolate your punches. Start with the jab and throw it as you normally would. Then, try to throw it even faster than that. With each punch, be conscious of what you throw, and throw it faster each time. You will quickly realize that you have been holding back your full potential and not throwing at full speed the entire time. This is mentioned first because you will be doing this with each punch you throw from now on no matter the workout. Throw as fast as you can EVERY time.

Because we try and conserve energy, especially when we are out of shape, we build bad habits and bad neural pathways in the brain that make us throw average punches. This is where you rewire yourself. So here, do 50 of each punch, throwing as fast as you can each time, then do 50 of different combination variations. Again, throwing as fast as you can each time.

2. Shadow Boxing With Gloves On

Another useful workout, and certainly has helped me increase my hand speed, is shadow boxing with gloves on, the heavier the better. Keep the above concept in mind as you do this, making sure you are throwing to your full potential each time. The extra weight and resistance will help your hands strengthen the “speed muscles.” It’s basically isolated gravity training or at least as close as you can get to it. This is a simple workout, simply proceed with your typical shadow boxing, instead just keep the gloves on. Aside from hand speed, this is also great for conditioning.

3. Shortening Your Punches

You may have seen the guy who does an impressive shuffle with his hands throwing short punches. A lot of boxers, and sometimes even coaches, dismiss short punches during shadowboxing as a waste of time or just plain “showing off.” However, there is a method to the madness. I once thought the same thing when I saw one of my opponent's shadowboxing, thinking “I’m going to kill this guy he can't even throw a full punch.” At that time, I was young and naive. When we got in the ring, he was so fast I never saw his hands leave his chin. It was just my head snapping back from his jabs and then me seeing him with his hands up, he was that fast. Luckily my IQ won me that fight but I took a valuable lesson away from it and started experimenting.

After a few weeks of practicing it, I noticed a huge improvement in hands speed.

Here is what you do. Every time you throw a straight punch, do not fully extend. Stop your punches about halfway and pull them back as fast as you can. Do this with every punch. Here is a sample of Roy Jones shadow boxing this way.

4. Resistance Bands

This is the most overlooked workout for hand speed and I’ll never know why, but the science behind it makes sense and it has definitely worked for me. Whether you have your own resistance bands or want to get one specifically designed for shadow boxing, it works. The way you do it is simple, grab the resistance bands, over or under the grip, depending on your preference, then throw each punch as fast as you can. If you are not getting enough resistance, wrap it around a stationary object(that won't budge) like a pole, and walk away from it until you get the resistance you are looking for. Then, proceed to throw each punch as fast as you can, every single time. I can’t emphasize the importance of that enough.

5. Weights

The other option is to shadow box with weights as we’ve seen guys like Mayweather, Rigo, and Mosely do. Some people have negative things to say about this exercise but it can definitely help hand speed. Probably the least effective of all the above mentioned, but still worth a try. As long as you can keep the same mindset of throwing each punch as fast as you can, you will see improvement. Right after I set these down during a workout, my hands feel like whips flying through the air, you have to feel it to know whether it works for you or not. It is also a great workout for conditioning.

Try variations of the shadow boxing workouts week after week and see which one gives you the best results. I ranked them in order of effectiveness so numbers 1 and 2 are most recommended by me personally.

Heavy Bag Hand Speed Workout

The heavy bag can be a great tool to build hand speed, specifically with combinations. The reasons for this is very simple: sound. When hitting the heavy bag you can hear the impact of each punch, and more importantly, the time of impact between each punch. We can use this as a great tool to track our speed increasing. This is the best tool to increase the speed of your combos.

Here is the simple, yet super effective heavy bag hand speed workout:

Instead of just blasting off on the heavy bag for power and conditioning, you will instead focus on two punches at a time. The focus will be on the sound between the two punches landed. Try to focus on combo at a time, starting with the classic 1, 2.

Throw the 1, 2 at the bag and listen to the sound. Now every subsequent combination should be thrown to try and make the combo sound like one punch. The goal will be to make the two punches sound like one. So keep throwing as fast as you can until you can achieve that goal.

Its very simple, throw the combo, and with each combination, decrease the time between impact each time. Work on this consciously for multiple rounds and I promise you, you will see a difference in your combination speed within a week. Once you master the two-punch combos, you can move on to three and four punch combinations.

The Speed Bag

You can't talk about hand speed without mentioning the speed bag. This won't turn you into Manny Pacquiao overnight, but it can help. Keep in mind, however, we’ve seen many slow fighters hit the speed bag too. This is because just like with all the above exercises, it's not just the hitting that counts, but how you hit it that's most important. The speed bag does help develop fast-twitch muscles but you have to make sure to make a conscious effort to hit it as FAST as you can. This is perfect for the last workout of the day.

Strength Training for Speed

There is one cardinal rule to hand speed, absolutely no weight lifting. You can lift weights and get faster-doing everything above, however, you won't be as fast as you can possibly be if you're lifting weights, especially heavyweights. For strength training and hand speed, there are two exercises you want to stick to.

Pushups

You don't want to be fast with no sting, so strength training is important, but you want to steer clear of exercise that gives you the power and slows you down. Luckily there is the most infamous strength training  workout of all time: the pushup

Pushups are a great exercise for speed, power, and explosiveness. The key to doing them when focusing on increasing hand speed is to do them fast. This is the one thing you want to ingrain in your brain is that everything you do from this point on, should be done with speed.

Aim for 400+ daily and try to knock them down under 20 minutes.

Chin-Ups

Instead of the regular pull up, the chin-up is the superior pull exercise to the regular pull-up. This is because it will work the “pull muscle” between your bicep and your forearm more. This will aid in building those small muscles that will help you pull the punch back quicker than normal. Which creates an opportunity for a better snap and getting back to defense in good time. The key here is the same, do them fast.

Make sure to warm up properly before your workouts, as an injury is possible when doing fast and explosive movements.

There are a lot more strength training exercises you can do for strength, but purely for speed training, I would stick to these two.

Mindset - The Most Important Piece of the Puzzle

The biggest thing you will have to get accustomed to is the mindset. You have to build the habit of thinking fast which will come with a phase of rewiring. You have been throwing at half your potential without knowing and it has become an automatic process for you to throw that way. From this point on, you will have to be conscious of doing everything at full speed, trying to do it faster and faster every time. It will take some time before “fast” becomes a natural state of being for you, but it's well worth the struggle. Once you don't have to think about being fast, and it's just a habit for you to throw lightning, your opponent is in trouble.

Take this mindset into all aspects of your training and do every exercise to its full speed potential. This will teach your brain not to save yourself and train your body to have the stamina to be fast, every single time out.

Be in Shape

What separates the greats from the contenders, is the ability to be spectacular every minute of every round instead of just in spots. This takes insane conditioning which is only accomplished by being spectacular in training, every minute of every round.

Sample Drills

Let’s outline some sample drills for simplicity below. This will be a very simple exercise that involves shadow boxing and the heavy bag.

Shadow Boxing Drill for Hand Speed

This is a very important part of increasing hand speed and can be done anywhere. You can do this with any of the above-mentioned methods: freehand, with gloves on, resistance bands, or weights. I recommend free hand at first, then gloves once you get faster.

The drill:

Remember, each punch will be thrown faster than the last. Isolate each punch instead of just firing off back to back. Again, consciously make an effort to throw each punch faster than the last.

25 jabs
25 right hands(cross)
25 jab/cross combinations. Each combo counts as one. Again throw at full speed potential.
25 Straight/Hook combinations
25 hook/uppercut combinations

I can't stress enough to throw at faster each time. First master two punch combinations at full speed before you move on to three. Do this daily and you will see improvement.

Heavy Bag Hand Speed Drills

As mentioned before, with the heavy bag, what you want to do is try and make every two punch combo sound like one. Do this WITHOUT sacrificing power. So hit as fast as you can without holding back power. You want to gain speed with power, not just speed. Think Manny Pacquiao Jr vs Amir Khan, you’d rather be Manny.

The Drills

50 Left/Cross Combinations
25 Cross/Hook Combinations
25 Left/Right Hook Combinations
25 Uppercut Hook Combinations

Again, don't just fire them off in succession. Focus on each individual combo. After you throw it, reset, and then throw it again. We are not working on simulating the fight here or conditioning, we're working on rewiring your body and your brain to throw at full potential.

Is Hand Speed Genetic?

A lot of people will tell you that you're either born fast or you’re not, that is mostly false. We can get into a scientific debate about fast-twitch muscle fibers and all, but the truth is, you can always be faster than you are, and fast by anyone's standard. Just because someone may have the potential to be faster than you, doesn't mean they will be. Just because it may be easier for them to develop fast hands, doesn't mean you can't outwork them and take the right approach to increase your hand speed. You can always be faster than you are and no matter your genes, too fast for your opponent. So don't take genetics as a cop-out, especially because there is no way to measure this and mostly something people spout off as an excuse as to why another guy is better than them.

These are the exact kind of limiting beliefs that “soft” fighters of the modern era allow to hold them back. The greats don’t waste time thinking about genes, but instead, think only of the task at hand: winning the fight.

Tracking Your Hand Speed

Thanks to science, these days you can actually measure your hand speed. That's right, there are tools that you can place in your hand wraps or in your gloves while you shadowbox, hit the bag, spar, etc. that will tell you what your hand speed is. Not only that, but it will also track it all in an app for you so you can see how you can progress. You have two options when it comes to this. you can get the PIQ by Everlast, which will cost you $99 per one sensor, or you can get the Hykso trackers, which are $149 for two. Both have their advantages and both get the job done. You can buy them on Amazon below:

Get to Work

It won't work unless you do. Follow the tips here for at least 1 month and let me know what kind of results you get. I promise you won't have to wait a whole month before you start noticing a difference. A lot of hand speed is just habit and once you start changing that habit you will see your full potential come out before your hand speed actually start increasing. Do the work, and results will come.

Drop me a comment below if you have any questions.

Brawl all day!

When you search “boxing gloves” online you may have been surprised to find out that not all gloves come standard. Not only are there different types of gloves but different sizes. It can be hard to figure out which size we need, so I decided to come to the rescue with this post. Let’s talk about what size gloves you need for which situation.

The short answer to your question is whatever size you want!

But the truth is, different scenarios require different sizes. Glove size can be determined by your size, or activity, and we will breakdown each, but first:

Why Use Different Size Gloves?

There are two reasons you want to use different size gloves. One is that all people come in different sizes. Whether you’re 130 pounds or 250 pounds, you will want to switch up glove size accordingly. The other will depend on what your goals are when using the gloves. Based on the activity and what you want to achieve, your glove size will vary.

First let’s talk about…

Glove Size by Weight

Depending on your actual size and the size of your hand, you will require certain glove size for use. For that we have a handy chart that we borrowed from Title Boxing.

Here you will see a neat breakdown of glove size by weight for different scenarios. Now that is the ideal scenario if you’re one to follow rules. However, if you step into the boxing gym, you will quickly realize that rules and regulations aren’t always followed closely.

So let’s dive into boxing gloves sizes by activity.

Boxing Gloves Sizes By Activity, What a Good Coach Would Recommend

When it comes to activity you will want to vary the sizes gloves that you use. Some of it will depend on your size, and sometimes it doesn’t matter. Here is breakdown of each exercise and the glove sizes recommended for each.

Sparring Glove Size

If you’re sparring, then the gloves size recommended is 16 oz if you’re under 150 pounds and 18 0z if you’re over 150 pounds. There are a few reasons for this.

First, is it will help reduce the chance of any injuries. These can be hand related injuries or things like cuts and bruises that can ruin your chances of being able to compete come fight time. The bigger the better. I was walking around around 145 when I competed and I still used 18 0z gloves for sparring.

The second reason you want to use bigger gloves is it helps with conditioning. Keeping your hands up with heavier gloves and throwing punches with heavier gloves is like isolated gravity training for your hands.

So for sparring, stick to 16 oz or higher, preferably 18 oz gloves.

Heavy Bag Training Glove Size

With the heavy bag it will depend on what your goals are as you’re hitting the bag.

If you’re looking to condition and unload on power, then anything 16 oz and up is recommended. This will give you enough padding to where you won’t hurt yourself. It would also provide the weight necessary to condition your shoulders to keep your hands up for long periods of time. This way when you compete with smaller gloves it will be far less strain on your shoulder with the lighter gloves on.

However, if you’re looking to work on speed and/or are trying to harden your knuckles, you should go lighter.

For speed you can use 8 to 10 oz gloves. This way you still have some slight resistance but you are able to better see what your full speed potential is and you can focus on throwing faster punches from there. It’s good to go lighter sometimes to see what heavy glove training is doing to your hand speed and at what rate its improving.

If you want to harden your knuckles, the best way to do it is with really light gloves. This can range from 8 oz gloves or smaller. You can use bag gloves with no padding or even MMA gloves will do the trick. Once your hands are hardened up you can try hitting the bag with just hand wraps on. If you aren’t aware of why your hands harden when you do this, here’s a quick definition of Wolff’s Law:

“…bone in a healthy person or animal will adapt to the loads under which it is placed. If loading on a particular bone increases, the bone will remodel itself over time to become stronger to resist that sort of loading. ”

Make sure you don’t start off punching full power with smaller gloves. Test your limits an and make sure you aren’t hurting your hands. Build up power over time and reduce glove size if need be as your hand strengthens. Eventually your knuckles should be able to handle the load of no glove.

Competition

This is one activity where you don’t get to pick what glove size you want to wear, the laws and governing bodies pick them for you.

Professional Glove Size

As a professional competitor you get to fall into one of two glove sizes. If you’re under the welterweight limit of 147 pounds you will wear 8 oz gloves. If you’re over you will wear 10 oz gloves for the fight.

This is a big step down from the bigger gloves you’re training with so you may be excited to lay your hands on the other guy, just remember the other guy is wearing them too. That was a reminder I was given when my opponent threw his first left jab and it landed, my whole face went numb. That’s when I realized it wasn’t just me who’s going to lay some serious leather in this fight. Definitely a more fun fight with smaller gloves.

Amatuer Glove Size

Amateur is the same concept but 2 oz’s up. Up to 141 is 10 oz gloves and then its 12 oz gloves all the way up to super heavyweight. However, in some states it varies and lighter weight classes may be allowed to use 8 oz gloves.

MMA Glove Size

The modern day gladiators wear the same glove size whether ametuer or pro. All MMA fighters wear a brutal 4 oz glove and it’s as close to the fist as you will get professionally.

What Size Glove Should I Buy?

Given that information, you may still be confused about which size gloves to get. Well here is the short response.

16 oz Gloves for Training

If you’re only able to afford one pair of gloves, then buy a 16 oz pair of gloves. This will be multi purpose and will aide you in sparring, heavy bag work, mitt work, and all training related activities. They will protect your hands and help you work on conditioning so that your shoulders and lungs will perform even better with lighter gloves, or no gloves on.

Since competition gloves are provided during fight time, you won’t have to worry about owning a pair of competition gloves.

Get a Second Pair if You Can

If you’re able to, its always helps to have two pairs of gloves, one small and one bigger depending on what you’re looking to work on that day. What I do sometimes is do a few rounds with heavier gloves, and then switch to lighter gloves for the tail end of the workout so I can finish strong without getting into the habit of bad form through fatigue.

If you’re getting two pairs, I recommend getting an 18 oz and 10 oz pair of gloves.

Recommended Gloves

Here are a few pairs of gloves that I have personally used and enjoyed.

 

Get to Work

In the end, don’t overthink it. Just get yourself a good pair of gloves and get to work. It won’t matter if you trained with 10 oz or 18 oz gloves as long as you trained hard. Nothing beats hard work in the gym so often times it’s best to focus on your craft and the work that’s in front of you to get better at it. Pick a pair that’s at the nearest store close to you and get to it. Remember guys like Mike Tyson, Ali and Robinson didn’t have the luxury of reading reviews and picking glove sizes. They worked with what they had and put the hours in.

Drop me a comment below if you have a question.

Brawl all day!

Everybody loves themselves a good punching bag workout, but when considering getting one, price is always a question. There are a lot of options on the market and it can be hard to determine what you should get and what you should be paying for it. So let’s talk about what to consider when punching bag shopping and what will affect what you pay for it.

In summary, here is the average you can expect to pay for a punching bag:

 

Now that we know what the average punching bag price is, let’s talk about how we got to that cost.

What Will Affect Cost

There are a few factors that will affect the price you pay for a punching bag. Here are a few things to consider when doing your shopping.

Quality

One of the factors affecting price is the quality of the bag. You can probably get away paying $50 for a punching bag out there but that doesn't mean it will be worth it. That isn't to say that value is always directly related to cost. You can get some great deals on bags and can get a great punching bag for around $80, just make sure to read the reviews first to understand whether its durable or not.

Purpose

Another thing you want to do is consider what you will be using the bag for. If you’re looking to do serious training then you definitely want to aim for better quality bag. However, if you’re getting a bag to do some light cardio boxing or practice taekwondo form on a dummy, you can get something more affordable.

Indoor vs Outdoor

Not all bags are build for the outdoors. If you are looking to do your training outside and the bag will spend most of its time there, then you want to make sure its outdoor friendly. Most bags can be used outdoors but you want to pick the most optimal one that isn't going to wear or get sun damaged quickly.

The Type of Bag

This is probably the biggest indicator of cost. Most bags within the same category usually are in a ballpark similar price range. The difference comes in when you begin thinking about different types bags. Whether you want a regular boxing heavy bag, a muay thai bag, an uppercut bag, etc, the price will vary. We will break down the average cost for each below but it is something worth noting when shopping.

Weight

All punching bags, even within their type category, come in different weight. The heavier the bag the more it will cost. While the price increase isn't always dramatic, but its enough of a difference to mention. Keep in mind the heavier the bag, the more it works your power, so consider wisely.

Set up

Last but not least is the set up costs. A lot of times you can get away pretty easy with a simple bracket and chain installation that either comes with the bag or will cost you an extra $10 to $20. However, if you don’t have a good place to hang the bag you may have to build one or buy a heavy bag stand which can be extra.
These are a few things that will go into determining the cost of the bag. Armed with that knowledge let’s break down the cost of each bag by type.

Punching Bag Price by Type

Each punching bag has a different cost attached to it. Depending on what kind of training you're looking to do, is what will determine what you will be looking to pay for a bag. Let’s dive in.

Regular Heavy Bag Price

For a regular heavy bag you can look at spending about $70 to $120 on average and sometimes up to $200. Some of them come with gloves, brackets and other tools. The heavy bag is perfect to practice your combinations, power and stamina. What it lacks is the ability to practice leg kicks and allow you to throw uppercuts only at certain angles. It is however, easy to put up and great for everyday use. Most bags in this price range are good quality and can last you many years. Here are a few samples you can shop from that I’ve personally used and enjoyed.

Muay Thai Bag Price

The muay thai bag cost, like the heavy bag, will depend on weight. Muay thai bags around 100lbs are usually in the $150 and up price range. If you want a heavier bag you can see prices all the way up to $200. Muay thai bags are great all purpose heavy bags. You can practice just about any combat sport on them because they allow for punching, kicking, and anything other kind of strike you want to do. I prefer them even for my boxing workouts as I can get low on the body and the bag has less swing. Here are some good options that I think you will enjoy.

Uppercut Bag Price

I’ve never had this in the home, but at the gym this was one of my favorite bags to hit. The Uppercut bag ranges in price more so than any other bag out there. You can find options for $50 all the way up to $180. It really will depend on which one you want. This bag is perfect for practicing your knees, uppercuts, and really any other angular strike that comes in a upward or downward motion. Here are all the options for your convenience.

Water Bag Price

There are a lot of water bag options out there and some look like a regular heavy bag. Personally I’ve found the best options to be around $80 but if you're looking for a heavy bag that is simply filled with water then you can pay upwards of $150. These bags are great because they can protect you from wear and tear on your hands and joints. They also simulate hitting a real person more so than most other bags, and that's always fun. Mike Tyson was known to switch over from his typical 300 lb heavy bag over to a water bag as his career wore on to protect his hands. You can view what you like from the options below.

Double end/Sway Bag Price

The double end bag aka sway bag costs about $50 and shouldn't cost you much more than that. This bag is perfect for practicing your coordination and reflexes. This is a bag made most famous by guys like Roy Jones and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Check out the options below.

Speed Bag Price

The speed bag is a tricky cost because it can be really cheap if all you need is the bag. The bag alone will cost you around $20, however, you will need a bracket for it. So in total, if you don’t already have a bracket, you can be looking at $80 to $100. There is no debate, this is the most fun bag that you can punch. Everyone loves it and even those that don’t fight usually know how to hit this because it’s hard to avoid if within visible distance. This bag works your fast twitch muscles and shoulder endurance. Here are options with just the bag and with brackets.

Free Standing Bag Price

Free standing bags really vary in costs but on average you can expect to pay over $150 and up to $300. Personally not a huge fan of these bags as they make it hard unload fully onto the bag. No matter how much weight you add to the core, it still has a give that is not ideal when you throw a punch. I’ve seen these in a lot of taekwondo or beginner's kickboxing gyms because they won't hurt your limbs and can be good for practicing form before you get on the big boy bags mentioned above.

Set Up Costs

If you don’t already have a setup to hang your bag, you will need to invest a little in setting it up. Most punching bags come with chains and brackets so if you have a beam you can attach it to, you’re good to go. Otherwise you would need to buy a stand. You can get a punching bag stand that comes with a speed bag attachment as an all in one. Or you can get it stand alone. Here are some options, just remember you don't need this and it’s more advantageous to hang it up where you can have 360 degrees of motion around the bag, which these stands wont allow.

How Much Should I Pay

How much you will pay will depend on your goals. The one thing you want to do is consider value along with price. Make sure you aren't getting cheap for the sake of cheap. Read some reviews and make sure you're getting the best bang for your buck because a bag is better a long term investment than a annual purchase. If you spend $150 once every 4 to 8 years, its much better than spending $50 every year because the bag keeps wearing down.

So If I had to answer your question, I’d say for just about any category, try to get a mid price range bag that has good reviews.

Here is what you can expect to pay on average.

Consider Used

If you’re on a budget and need something to hit for a while, I would consider getting a used bag. You can usually get good deals on sites like OfferUp or Craigslist. As always though, use these sites with caution and at your own discretion. There though, a few good deals of people who just need the bags out of their garage but they're in otherwise good condition.

Punching Bags are for Punching, Kicking, Knees, Elbows and More

So get to work! Don’t spend more time shopping than you will training. Try to pick a bag in a reasonable price range and decent quality so you can get to work. Truth is, most notable brands sell good quality equipment. Any of the above mentioned recommended options would work for you.

Nothing left but to get to work!

Drop me a comment below if you have questions or comments.

Brawl all day!

If you’re out researching how to shadow box or this title piqued your interest, then I’m assuming you know what shadowboxing is and will spare you the age-old definitions. This means you’re here to learn how to do it right and are aware that there is a wrong way to do it. Shadowboxing is one of the most important exercises a fighter can partake in and absolutely must be a part of your daily regimen. This exercise can help you fine-tune your style and technique so that you can continue to climb new heights as a fighter.

Many fighters starting out want to skip this exercise because they feel they’re simply throwing punches in the air. Or worse, some fighters treat this exercise as a “warm-up” to the “real workout” which is the ultimate sin.

I’ll assume you know how to throw punches and kicks and if not, I will have tutorials coming soon.

Before we get into how to do it right, let’s talk about why shadow box.

Why Shadow Box

Shadowboxing is an art that affects your skill level on almost every level. It trains your body and most importantly your mind.

It’s Where Habits are Born

Shadowboxing is the part of a fighting workout where habits are built. It allows you to zero in on the way you throw punches, move your head and feet. This can also mean bad habits which is why it’s important to shadow box the right way. When done correctly, you can crystalize your style, your technique, and bodily reflexes. Shadowboxing is a habit-building exercise so make sure you’re using it to build good habits rather than ones that cost you victory.

Speed

No one can argue that for sheer punching power nothing beats the combination of strength training and heavy bag. However, speed is a large part of hitting hard and nothing works your hand speed like shadow boxing. Because you’re not hitting a target in front of you, it forces you to bring your hands back every time in a controlled snap motion. Unlike the heavy bag, where it’s more about releasing the force rather than containing it. This helps builds all the small muscle fibers and the fast-twitch muscles in your body.

Keeping Composed

Because there isn’t a target to hit, shadow boxing teaches you how to throw a proper punch in a fight that will prevent you from losing balance if you miss, yet still having enough sting on it to hurt your guy. It’s all about controlled power. Shadowboxing makes you throw controlled punches without having a target to bounce off of. In fighting, everything you do has to be done in a fashion that can be stopped or changed midway in less than a split second. So you can never throw a punch with the assumption that you will hit your target or you will get countered and get hurt. This is the exercise where you learn to throw correctly.

What it Does to Your Brain

Outside of it helping you on a physical level, it’s one of the best mental exercises for fighting. It creates a mind-body connection because it forces you to think about your combinations, think about the way you’re throwing punches, and creates a feedback loop every time you do it. That’s a good thing if you’re doing it right at least.

Every time you throw a punch or simulate dodging one, there is a neural pathway built in your brain. This is how habits are made. The more you do something the stronger that pathway is built and the more it becomes an automatic reflex for you to do that thing. So if you want to be fast, and amazing at defense in that ring or cage, then you need to practice that in training.

And Everything Else

These are just some things that shadow boxing is particularly good at improving but it also does what most exercises do. Which is to get you physically prepared for the fight and get you ready for battle.

Doing it Right

Shadowboxing can be your best friend or your worst enemy. This is because what you do while you are shadow boxing will be ingrained in your fighting style. So let’s talk about how to shadow box, and how to do it right. But first, setting up:

Where Can I Shadowbox?

The best part about shadow boxing is that it requires no equipment. Just your body and mind to be present. All you really need is a floor with enough space to move around and not hit anything.

Feedback – Mirror, Coach, Partner or SmartPhone

When shadow boxing it’s easy to feel like you’re kicking ass. All you hear is the sound of your own punches and you can imagine destroying your opponent. However, oftentimes you can be dropping your hands, lifting your chin too high, or making other detrimental mistakes without noticing. This is why it is important to have some sort of feedback in place. Usually, the mirror is a go-to for shadow boxing. Many boxing gyms or places like LA fitness have mirrors in place that you can use to work on your technique. The best way is to have a coach watch your sessions and tell you in real-time what you are doing wrong. If that is not an option, you can always shadow box with a partner. This can be a good idea to simulate fights as well, where you can shadow box against your partner(no contact). This will allow you to see when you’re getting countered and when you’re pulling off counters successfully.

If it’s just you in a garage and you don’t have a mirror, coach or partner, just use your smartphone. Record your training sessions and watch that tape later to see how you can improve your technique.

How to Shadow Box

Now that we got all of the logistics out of the way. Let’s talk about how to shadow box while getting the maximum benefit out of it.

Always Warm Up First

Start by doing some light warming up before getting to your shadowboxing. Do not make the mistake of thinking shadow boxing IS the warm-up. It’s far from that, it should be an intense and tiring workout if you are looking to get better. For that reason, go into it warm. Do some light stretching and light punching to loosen up for intensity.

Breathe

It’s funny that one of the most natural things done for survival seizes for some fighters when they begin to throw punches. Over my years of being in boxing gyms, I watched guys and gals get tired quicker than they should because they forget to breathe when they’re throwing punches. This usually means you’re either too focused on your surroundings and don’t want to make funny noises, or not focused enough on yourself that you forget to breathe. Disregard whatever funny noise comes outs naturally as you shadow box, and remember to breathe with each punch. Roy Jones, Pacman, and Mike Tyson are all known to make a lot of noise when shadow boxing, and look at them!

Give It All You Got

I watch too many fighters do 5 rounds of shadow boxing that looks more like a senior home stretching exercise. They are way too relaxed when doing shadow boxing. This isn’t a warm-up to your heavy bag workout or your sparring session. This is THE workout and should be treated as such.

Every time you throw a punch or kick, you’re building a neural pathway in your brain. Every time you throw a lazy punch, you are building a connection for just that, lazy punches. This isn’t only bad because they won’t hurt your opponent, but they leave you wide open for counters.

Every time you throw a strike, ask yourself if you cheated yourself:

Was that the hardest you could throw it?
Was that the fastest you could throw it?
Was that the best form?
Did you pivot?
Did it have a perfect shoulder snap?
Could you have moved your head more?
Was my static hand to my chin?

If the answer to any of these is no, fix it. Make sure you are throwing each punch to the best of its abilities and don’t try to save yourself for later rounds. The whole point of training is to make sure you’re an absolute animal come fight time and can fight like one every minute of the fight.

You can’t be an animal if you don’t train like one.

Move Your Feet

So much emphasis is put on throwing punches and kicks during shadow boxing that many fighters forget its the time to practice your overall game. While shadow boxing, make sure to practice your footwork. Stay on your toes and practice moving forward, backward, side to side, and in circles. It’s a good idea to take an entire round and just work on movement. Step in, step out, dance around, this is the time to practice your footwork finesse.

Move Your Head

This is probably the most important of all. While shadow boxing, try to move your head before or after each combination. This will get you in the habit of countering and getting out of the way of punches once you’re done attacking. Remember, it’s all about building the reflex in your brain to make sure all of this happens autonomously in the fight. Like footwork, you should take rounds to just work on your movement and make sure you’re putting it all you got into each motion. Make it as fast and as perfect as possible each time out. This will turn it into a habit to do it fast and perfect each time.

Feints and Parry’s

Just because you aren’t getting hit, doesn’t mean you should not practice your defense. Work on parrying punches, rolling your shoulder, and feinting. Feinting is definitely a habit that is built during shadowboxing so you want to make sure you practice and perfect it. The art of feinting is very subtle so make sure you aren’t putting too much motion into it. You just have to do enough to trick your opponent’s subconscious mind to set up that perfect shot.

Use Your Mind

If all you do during shadow boxing is throw a bunch of punches and work your stamina, you have failed the exercise. This is the time to engage your mind and not only fine-tune your skills but to imagine your opponent. If you don’t have a partner to shadow box with, picture an opponent. This will help you practice all the skills above in a way that allows you to simulate a fight. This will help you land more realistic punches and learn how to counter better.

The power of mental simulation is real. Here is a study that proves what mental rehearsal technique can do:

At the University of Chicago, a study was conducted by Dr. Biasiotto. He split people into three groups and tested each group on how many free throws they could make.

Here is what he had each group do every day:

The first group practiced free throws every day for an hour.
The second group just visualized themselves making free throws.
The third group did nothing.

After 30 days of doing this, here were the results:

The 1st group improved by 24%.
The 2nd group improved by 23%.
The 3rd group did not improve, which was expected.

THIS is why it is important to visualize a fight every time you shadow box.

Sample Shadow Boxing Workouts

Now that you know how to shadow box, let’s show you a couple of shadowboxing workouts you can freestyle.

Shadow Boxing Workout Option 1 – Simulate the Fight

6 rounds – 4-minute rounds – 30-second breaks

Round 1 – Warm-up

In this round move around, throw light punches, move around and loosen up your muscles. Pick up speed as the round goes on. By round’s end, you should be throwing at full speed. As you are progressing through this round, develop a mental image of your opponent and the type of style you will be fighting.

Round 2 & 3 – Simulate the Fight

Come out being wary of your opponent but 100% sharp and focused on your target. Start setting up shots for later rounds(i.e feint, throw jabs to the body). Make sure to get out of the way after each combo, your opponent is sharp and full of energy in the early rounds. Move your head and throw each punch as fast and as hard as you can.

Round 4 & 5 – Pick Up the Pace

Now that you know your opponent’s quirks, it’s time to pick up the pace. Try not to let more than 3 seconds go by without punching and make sure you continue to implement defense before the counters and after combinations. Whether it’s coming in with a high guard or doing a pull counter, continue simulating the fight.

Round 6 – Unleash

This is the time to win the fight. In this round, throw punches non stop, move your head, move your feet and get the W.

Shadow Boxing Workout Option 2 – Round by Round

6 Rounds 4 minutes 30-second breaks

Round 1 – Warm-up

Each option will require a warm-up. Same as last time, start by moving your head, feet slowly and throwing punches to get the blood flowing and the muscles loose. By the end of the round, you should be throwing at full speed.

Round 2 – Footwork

In this round try to focus solely on footwork. Move forward, backward, throw a few punches stepping in and out. Try to turn your opponent and increase foot speed.

Round 3 – Defense

Continuing the footwork, add defense to the mix. In this round, practice your parries and slips. Move your head back, side to side, and weave. Roll your shoulders and try to work on the form and timing of your counters/feints.

Round 4 – Straight Punches

This round will be the perfection of your straight punches. Throw 50 jabs, perfecting each one and making it better. Then throw 50 straight rights(left if southpaw), also perfecting each. Then 50 straight Jab/Cross combinations, with each combo counting as one. For the combos pick up the speed and make sure both are delivered with power. The closer together in time you can get them, the better. Focus on the perfect mix of form and ferociousness.

Round 5 – Hooks & Uppercuts

Repeat the Formula for Hooks and Uppercuts. Throw 25 of each in perfect form and then mix them up in two punch combos with the remaining time left.

Round 6 – Combinations

In this round work on 2 to 3 punch combinations that you want to perfect. Throw each combo 20 times. Rinse and repeat non stop at full intensity until the time is up.

Shadow Boxing Workout Option 3 – Freestyle With Feedback

6 Rounds – 4 minutes Each – 30-second breaks

The 3rd option is a complete freestyle workout. Which means do whatever you want for 6 rounds, following some of the rules mentioned above.

However, the caveat here is that you need feedback. This can be a coach, partner, or video recording. Make sure you have some way of knowing what you’re doing wrong.

Get to Work

Shadowboxing is one of the best workouts that you can do to build better speed, movement, balance, defense, and great habits when done right. If you have any questions drop me a line below. While some boxers claim to forgo this exercise(not smart) here is a video of what I consider the perfect example of proper shadowboxing. One thing you will notice is this guy doesn’t hold back when shadowboxing. Here is some Mike Tyson as shadowboxing inspiration.

Always remember shadowboxing is to fighters what leg day is to lifters, don’t skip it.

Brawl all day!