How to Shadow Box the Right Way

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!