5 Ways to Improve Your Shadow Boxing
Shadow boxing is a fundamental part of Muay Thai training. To the uninitiated observer, it can look odd and some may consider it a time-filler, however, in actuality, it's a key part of training which enables practitioners to visualise, experiment, refine and warm-up.
The beauty of shadow boxing is the freedom it provides to do as you please and, given it requires minimal space and zero equipment, when you please. This is an important point, as shadow boxing can be a key way of improving your skills outside the gym and any formal sessions. Therefore, it's important to take it seriously and recognise the benefits it can provide. In this article, we'll show you 5 ways to improve your shadow boxing so that you can learn and improve every time you practice it.
Move, strike and defend just like in a fight
It's often you see beginners shadow boxing without proper motion or conviction as they don't yet understand the importance of it. Yet there isn't any excuse for more experienced practitioners to do the same given the importance of shadow boxing.
There's a ramp up phase when shadow boxing and it's likely you'll want to start slow, steady and loose. However, as you get more comfortable and warmer, pick up the pace, power and movement. Pay greater consideration to defence, countering and tactical thinking – just as if you were sparring or fighting. This last point is crucial as shadow boxing is one of the best opportunities for you to experiment and visualise fighting an opponent. Therefore, Muay Thai practitioners at any level needs to be shadowing boxing as if they were sparring or in a fight – remember not to neglect your defensive manoeuvres!
This is also crucial as it's very easy to develop bad habits in shadow boxing which get ingrained in your memory and then manifest themselves when you're hitting pads or sparring. For example, if you're sloppy with your punches or throw them too short, it's likely you'll do the same (at least initially) when hitting pads.
Eyes forward, visualising a target
Building on the point above, it's important to look forward and visualise a target when shadow boxing. While there is some benefit in looking down and watching your foot movement for refinement purposes, don't do it too much and make a change if you catch yourself doing so for too long. After all, when fighting, looking down and away from your target can result you getting KO'd.
By visualising a threatening opponent, you force yourself to keep your eyes on them as you would a real-life opponent. You can then act and react to their strikes that you visualise. Doing this makes shadow boxing as much of a mental exercise as a physical one. Exercising your visualisation ability will help when sparring and fighting, as you can start to see potential strikes that your opponent will throw and contemplate the best ways to respond.
Focus and refine
As mentioned above, shadow boxing is a great opportunity to experiment and refine techniques. For example, you can use it to hone a specific strike, combination or movement over and over again without any resistance or distractions. This purposeful practice is key to improvement and emphatically building individual aspects of your game, with the goal of making significant contributions to your overall game.
A useful way to do this is by having a particular focus in each round. For example, in round 1 you could focus on visualising a pressure fighter and working out how to deal with them. In round 2 shift the focus with you pressuring them. Or, in round 1 you can focus on movement and boxing. In round 2 focusing on checking and returning kicks. The possibilities and variety are endless.
Move!
Sometimes you may be confined by space when shadow boxing, however, you still need to move in the little space that you have. This is important as stationary shadow boxing does very little for building your skills and cardio, it also makes things highly unrealistic. Yes, many Muay Thai fighters like to stand and bang but that doesn't mean there isn't movement – in fact there is plenty of movement, much of it subtle and graceful. Therefore, make sure to move when shadow boxing. Think creatively about ways you can incorporate movement into and between your strikes and use it as an opportunity to measure how much you move when striking and what range you have.
Place emphasis on your overall movement and work on developing slick head and foot movement. Create angles and think about ways you can employ strikes at different angles for maximum effect.
Be in the moment
While shadow boxing is often used as a warm-up exercise, don't let your mind skip over it in anticipation of the main event. Instead, maximise the opportunities it presents. Focus yourself in the moment and get lost in your shadow boxing. Have your creativity flow and allow yourself to try out new things, refine specific motions, build on strengths, develop game plans and improve on your weaknesses.
Don't think about the rest of the training session, what you'll do after the session or what happened earlier in the day. Instead, focus on the moment and maximise your time. Allow yourself to work freely, with the utmost focus and consideration of your actions. With this mindset and approach, you will find shadow boxing an enjoyable exercise which helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses, while providing an opportunity for you to be creative and experiment with new things which you may not have realised you already know.
