Reasons why shadowboxing is important and most people are missing the point

Shadowboxing is often seen as a warm-up routine to get the heart rate up, loosen up the body, and sweat a little to prepare for a training session ahead. Besides using it as a form of warm up, spending quality rounds shadowboxing brings benefits and many advantages along the way. Quality shadowboxing increase flow, corrects form, improves speed, and intelligence. It teaches you to focus on visualization for real-time scenario, to prepare for sparring, and in the ring or cage.

Shadowbox practically anywhere

As opposed to grappling, where you will need a partner to practice takedowns and submissions, you can basically train anywhere even if you don’t have a partner. You can shadowbox in your living room, at the park, at your hotel gym, pretty much anywhere so long as you have enough space to move around.

It is always best, if possible, to shadowbox in front of a mirror. Common mistake people do is to look good in front of the mirror, be awed by how good they look shadowboxing. Instead, use the mirror to look for flaws, mistakes that hinder your balance, form, and flow. It teaches you to develop a good eye for corrections to your overall game.

Visualization
Visualization is key to many top elite athletes. Visualizing yourself against different styles of opponents enables you to be comfortable fighting any style. From long range fighting to inside fighting, and clinching, against aggressive opponents, defensive style, or counter fighting fighters. There is no one style fits all, one style beats all in the fight game, by spending enough quality time visualizing and shadowboxing, it will give you a competitive advantage and elevate your game to the next level.

Improves footwork
Footwork in boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai and MMA is very important. With proper footwork, it allows you to move seamlessly while keeping balance. Having proper footwork helps in offence, defence, and cutting angles. Some shadowboxing sessions can be solely based on footwork and movement, keeping the flow in forward, backward and side to side movements. And as you advanced, learning how to cut angles, pivot, and stance changing. Many people focus too much on large muscle groups that they tend to forget that one of the most useful tools that we use daily is our feet. Learn how to take care and use your feet, as it is the only thing that is between you and the ground.

Defence and counters
Almost everyone shadowboxes with a mindset of going into full offence mode. In my opinion, defence is as important as offence, if not, even more important. Spend time adding blocks, head movements, evasions into your shadowboxing routine. It is difficult to train reaction without a drilling partner, but getting into the motion of defending allows your body to get used to the movement and thus, boost your reaction time during live training. Good defence allows great counters, and make pure offensive and aggressive fighters demoralized.

Develop style through quality time alone
Spending time shadowboxing when you are alone is the only quality “me time”, where you can truly express yourself and work on what you need to do and build your style. Usually, during training sessions with your coach or training partners, you follow or learn new techniques that are being taught. But not all techniques suit everyone, due to our differences in size, reach, weight, body anatomy, and basically how we perceive a technique. By allowing yourself to spend quality “me time”, you will be able to enhance and improve techniques taught to you and refine it to your style.

Take time to shadowbox as much as possible and soon you will feel comfortable flowing in bag work, pad work, sparring as an improved fighter.