In any martial arts, like Mixed Martial Arts, Muay Thai, or Boxing. Shadowboxing is an underutilized tool that can benefit any fighter, regardless of age, gender, or skill level!
Anyone can shadowbox; all you need is an area that is at least as big as your wingspan. Shadowboxing is free, effective, and helps build and improve foundational skills. Today, Evolve Daily is pleased to share a guide on seven shadowboxing drills to improve your MMA game.
Benefits Of Shadowboxing
Although punching the air may not seem like a highly effective training method, shadowboxing has many benefits!
One benefit is learning how to miss a punch “correctly”. Oftentimes, missing a punch will cause a fighter to lose balance and stumble forward a step, leaving them open to a counter. Shadowboxing, by nature, forces you to keep your flow and balance, whether or not you make contact with your opponent.
Shadowboxing also brings out your natural potential for speed. Just look at boxing legend Manny Pacquiao; he has some of the fastest hands in the sport and he heavily focuses on shadowboxing!
Work Individual Techniques
Shadowboxing is a perfect opportunity to get quality repetitions for various techniques. For example, spend a full round just throwing the standard jab. Then spend a full round circling to the outside while jabbing. Spend a third round adding feints and body jabs, while continuing to circle to the outside of your imaginary opponent’s power side. Structuring your rounds in this manner will lead to vast improvements in short amounts of time.
It is common practice in Muay Thai to start each training session with a high number of repetitions of teeps and roundhouse kicks. Golden Era fighters are known to do a thousand of each type of kick as a warm-up!
Boxing Focus
Spend a number of rounds focusing on your boxing. Even in MMA, having the threat of skilled boxing in the pocket is a huge advantage.
Occasionally throw a teep or low kick after a combination, but focus on landing your jab. Once you visualize your jab landing, you can start to set up different combinations on your imaginary opponent. While throwing punches, be sure to imagine and respond to your opponent’s counters. The video above is a follow-along boxing-focused shadowboxing workout!
Kickboxing And Muay Thai Focus
Incorporating kicking into your shadowboxing practice will elevate the fluidity of your standup game. Practicing the retraction of a kick, after not making contact, is one of the hallmarks of a truly skilled kicker. The heavy bag, while being a useful tool to develop power, can ingrain bad habits into a fighter. These habits compound with kicks, as they are more complex than punches by nature. Shadowboxing helps to fix these bad habits. If you cannot maintain balance after a kick, you will know very quickly in shadowboxing.
The first kick to drill in your shadowboxing is your teep. Having a good teep is like having a good jab – you will find that other strikes are easier to set up. For beginners, it’s recommended to start light. Building the habit is the most important part and the volume and intensity can be built from there!
Start your shadowboxing routine with 50 lead teeps, followed by 50 rear teeps. Once you feel comfortable with that volume of kicking, progress to alternating lead and rear teeps. You can opt to drill for a straight round, instead of counting kick repetitions.
This same concept can be applied to the rest of your striking arsenal! Above is a short follow-along Muay Thai shadowboxing video for those who prefer guidance.
Wrestling Focus
Shadow wrestling is less common, but no less useful. It has similar benefits to shadowboxing; shadow wrestling helps build muscle memory and fluidity while being able to train solo.
One key wrestling drill to work in shadow is your penetration step. This is used in a great number of takedowns, making it an efficient use of time.
Start by practicing a solid stance for wrestling – knees bent, elbows in, and low to the ground. From here, take one of your feet and place it directly behind your other foot. This position allows you to push off your back foot for an explosive step in. Once you step in, you gently transition to the knee of your lead leg, using the momentum to step your rear leg through. As you step through, lock your hands in either a gable or s grip, visualizing your opponent’s legs. Watch Coach Brian of Peterson Grapplers go in-depth on working the penetration shot in shadow work above.
Your wrestling shadow work should also include common defensive techniques such as down blocks, sprawls, snap downs, and feints.
Downblocks are used to stop a single-leg takedown attempt by your opponent. To down block, swing one leg backward while reaching the same side arm to the floor.
Sprawling is a go-to defense against a takedown and should be drilled repetitively. Practice getting your hips to the floor, then circling out and returning to your standup stance.
Snap-downs help you counter overly aggressive wrestlers constantly looking for the shot. Make sure to keep your arms bent, so as to not overextend, during the snapdown.
Feinting can be a simple level change. Practice using as little energy as you can per feint; the more efficient the technique, the more fluidly you will be able to use it effectively in a real fight.
The video demonstrates down blocks, sprawls, snap down, and feints. Watch for visual inspiration!
Extended Cardio Round
Shadowboxing can be a powerful way to increase your cardio for MMA. Instead of the usual round structure, consider adding one very long round to your training routine.
When done properly, this style of shadowboxing can be a substitute for running. For this to be effective, you must shadowbox at fight speed and intensity.
You can still structure your long round, but always stay moving and keep throwing strikes. Be sure to visualize an opponent going for a takedown and sprawl appropriately.
Shane Fazen of Fight Tips demonstrates and explains the benefits of an extended shadow round in the video above.
Conclusion
Shadowboxing could be the training tool you need to elevate your MMA game to the next level. Over time, you will develop your own shadow flow. Happy Training!
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