All right! So in this video, we're going to go over beginner shadow boxing.
Basically when you're out there shadow boxing,
and you don't have a reference point, you haven't sparred,
you haven't had any fights yet, often people are not sure what to do,
and in their own words, what I often hear is,
"Yeah, like, when I'm shadow boxing, sometimes I just feel stupid!"
And this is a thing for a lot of people who haven't sparred yet,
or maybe don't have that reference point,
when they get into shadow boxing, they're not really sure what to do
or even what state of mind to be in.
When it comes down to shadow boxing,
you know it's a part of a solid boxing plan,
you know it's part of a good boxing workout.
And sometimes you don't have a choice.
You're in a gym setting,
whether it's competitive boxing or fitness boxing,
And the coach says, "All right, time to shadow box.
Ready? Go!"
And for a lot of people this can be a daunting and painful experience,
it's not the same as hitting the pads,
it's not the same as combos being called out bang on the bag,
it's not the same as partner drills,
So, how do you get in the mindset?
How do you know what to do?
Well in this video, I'm going to break that down for you.
And I just got back from Ireland, I was in Waterford County in Ireland,
did a couple of seminars over there
for Mark White Taekwondo & Fitness,
and I'll probably do more of these travelling seminars
to where I have the biggest following.
And so far it looks like London, New York, LA, would be the top spots.
Potentially Amsterdam as well,
and potentially Chicago or Philadelphia
depending on how the numbers stack up.
If you would be interested in a seminar in your city,
Please leave your city name in the comment section below,
drop your city name.
Some of you who haven't sparred yet, or had a competitive boxing match,
may still have reference points
from schoolyard scraps, street fights,
and even though they may not have been official boxing matches,
They really can get you into a reference point.
Because when you're there, starting your shadow boxing,
you could think back to that scrap,
and that's definitely going to make you feel some type of way.
The general state of mind for good shadow boxing
I would describe as alert aggressiveness.
Alert reactivity.
You've got to get the job done.
Because for some people, it's not always easy to visualize yourself
punching someone, or hitting someone, and I know that's the nature of the sport,
but for many of you out there who are just getting started,
it doesn't really appeal to you to picture yourself
punching somebody else in the face.
So here are the steps to get into that groove,
so you can start feeling loose and having more fun with your shadow boxing,
And so that essentially when you're out there, you're not feeling... Stupid!
So the first thing is when you're about to start shadow boxing,
the bell goes, either you're going to start shadow boxing the coach,
or whoever's guiding the session,
or whether you're self-guided, you're going to start.
The first thing that you need to do is start moving.
Nobody said that you had to punch, at least not yet.
So the first thing you're going to do, is you're going to move left and right.
The easiest way to picture this
is just imagine there's a hula hoop in front of you,
and all you're going to do is move around it.
You're going to move around it,
maybe move close to it, maybe move away from it,
until you decide, "All right, now I'm going to throw a punch."
So first thing is, is get into your footwork groove.
If you want to see a boxer do this, one of my favorites is Miguel Coto.
Watch a session of Miguel Coto training,
or watch old Muhammad Ali training sessions,
and you're going to see some beautiful footwork, beautiful movement,
first things first, you've got to start moving left and right.
Okay so now you're moving, now you're in your groove.
Next thing is, you have to hit your target.
The first thing you have to understand before you hit your target
is that you are out of range from this target,
it is not necessarily right there in front of you,
you're going to have to travel a little bit to get to it.
Whether it's a focus pad, whether it's a bag,
whether it's an opponent, or whether it's a double end bag,
you will need to-- to make sense with the whole boxing rhythm
to close the distance.
Now if you want a representation of this,
the easiest way to think about it is, as you're moving around your hula hoop,
in the center of you, at eye level, in front of you, is a ball.
Now imagine it's like a game.
When the ball lights up, it's going to light up for one or two seconds, boom!
You've got to hit it, as many times as you can while it's lit up.
So you're moving around, you're staring at this ball,
it lights up, boom boom boom boom!
And you're going to step in, you've got to step in,
step into that hula hoop, step into that circle,
and hit that ball.
That's an easy way to think about it.
If you are more of an auditory person, not so much of a visual person,
you can picture the ball in front of you, or you can stare sort of in the center,
moving around your hula hoop, moving around your circle,
and just tell yourself, "Go."
And as soon as you tell yourself, "Go," you go.
Boom boom boom boom boom, with your combo.
All right, so you have the general idea,
You're moving around, you're moving around in a circle,
and at some point, this ball is going to light up
or you're going to tell yourself, "Go,"
and you're going to step into the center and throw your combo.
So here comes your next problem: what are you going to throw?
What combo is it going to be?
What combo are you going to throw that kind of makes sense?
Well, most of the time it's going to start with a jab.
So you can sort of start with that.
And it's either going to be a jab to the head,
it's either going to be a jab to the body,
maybe you're going to slip and throw the jab,
and if you want to know more about the jab,
definitely check out my free jab video.
Everything you need to know about the jab,
it's going to cover a lot about distance and starting combos,
it's all in there, definitely check out that video.
So you have an idea to start with the jab,
okay, what else are you going to put after the jab?
It's kind of like when you're going to go to a club,
when you're going to go out dancing.
You've got to have at least your basic move,
you've got to have at least your basic move
that's going to keep you in the groove most of the night.
And that's going to be, essentially, your two-step.
So you've got to have the equivalent of a two-step in boxing.
And your two-step in boxing is going to be your basic combo,
usually your one-two, your jab-cross,
or your one-one-two, that's where it all starts.
And if you're out there on the dance floor feeling fly,
feeling good about yourself,
that's when you can bring in extra dance moves
to really show off and really impress.
In boxing you've got your one-two jab-cross,
you've got your one-one-two double jab-cross,
it can be anything after that, and that's where you've got to put things together,
if you want ideas for combos,
check out my interactive home boxing workouts,
you can check out my app, which has-- which develops free combos for you,
just try to get down-- there's combos everywhere!
Combos on my website, in my blog, combos on my other videos,
try to get down about four to five combos that you like.
These are what you're going to go with,
and from there, you can build tons and tons and tons of variation.
Okay, so you've got that.
You're not necessarily picturing yourself hurting somebody,
you've got your ball in front of you, either it lights up,
or you hear an auditory cue in your mind that says,
"Go!" You step in,
Boom boom boom boom! You throw your punch.
What do you do when you're done?
Now you have to get out.
It's like in basketball, you've got three seconds in the key.
You've only got so much time that you're allowed to be in there
throwing combos, and then you've got to get out.
Okay, there are a ton of ways to get out after your combo.
The most basic way is that wherever you went in,
you get back out that way.
And then you start moving around your hula hoop again,
then you start dancing around in a circle.
But if you want more, check out my exit strategies video,
I'm going to leave a link right here,
check out that video, and that's going to give you a ton of ways
to get out after you step in and throw your combo.
Okay, so you've got the basic idea down.
You're going to be circling around, moving with footwork,
stepping in to attack, and then getting out.
It does require a little bit of homework.
I suggest you at least have four or five combos that you like,
that you can easily go with.
And all you've got to do is visualize the target,
and have-- give yourself a cue point.
So you've got a target you're moving around,
either the cue is visual or it's auditory in your mind,
or you can program one of my apps to give you a cue,
like, to say the number one, and then you go,
and then you bang that out as fast as you can,
and then you've got to get out.
So these are my guidelines and ideas for how to have fun shadow boxing,
how to keep it relevant,
how to get a good workout and how to not feel stupid doing it.
In the meantime, get working,
and I hope this stuff really helps you build the sequencing
and the confidence and fun into your shadow boxing.