Here are the Benefits of Shadowboxing at Home
If you’re looking for a great new workout to try for excellent cardio, endurance skills, and that feeling of empowerment where you’re invincible, strong and can fight anything and anyone, then you’ve got to give shadowboxing a shot.
What makes shadowboxing so great? It’s a killer workout—you torch calories in minutes—and it’s super fun. What’s more, it gives you great defensive skills and teaches you to fight so you can better protect yourself in life (but hopefully it doesn’t come to that!).
And since you are employing moves designated for fighting, it provides a feeling of power, so you can gain confidence through movement in your workouts. And if you’re planning on taking boxing classes or have a yearning to someday hop into the ring against a sparring partner, shadowboxing helps set you up for success.
Learning something new is always intimidating, especially with boxing, as it can be scary to learn. But taking classes virtually from your home and learning to freestyle shadowbox can give you the confidence to try it.
Interested? Here are a few reasons to give shadowboxing some love and see how you feel!
It Improves Muscle Memory
“For those people who are just getting into boxing, it can help with retaining the names and movement of each punch,” says Rubie Canton, CPT and boxing instructor at Shadowbox. Boxing requires the use of your whole body, and the more you start to understand how the movement of your body can better fuel your punches, the more of a workout you get.
So, by staring with shadowboxing on your own, without punching the bag or fighting an opponent, you’ll grasp the names, techniques and tools you need to become familiar with the sport.
Develop some fancy footwork
By shadowboxing at home, you can work on movement and footwork, which can help you gain familiarity with the movements. “When in a group environment it is hard to work on footwork because it isn’t really taught so much to a mass group in fear of confusion,” she says.
When you’re at home you can take the time to learn moving forward and back, side to side. Especially when you have a video, you can replay it as many times as you need until you understand it, she says. “Usually during a class if you miss something you have to wait until you take another class but having on demand options are different,” she says. So, if you can, bookmark some videos to watch and learn and practice your technique on your own time at home.
It’s a Full Body Workout
Shadowboxing is beneficial for the full body—arms, core, legs, and glutes. “When boxing in order to be grounded and have balance you need to have your knees bent at all times, thus activating your glutes, calves, and quads whenever you are in your fighters stance,” she says.
Whenever you throw punches it requires your chest, abs, back, biceps and shoulders. It generates so much power! “Most importantly it is all the cardio you need,” she says. If you don’t like running or the treadmill, boxing might be the thing you need to get that cardio fix in and have some fun.
It Helps You Escape
Not only is it great for your body as a workout, but also it’s wonderful for your mind and provides a sense of escape and relief. “Boxing helps you escape reality! There is so much of a thought process that happens when you box that you can’t focus on anything else,” she says. And especially during this time, it helps to have an escape in your own home. Let it empower yourself, break free from routine, and focus on boxing your heart out while you can.
