The Shadow Boxing Blog
Updates about our iOS and Android app, training advice, technique breakdowns, gear guides and workout ideas: everything we write about boxing ends up here.
Boxing Fundamentals
Boxing as a New Dad: How to Keep Training When a Baby Arrives
I have two kids and kept boxing through both arrivals, about two hours a week. What I and the other dads at the gym learned about training on no sleep: warm up more, spar less, go defensive, get a bag at home, and why it is worth keeping up.
Level Changes in Boxing: Why You Need to Mix Head and Body Shots
Punching only at the head makes you easy to read. How going to the body pulls the guard down, the head-body and body-head patterns worth learning, and the tactic of training your opponent to expect one level before you hit the other.
Body Combinations in Boxing: Six Combos Worth Drilling
Body shots work best inside a combination. Six head-body and body-head combos to drill, the rules that make them land, and why the hook to the body followed by the uppercut to the head was Mike Tyson's signature.
Boxing Mobile Apps
Sidelined From Football, Started Shadow Boxing: A Review From Jaden
Jaden couldn't play football and wanted something for fitness and coordination. Their review of the Shadow Boxing App describes exactly the kind of start we want to make possible.
The Only App With Guided Boxing Sparring
Boxing apps train one person at a time. The Shadow Boxing App is the only one that runs guided sparring for two people: a spoken rule for every round, roles that swap, and light contact from start to finish.
Android Has Caught Up With iOS, and the Play Store Reviews Show It
A new batch of Play Store reviews for the Shadow Boxing App on Android, from fight prep to sweating more than at the gym, with our reaction to each one.
Boxing Videos
Video: A Quick Shadow Boxing Warmup Drill at the Gym
A short clip of a quick shadow boxing drill with the Shadow Boxing App, used to warm up at the gym, and how to run the same kind of warmup yourself.
Watch: Doubling the Jab, Then Following With the Cross
A short clip of a shadow boxing round with the Shadow Boxing App built around the double jab, the cross, and a few combos that grow out of them.
Light Punches, Then Power: A Heavy Bag Round on Video
A short clip of a heavy bag round with the Shadow Boxing App that alternates non-stop light punches with powerful combos, and why that switch between relaxed and hard is worth drilling.
New Features in the Shadow Boxing App
New in the App: Edit Any Workout and Make It Your Own
Every workout in the Shadow Boxing App can now be opened in the workout editor. Swap an exercise you don't like, add rounds, change the timing, and the app adapts around your changes.
Beyond Combo Callouts: Strength, Footwork, Rope, Bag and Sparring
Most people find the Shadow Boxing App because they saw it call out punches. It does plenty of that. It also runs strength rounds, footwork drills, jump rope, speed ladder, heavy bag work and guided sparring, like a real boxing class.
Why a Boxing App Teamed Up With a Travel Photographer
The story behind Round Zero, the short film and photo series we made with photographer Guillaume Flandre and boxing trainer Phap in Da Nang, Vietnam, and why a small boxing app is making films at all.
Heavy Bag for Boxing
Wrist Pain After the Punching Bag: Why It Happens and What to Do
Sore wrist after hitting the heavy bag? The usual causes, from gear and alignment to punching too hard, how to fix them, and when to rest or see a doctor.
How to Train Explosiveness on the Heavy Bag Like a Pro
Hitting the bag hard for three minutes does not build explosive power. Here is how boxers actually train it: short maximum-effort bursts, real recovery, snap over shove, and a couple of rounds you can run this week.
Starting Heavy Bag Training With the App
Beginner tips for heavy bag work: keep the power down, mix speed and impact, move your feet. Plus how the app guides bag sessions.
Learn Boxing with an App
How to Recover From Boxing Training: Cooldown, Sleep, Food and Rest Days
Recovery starts before the first round. How to pick sessions you can come back from, cool down and stretch after training, and use sleep, food and rest days to keep boxing week after week.
How to Warm Up for Boxing: A Simple Routine That Works Anywhere
A boxing warmup in three steps: mobility with a focus on breathing, raising your heart rate, then light shadow boxing. A routine of about 17 minutes you can do with no equipment, and how the Shadow Boxing App handles warmups when you want them done for you.
Sparring Tips for Beginners: When in Doubt, Hands Up and Jab
A simple rule for your first sparring rounds: when you don't know what to do, raise your hands and throw jabs. Why it works, where it stops working, and how to drill it alone or with a partner.
Best Boxing Gear
What Size Hand Wraps to Buy: The Longer the Better
Why 180 inches is the minimum for hand wraps, what extra length does for your wrists and knuckles, and why longer wraps are worth the extra time.
Can You Wear an Apple Watch While Boxing? Shadow Boxing, Bag and Sparring
Shadow boxing with an Apple Watch is easy. Wraps and gloves make it trickier. Where to wear it on the heavy bag, why to leave it out of sparring, and how to close your rings either way.
Boxing at Home: Punching Bag, Jump Rope and Speed Ladder
Three cheap pieces of boxing equipment that cover different things and work well together at home. What each one trains, and how the app handles all three.
Jump Rope For Boxing
The Boxer Skip: How to Learn Boxing's Signature Jump Rope Step
The boxer skip is the jump rope step you see in every boxing gym. What it is, why boxers prefer it to the basic bounce, a four-step way to learn it, and the mistakes that slow people down.
On Holiday? The Jump Rope Is the Only Boxing Gear to Pack
A jump rope weighs a few ounces, fits in any bag, and keeps your boxing conditioning alive on holiday. Here is how to use it, with help from a boxing app.
Lay the Rope Down: Jump Rope Footwork Drills for Boxing
Lay the rope on the floor and it becomes a footwork tool: a line to step over and punch, a circle to move around. Here is how the app uses it.
