Watch Two Minutes on the Heavy Bag With an App Calling the Combos

Give most people a heavy bag and two minutes, and they’ll throw the same jab-cross for most of it. Picking the next combo while you’re tired takes effort, so you fall back on the one you know best.

The Shadow Boxing App is a boxing workout app that makes that choice for you. It calls out combos during the round, and your job is to throw them. This video is two minutes of bag work with the app doing the calling, using punch numbers: a call like 5-4 means a lead uppercut followed by a rear hook. We go into more detail on how the app calls out punches in a separate article.

The calls are what make the round useful. You end up throwing punches you’d skip on your own, like uppercuts, and you react to what you hear instead of running a plan you made up in advance. When you try it, keep your feet moving between combos rather than standing still and waiting for the next call. Two minutes is also a good length to start with, a minute shorter than a pro boxing round, so your punches stay sharp until the bell. The app is free to download, so set your phone near the bag and give it a round.