10 Muay Thai Shadowboxing Drills for Beginners

RUN THESE SHADOWBOXING DRILLS WITH FOCUS, INTENT & CLEAR VISUALIZATION 

By Evan Lee

Beginners may be confused by shadowboxing and not understand the purpose of it. I’m here to change that. 

Shadowboxing is used often at the beginning of a training session. It is a fantastic way to get the body warmed up and ready for the training to come.

Furthermore, it is also a way to get your mind warmed up. In fighting and in sports in general, your mental preparations and skills are just as important as your physical ones. If you’re not mentally focused, you will not be able to play to your physical capabilities. Think about athletes who choke when the pressure’s on. Failing to do something they’ve drilled a million times before because they lose focus. Shadowboxing is an opportunity for you to think about and focus on the training that you have ahead and to build focus itself. 

But shadowboxing isn’t just a great mental and physical warm up, it is also the opportunity to build your skills. When fighters shadowbox, other than drilling specific techniques, they like to imagine that they are in a fight. This is an opportunity to experiment in your head with different responses and try your best to simulate a fight in your mind, identifying any possible mistakes you could make and correct them. This not only gets you into the fight mindset but also lets you test ideas. 

But before you can get advanced, you must build a strong foundation of basics: 

10 Muay Thai Shadow Boxing Drills For Beginners

Testing Your Fighting Balance

One of the most important things to pay attention to when you’re shadowboxing is your balance. Balance is the most important aspect of movement. If your balance is compromised, everything else is compromised. You cannot punch, kick, knee, or elbow if you cannot even stand properly. Even if you can, you will lose much of your power. 

Shadowboxing is an opportunity for you to make sure that your balance is in order, an opportunity to make sure all your techniques are flowing together rather than falling clunkily from one move to the next. 

When you are beginning shadowboxing, it is good to focus on specific techniques to drill repeatedly rather than treating it as if you’re sparring. It is the opportunity to make sure that every single one of your techniques is drilled to perfection. Once you have single techniques down, then you can move on to combinations of techniques.

But before you get advanced, you must focus on the basics of technique and balance. It may not be as fun as treating it like sparring, but it is extremely important especially as a beginner. The better your base of technique and balance, the more weight you will be able to put on it in the future. Furthermore, you are learning to drill. Drills make skills, and the more patient you are with your drilling, the better you will be. 

So get some good shadowboxing in, warm up your mind and body, drill your techniques, improve your balance, and kick some ass.