How to - cedric's edit (do not publish)

Fundamentals

Teaching fundamentals in any athletic activity is not only critical in maintaining consistency and establishing good habits but also key to mastering the required skills.  Without basic skills, it’s hard to progress to more advanced moves.

You need to be patient. Do you remember learning to ride a bike? It was difficult at first, but you quickly went from “unable” to “able” with just a little extra effort. It’s the same with Shadowball boxing. But you have to be patient. We’ve seen people with zero boxing experience be up and running (punching) with the Shadowball in 15 minutes, and we’ve seen experienced fighters walk away with bruised egos. The difference? Some take their time learning the proper skills and techniques, while others want just want to cross the finish line. 

Let’s be clear: what we’re teaching here is Shadowball boxing fundamentals – not boxing fundamentals. We want to show you the step-by-step process to get you up to speed with your Shadowball. Proper boxing stance, footwork and punching techniques should be left to some of our more qualified friends.

We recommend using some type of punching gloves and boxing hand wraps. Alternatively, if you purchased the Shadowball Fitness Pack, use your Shadowball Hybrid Gel Gloves, which are essentially a glove and hand wrap in one. Keep in mind that it's best to warm-up before starting any form of exercise and always finish with a good stretch. 

So here we go…

Shadowball Boxing Basic: The Rolling Uppercuts in four easy steps

Step 1: Two-hand upward throw and catch.

Step 2: One-hand upward throw and catch.

  

If you're using the Shadowball for the first time, please resist the urge to immediately start punching the ball against a wall. Your brain needs time to figure out the behavior of the Shadowball. The best way to start working with your Shadowball is to bounce it against a wall from about two feet away. Throw and catch the ball with two hands for a few minutes. Once your brain understands the dynamics of the Shadowball, you’ll be able to more accurately predict its speed, motion, and trajectory.

Once you’re comfortable throwing and catching the Shadowball with two hands, try throwing it with one hand and catching with two. After this, you can try throwing it and catching it with only one hand. Back and forth, right to left, and left to right. It’s repetitive, but remember that you’re allowing your brain to understand the movement of the ball. Consider it a warm up.

Step 3: Two-punch-catch (boom-boom-catch)

 

Step 4: Rolling Uppercuts

As soon as you’re comfortable “bounce passing” from one hand to the other, you can try short uppercuts, using what we call the two-punch-catch technique - think boom-boom-catch. The idea is to punch the Shadowball twice (alternating hands) and then catch it. Repeat this cycle until you develop the hand-eye coordination and ball control to allow you to punch the Shadowball three times before catching (boom-boom-boom-catch), then four times (boom-boom-boom-boom-catch)… you get the idea. Remember, take it slow and stay close to the wall.

When you can comfortably hit the Shadowball three or four times before catching it, you can move to the Rolling Uppercuts. They’re the same short uppercuts used in Step 3, but now you’ll try to keep the Shadowball bouncing as long as you can. Your first tendency will be to punch the ball too high on the wall to compensate for gravity. This is a normal instinct, but as you gain confidence you’ll start to control the ball using correct distance/speed ratio so you won’t need to angle it as much (another good reason to start close to the wall and gradually move back as you gain experience). The bounce area on the wall will always be at different heights (that’s the point), but it should be from around your mid section to slightly over your head, and not much higher.

Shadowball - boxing fitness for all

Micah's progress 20 minutes into Basic training

 

Micah's third Shadowball boxing session

Micah's progress 20 minutes into our Basic training - proof that our slow and methodical progression approach works.

 

Micah's third Shadowball boxing session, still using the Rolling Uppercuts. Having fun and having a great workout! We will post more vids on Micah’s progress over the next couple of week.