T Nation

Shadowboxing with Dumbbells

#1

Hi all,

Recently was an article posted here which was bashing shadowboxing a lot.
The arguments used was it changes your motor pattern, does not help you accelerate your punch etc. It was called the dumbest of all excercises …

Whats your take on it ?

Yes it does change your motor pattern e.g. you need to prevent full extension when performing this exercise…

For me it helps i can say even after 10 years of Kickboxing. It helps training to keep you hands up when fatigues , it helps me “conditioning” explosiveness and it is a useful tool for boxing.

Whats your take on it ?

#2

Just to be clear, was it bashing shadowboxing or shadowboxing with DB’s?

Can you find the article?

#3

I’m assuming @dnbjoe was referring to this article.

#4

Do sprinters sprint with ankle weights?

#5

I’ve done it before with a pair of fairly light weights for a giggle, I’d imagine over time it’d be hard on joints + largely if not not totally ineffective as a means of building punching power…it’s just FEELS like it should.

#6

I’d like to hear more about this too - I use 1 pound dumbbells for about 4 minutes total of shadow boxing

#7

sorry, i was referring to an the posted article about shadow boxing with dumbbells… did not realize it proofreading…

#8

yes the other article too… but i was actually talking about this article. where they even showed a picture of GGG clearly failing in training and doing everything wrong… :wink:

#9

and the experiment proofs nothing, in my opinion:

Of course you jump less high after you performed a workout (jumping with weight vest) compared to your jump when you are fresh.

The test would be useful if one group trains for weeks only high jumps and the other groups does high jumps and weighted jumps. And after weeks you compare the training progress…

whats your view ? Are you incorporating shadowboxing with weights? Are you experiencing benefits ?

#10

Boxing gloves do come in various weights so the dumbbells shouldn’t weigh more than the gloves you wear.

#11

Y
Hahahha, yeah this guy will never go places either…

#12

PBF could shadow box with ice cream cones in his hands and still end up being one of the goats.

#13

No, but they do resisted sprinting (sprinting with a parachute attached to you to increase resistance) and hill sprints.

The difference is of course that resisted sprinting does not change the force vectors enckunter d in regular sprinting, while shadowboxing with dumbbells does.

#14

1 lb weights make sense in that most men wear 16oz gloves when sparring to protect their hands. But, why not just wear your gloves to shadow box in that case?

#15

The funny thing is, like shadow boxing with weights, there are some coaches who don’t believe in sprinting with resistance because it alters running form.

#16

That might be true, but, just like many boxing coaches are very “traditionalist” in their views on resistance training, that doesn’t necessarily mean those who hold such views are correct.

Stephen Francis and Glenn Mills (Jamaica’s 2 most well known and decorated sprinting coaches and coaches to athletes like Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell) utilize and are strong believers in the benefits of resisted sprinting (though they prefer pulling sleds with up to 50 lbs and/or steep hills to parachutes) to increase acceleration speed as well as to build strength in the legs for sprinting. Pretty sure Gatlin, and most World Class sprinters engagg in such resisted sprinting drills as well. Till someone starts beating them consistently and claims that such resisted sprinting is interfering with sprinting mechanics, it seems to me like people making such claims don’t have much evidence to support those claims.