All you need to know about Shadowboxing

Fitness is one area where one needs to keep evolving and rediscovering new forms of exercises. If your daily workout is not exciting, may be you need to rethink your fitness plan. The latest workout that’s trending in the fitness circles is Shadowboxing. An exercise used in the training for combat sports, it is used mainly to prepare the muscles before the person training engages in stronger physical activity. Even actor Akshay Kumar confessed to have taken a liking for shadowboxing for his latest film. Also, Muhammad Ali had once performed a shadowboxing routine next to Howard Cosell for a popular sports show.

In shadowboxing, only one person is required to participate; the participant throws punches at no one in particular. It’s almost like hitting an imaginary opponent following technical moves by mimicking a strike, punch or kicking the air. You can prepare the muscles through this before engaging in a stronger physical activity and maintain a fighter’s rhythm. On an average, one burns around 750 calories or more in 55 minutes in this high-intense cardio workout. Bodycombat™ by Lesmills (group exercise body from New Zealand) is also a similar empowering group fitness cardio workout where you are totally unleashed. This fiercely energetic programme is inspired by mixed martial arts and draws from a wide array of disciplines such as karate, boxing, taekwondo, tai chi and muay thai which is done to extremely energetic music and is a pre-choreographed class.

Four Steps
Front kick
Knees are bent and lifting a leg, you extend and kick it forward with force. Contract your quadriceps and bring it back or retract it.

Back kick
Lean forward and use your glutes to power the kick. You are striking back at the hip level or even higher. The other steps include a Side Kick and a Roundhouse Kick.

The Hook
Keep your elbows at 90 degrees. From guard stand, you can take your elbows to the shoulder level imagining you're striking an opponent on the cheek, but the elbow remains bent. Make a shoulder and torso movement.

Jab cross
Make a protective stance, where both your hands are close to the chin to guard yourself and move one shoulder forward and extend that arm to punch and retract. Then extend the other arm, punch and retract again in a quick movement.

Benefits

• Gets you fighting fit and looking ripped
• Improves heart and lung function and reduces the risk of heart disease
• Tones and shapes key muscle groups
• Maximises calorie burn during and after your workout
• Develops coordination and agility of a mixed martial arts warrior
• Teaches you the moves of an elite martial arts expert
• Improves bone density
• Improves posture, core strength and stability
• Builds self-confidence and power