Work Those Legs...Drive with the HIPS!

Sorry we haven't had a chance to blog recently, but is seems that everyone's is rushing to buy the VRT's for Christmas, so we've been rushed off our feet!

Here's a little exercise that we borrowed from a boxing gym, courtesy of Tony Cesay. We have shared this with many fighters and here's a picture of Dean Amasinger, MMA Team Rough House, trying it out.

Wear the Shadowboxer VRT as shown in the picture and make sure your coach or training partner has a firm grip of the handles.

1. Get within range with a heavy bag and then make sure your trainer/partner pulls back so the cords are under tension.
2. DON'T LEAN FORWARD from the upper body. which is the temptation but instead use your legs to drive forward from the hips keeping the body position upright. Get your trainer/partner to periodically correct you.
3. Do your usual punching sets or sequences on the heavy bag

Advanced tip:
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If you're feeling energetic your partner should move rapidly from side to side destabilising your stance. This means you really have to grip the ground with your legs and drive forward from the hips to hit the heavy bag.

Boxers and martial artists use this to develop strong footwork and using the Shadowoxer VRT in this way makes you very aware of your footwork so you can work it.

Have fun.

Media Appearance #3

Some of the guys at Mens Fitness magazine are getting into boxing training as a way to get fit and hence they are featuring our product in the section "This month, we're really into...". The team at the magazine loved using the product and we're kind enough to feature us. Spread the lurrve...

Milling for basic fitness

The Exercise

Some of you may be familiar with a milling drill for basic fitness. These drills are not just used by fighters but for people that want to get fit in boxercise classes and the like. Your training partner holds some focus pads (keep them reasonably tight together not wide apart) and you stand in a neutral stance, feet should width apart, knees slightly bent and proceed to turn and hit each pad continuously for 1 minute sets. The punches are more thrusting, turning punches instead of jabs.

Common mistakes

• Incorrect body position and people tend to bend over slightly as the hit the pad, try and stand fairly upright i.e. keep your bum in and contract the abs.
  
• The turning comes from the hips and legs primarily but people often use only upper body.
• The hip and shoulder move together as one accelerating the punch forward
  

The Drill

So the icing on the cake is to do this with the Shadowboxer VRT. You need to do this without gloves or some light gloves (such as slim MMA gloves)

Beginners
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3 x 1 minute sets should suffice, if this is too much do less time and/or use lower resistance cables.

Advanced
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If this is too easy for you. wear the VRT back to front and upside down i.e. with the velcro strap facing front and the SB logo upside down facing backwards, this has the effect of shortening the cords, giving you more resistance. My training partner is a professional fitness instructor and martial arts teacher and he even struggled with this.

The Benefits

If you're doing this correctly you will feel it in your legs, buttocks and abs as well as upper body. Torquing the body with each punch (actively using the legs and abs to generate power) is great for an all round body work out.
Try a turning punch after without the Shadowboxer it will feel like you could punch a hole in a wall! It develops great punching power and core punching fitness.

Note:
As most combat officiados will know...THIS IS NOT A FIGHTING DRILL. ITS FOR BASIC FITNESS. The paras do this with live opponents, but this may not be everyones cup of tea.