Manny Pacquaio Uses Shadow Boxer

We introduced the 'PACMAN' to Shadow Boxer back in Decemeber 2007 courtesy of Tino Ceberano. Manny's hand speed is already legendary but being the perfectionist that he is continually looks for ways to improve his training both from a fitness and fightng perspective. Obviously, our commiserations to Ricky Hatton who unfortunately felt the full force of Manny speed and power.

Shadow Boxer Quick Release Mechanism

Firstly, apologies for not blogging for a while but we have really been inundated with orders. So many more people joining the Shadow Boxer Fitness Club! We do have more posts of some great new exercises in the pipeline.

We were recently asked for a video clip on using the quick release buttons on the belt so we've posted this quick video to help anyone having difficultly.




P.S. this request came from a user of the product that was 70+ years of age and he was keenly using shadow boxer to keep fit and trim! Hats off to Bernie...I'm hope I'm still using Shadowboxer when I get to your age. Keep punching.

Hope the video helps

Do you want a Slimmer, Trimmer, Summer?

Word is defintely spreading about the Shadowboxer VRT and the thing is this is not just with combat enthusiasts, people are starting to realise that exercises that fighters use are good for everyone to tone up and get fit. For a start punching exercises are a simple great way of exercising your entire body, of course if you got to do it right (see our DVD with a professional boxer showing you correct technique). But people are also realising that the Shadow Boxer VRT is not just for punching. It's great for abdominal exercises. So here's one that will not only improve your posture but also make you look a lot slimmer as it targets the lower abs, an often neglected part of the body. Targeting this area has a significant slimming effect as it tends to pull the hip to a neutral rotation position, just this has the effect of making you look as though you've lost pounds. It also happens to be good for you as it encourages better core stability and spinal alignment, which basically means you get less back pain from imapct caused from bad posture whilst walking, running etc. So here's the exercise...

Reverse Crunch



Place the Shadow Boxer VRT belt over your shins as shown in the image. Grasp the handles however it feels comfortable and place you hands on the floor. You can start with the feet on the floor if you prefer.

1. Then raise your feet to 90 degrees as shown in the first picture in the sequence. Please make sure you back is firmly pressed into the floor and not arching.
2. Keeping that hand grips pushed into the floor raise your hips off the floor whilst holding the hip to knee to feet position firm. In other words you are only rasing the hips off the ground a few inches in a controlled manner (not throwing the hips off the ground and usng momentum). ote it is the hip that raises off the ground and the feet follow almost incidentally...NOT the other way around. Breath out as you raise your hip.
3. Slowly lower to the starting position breathing in whilst you do.
4. Repeat 3 sets of 10. This sounds easy but as you will soon discover this may be too much so even if you can only manage a few that's fine to begin with. Vary few people exercise the lower ab muscles and so many won't be used to it and will find it hard to begin with.

The great benefit of this is that you get double whammy due to the fact that you are puching your hands to the ground whilst doing the exercise so you get a tricep workout as a 'Brucie' bonus. No more Bingo Wings.

Advanced Tip

Move your arms out to 45 degrees to your body and that takes the exercise to the next stage...still too easy...refer to out previous post of straight legged reverse crunches (do not try this is you are a beginner)

Is the Shadowboxer VRT too expensive?

To all those that think the Shadowboxer VRT is too expensive...We just noticed this review of the training DVD that comes FREE with your purchase. The boxing capital gang reviewed the DVD. Now I must admit we didn't know they did this but it makes for interesting reading. Click here to read the full review. Now remember the guys at Boxing Capital are either ex-boxers or still keep their hand in so they are talking from experience. They know about punching, overall cardio fitness and competitive fighting. So it's an informed opinion. They also provide in my opinion the most thorough reviews we have had and we are planning to use this expert feedback for future product development, which we could tell you about but then we have to kill you ; )

Anyway, they think it's worth £15+ when compared to all the celeb fitness DVD's out there, so bearing in mind the VRT is selling for £64.99 Free P&P we believe as a total package it represents fair value when you compare it to what's currently on the market. Consider this:

• One months gym membership would cost about the same
• Multi-gyms would cost substantially more and you can't really take them with you. They would be a rather large suspicious bulge in your bag and you might need a forklift to help!
  
• NO product currently offers you dynamic & mobile resistance to your punching and fitness exercises quite like the VRT

(ok ok I'll get off my soap box...and step away from the keyboard).

You gotta be in it to win it!

Urban Krav Maga & Shadowboxer

We recently visited the Central London School of Krav Maga, in Oxford Street under their Senior Instructor Stewart McGill. Stewart has impressive credentials, having been trained by Yamaguchi Hanshi, Goju Ryu and been an instructor with the International Krav Maga Federation. He has also trained with the Israel Krav Maga Association and trains in boxing and MMA so it should come as no surprise that Stewart has a no nosense, no frills and very direct attitude to training. What better place to test the Shadowboxer VRT out but with his students.

So Nigel (Bald guy, professional PT, 20 years of Jujitsu) and I took them through their paces with a 15-20 minute work out. See the video clips for a taste of the session.
After a nice gentle loosener we got them doing some military press sets...just to warm those shoulders up and great for developing punching power and stamina...

As you can see it's hard work and it really works those shoulders. I won't go through the entire workout. But we also did some punching (milling) sets with pads. You don't really need to do this with pads but it is a martial arts class so we thought it would be rude not to.

We finished off with some reverse crunch situps (see 1st picture) and paired resisted sits ups. All in all the Krav Maga students seemed to like the workout and realised how versatile the VRT truly is. As we always say "the proof of the pudding is in the eating". The Krav Maga guys have voted with their pockets and bought quite a few units.
Thanks to Stewart McGill for graciously inviting us to his class and allowing us to teach and thanks to his students, whom gave it everything they had for the workout, they didn't hold back and were truly knackered after the workout. If you would like to know more about Krav Maga Stewart McGill, despite being pretty lethal, is a friendly, approachable guy and would, I'm sure would welcome enquiries.

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.

Dean 'The Renagade' using Shadowboxer VRT on a Heavy Bag

We've been really busy at Shadow Boxer UK and so apologies for not posting for a while. Here's a great little clip of Dean 'The Renegade' Amasinger using the Shadowboxer VRT on the heavy bag. The VRT is designed so that you don't have to hit things and risk damaging your hands but if you want the best of both worlds...

Look out for us in the upcoming issue of Fighters Only Magazine. Keep training.

Warning: Do not attempt this unless you are used to hitting a heavy bag, BARE KNUCKLE.

Fighters Only Review This Month

So you don't have to believe us harp on about how good the Shadowboxer VRT is here's a recent independent review...

You should be able to double click on the article so it's not so much on an eye test.

After some exercises that we recently recommended, Dean Amasinger, a professional MMA fighter said "It increases (punching) speed and power and that snap that you really can't explain...giving you that extra inch that you're really going to need in a fight...it will add to your cardio and your muscular endurance massively...today we were working the abs also and I couldn't believe how hard it was, it was really working the lower abs and it took a lot of focus to use."

After George Hillyard, a professional boxer was recently shown the ropes on how to use it he said "For my punching it makes me sharper and helps with faster hands speed and power. I'm not just saying this 'cos you're here, but its like a mini multi- gym. I was initially using it just for shadowboxing but now I know I've tried that range of exercises I think it's unbelievable. When you think of it like that it's great value."

MORE than just a PUNCH -- Reverse Crunch

Recently, we met George Hillyard, a light middle weight boxer who uses the Shadowboxer VRT. Apart from being a throughly nice chap, it became apparent that after a short discussion that he wasn't aware that the VRT could be used for a wide variety of exercises aside from punching. So we decided to give him a quick run down and he was very impressed after our short session. So it is with this in mind that I have included the following exercise.

THE REVERSE CRUNCH
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1. Loop the Shadowboxer VRT over your feet as shown on the image.
2. The start position is to lay with your back flat against the floor with your legs vertically pointing up to the ceiling. Your feet should flat, do this by pulling your toes back. Your hips is on the ground at this point and you will need to pull the handles back to your waist to they are taught. (hold the handles however feels most comfortable for you, personally I hold the handles in a gun like position by the orange plastic body)
   
3. Now as you breath out lift your hip in a controlled manner (i.e. don't throw the hips) 1-2 inches off the ground, keeping the legs in a vertical position.
   
4. Slowly lower them back to the floor, in a controlled way, breathing in.
5. Repeat 15 reps, 3 times.

This exercise targets the lower part of your abs, which many people struggle with. It is a very tough exercise and so an easier version is to do this laying on your back with your knees bent and the VRT over your shins, so there is less tension on the cables.

These muscles are very important for posture and weaknesses here are the root cause of a lot of lower back pain due to bad hip position. If you exercise this area not only will you look considerably slimmer but your posture will improve. If a beer belly is your probem a few weeks of this and you'll be shocked by the difference.

George and the numerous MMA fighters we work with loved this exercise and that's why we're sharing it...Enjoy.

Warning: if you feel back pain when attempting this exercise, stop immediately and seek the advice of a doctor or professional gym instructor.

Russian Twists -- Lose those 'love handles'!

The Shadowboxer VRT is not just for "super-charing your punches" as one customer put it. There are a variety of exercises that you can use it for. So here's an exercise for not only strengthening your core but it also tones up that common problem area...your obliques AKA 'love handles'. If you're interested in combat, strong punching power comes from a powerful hip rotation so having good abs and obliques is essential.

1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your knees slightly bent
2. Attach the Shadowboxer VRT just above the knees allowing for some space between the legs. Ensure the velcro is firmly in place you can test this by trying to pull your knees apart. The velcro shouldn't budge.
   
3. Place you hands at chest level so there is a right angle between your forearm and upper arm...this is your starting position
4. Now twist to the left and forcefully swing your arms in a circular motion, maintaining the distance between your chest and hands
5. Return to the starting position and repeat on the other side
6. Repeat 3 sets of 8-10 reps

Points to watch

• Don't let the hip rotate forward. Try and maintain a neutral tilt in the hip or even slightly up turned if you can. The buttocks will be held firm if you do this correctly.
  
• Hold a firm stomach as this will engage the abdominal muscles. Tilting the hip as above will help with this also.
  

The beauty of this is no need for bulky multi-gym equipment or humongous crossover machines. You certainly can't take those outside with you to exercise in the little sun shine that we might get in good ole' blighty!

Is the VRT strong enough?

We have just been asked the question about the Shadowboxer VRT and we think it is a good one. We wanted to share the answer with people considering buying a VRT or two.

Question
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I am quite strong and this looks like a great piece of kit. My worry is that it will not be of any real use, is it strong enough?

Answer
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We performed a series of durability tests on a sample batch of the Shadowboxer VRT products (conducted by SGS a Product Testing Company) and we found that the breaking force required was around 40-45Kgs at an extension of 1520mm or 6 stone 4lbs at 5ft extension in old money (per arm!). So someone would have to have a 6 stone punch AND 5ft reach! In other words they would have to punch pretty bloody hard and have arms longer than a fully grown Orangutan!

We have also had a number of 'high mileage units' in corners at a number of boxing gyms. These get used everyday by virtually everyone that steps into the ring. We continually check up on these units to see if all is well...we've had no problems. So we are confident that the product is durable.

Finally, the bald guy in the photos used to be a body builder and regular uses it and coaches people with it. He's fairly strong and we tested him, attaching it around his legs (just above his knees) and got him to do some military presses (pictures as per blog and web site) he was shocked at how difficult it was and struggled to hold the pose for the photo. By the way this is regularly how we get people to try the VRT out for themselves. As soon as they try it out their wide eyes & shock is worth a thousand words and usually are a good indication that it's much harder than it looks...

We have been selling these for a while in Australia (well over a year and supply Rebel Sports, the equivalent of JJB in the UK) and for the VRT2's we have had no reported breakages. In the UK we have not had one VRT2 unit returned and we've sold getting on for 1000 units (we're fairly new in the UK).

We don't just run the business we're users of the product some of us use it as part of our martial arts & fitness workouts, some as part of a weights set, some for boxing (just so you know we're not a bunch of guy's in suits)

I hope this information has been helpful, if you do have any further questions please do not hesitate to email us.

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...

The Glamour of a Photo Shoot...NOT!

So you've seen the images a bald, fairly muscular guy modeling the Shadowboxer VRT, but I wanted to share with you a behind the scenes look at how we created the final images. Yes we went to some great locations in the early hours of a Sunday morning (Tower Bridge, Thames Barrier etc) but there were no make up girls and certainly no movie star type trailers! More like bacon butties and some weird looks from passer bys. In order to get the images we wanted we would go to almost any lengths hence that would be the finance guy propping Nigel the model/fitness instructor up. How about that for a finance job description! Well, faceless corporate organisation we are most certainly not. Nigel, our health guru will shortly be posting an article on Fitness. Watch this space.

Media Appearance #2

The Shadowboxer VRT has recently featured in Ultra Fit Magazine in the 'Hot Products' section. Ultra Fit is a magazine for people serious about fitness. and we are proud that they have chosen to feature us in the Hot Products section.