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Zach Zinn
Zach Zinn's picture
Shadow boxing/Shadow sparring for self defense

One of my goals during the pandemic is start doing this more often. I have experimented a bit in the past and let it go, now I am returning to it as a central project for three reasons.

The first and most important reason is just that I feel like it's a good time to develop personal attributes so that they are improved upon returning to in-person training. This, bagwork, makiwara, perhaps some padwork with my wife if she's willing to hold pads (she's a student of mine, though has been on hiatus for a while).

Secondarily is simply that I need to lose weight and work on my general fitness a bit, and this would be one part of that.

Third is simply that it's the closest I can get to moving in the same way I would in any kind of partner training (hopefuilly) in our current solo-training enforced environment.

The first workout I came up with is basically some warmups (e.g.knee-to-elbow, jumping jacks, light dynamic stretching), followed by repetitions of 2-3 sections of kata application 10 times or so, with emphasis on movement speed and "recovery" in between repetitions. The last bit is freeform movement in a cricle, then freeform shadow sparring while holding light weights. I like to use the corners of my room as "centerlines" to move around.

It of course can look different than kata, just as it would when applying it on a person. So far it's working well in terms of heavy cardiovascular exercise, and giving me a new way to work applications without a partner.

It was years ago that I searched for this online, but as I became interested in it this time around I ran into the same problem as I did years ago: Most of the resources online are boxing/kickboxing based, and I feel like they could be adapted specifically to a self-defense model, at least in places. Of oruse I know a part of this is just about conditioning, so I know that kickboxing/boxing tutorials are perfectly adequate for Karateka, just wanting to hear some ideas and brainstorming.

I'm wondering how other people do this, and what changes they would make to a typical shadowboxing workout, if any.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Last week I added a solo training workout to the app which was a mix of solo pad drills and three different kinds of shadow fighting. There’s a video that explain how the workout works, and there is an audio file that guides you through the full workout. For the purposes of this thread, it’s the shadow fighting components that are relevant. The three shadow fighting rounds are:

Round 1:  Shadow Boxing

Round 3: Shadow Kata Bunkai

Round 5: Shadow Self-Defence Scenarios

Zach Zinn wrote:
Most of the resources online are boxing/kickboxing based, and I feel like they could be adapted specifically to a self-defense model, at least in places.

They are, but it’s very easy to do the same things for all kinds of combat. We just need to be mindful of the context and ensure we visualise the situation as sharply as we can. In the workout, the intent is to have people do a mix of consensual fighting, kata bunkai (which includes a lot of pre-active methods), and self-defence. Each one is obviously has different objectives and is structured differently. 

Round 1:  Shadow Boxing

This is your standard shadow boxing and is done from the perspective of consensual violence i.e. a willing exchange with another martial artist. I put a snippet of the associated instructional clip out on social media.

Round 3: Shadow Kata Bunkai

Kata itself its obviously “shadow bunkai”, but the aim here is to vary the movement by visualizing many different scenarios i.e. different builds, different entrances, different exits, etc. In the app, I show how this would work with regards to Kushanku / Kanku-Dai / Kosokun-Dai. The video shows the kata movement and then gives examples of how it can be varied in free-flowing drills while visualising different scenarios. I do it sequence by sequence as I work my way through the kata in the app, but it is possible to work it randomly. I’ve not shared that instructional footage publicly, but there’s an old clip of me working something similar (not the same) with Tekki / Naihanchi on social media.

Round 5: Shadow Self-Defence Scenarios

I’ve no footage for this, but the way it works is the audio file shouts out various self-defence scenarios that the person doing the workout needs to react to i.e. “enemy throw a right hook”, “enemy tries to tackle”, “enemy pulls a knife with their right hand”, “enemy secures a headlock”, etc. The person visualises the situation and immediately establishes dominance before escaping. All scenarios and actions are done from the perspective of non-consensual criminal violence. Kata bunkai obviously has a role to play here, but in this round we have to react with the right bunkai for the stated circumstance.  In Round 3, we were working through a given kata.

The workout can be found in the app here:

Main Menu > Misc Techniques and Drills > Solo Training Ideas > Solo Training > Visualisation Based Solo Workout (Audio and Video).

If you are not an app member, and you’d like a free trial, please email app@iainabernethy.com and we will get you set up so you can give it a go.

While not the scope of this thread, the workout also includes solo pad drills; which I guess is a form of shadow fighting. A clip of that was also shared recently:

 

Zach Zinn wrote:
It of course can look different than kata, just as it would when applying it on a person. So far it's working well in terms of heavy cardiovascular exercise, and giving me a new way to work applications without a partner.

100%! That’s the Round 3 stuff. It’s firmly centred on the kata, but we vary it to be a perfect fit for the visualised situation. It’s obviously no substitute for the live practise of doing exactly that, but it helps support the live practise. It’s also the only option based on current world events. As Zach says, it’s a great workout too!

All the best,

Iain

Zach Zinn
Zach Zinn's picture

Thanks for the details Iain, really invaluable. I had never even thought about the solo padwork thing, which is kind of amazing. It is really fun and I plan on making it a regular thing. So here is the routine I came up with:

30 second jumping jacks

30 second forward jacks or drop stepping each leg

30 second jumping jacks

30 second forward jacks or drop stepping each leg

50 knee to elbow or knee strikes

50 light punches while moving

20 forward leg swings

20 side leg swings

20 inside to outside leg swings

(the legs are mostly to keep my hips loose throughout this, my age, injury etc. make this neccessary)

jab hook, cross combo 10 each side

jab cross, naihanchin elbow combo 10 each side

jab cross, driving elbow + punch 10 each side

shovel hook(s)/forearm shiver/elbow strike ala Seuinchin 10 each side

step outside, strike up center, rabbit punch back of head ala Saifa 10 each side

low round kick/stomp kick combo, 10 each side

hiki uke, front kick, drop back punch head ala Seisan

outside movement, twist head down, crane knee and punch ala Saifa

Circling/free movement using four corners of room as "centerlines" - 2 minutes

Free practice holding light weights - 2 minutes

I have to say this is really fun, and feels like the best I'm going to get to "bunkai practice" without a partner.

I made a small video for my students with some snippets of what I did:

 

I feel like this kind of training is probably (just personally) one of the best uses of my time during this period, and will yield some pretty concrete results once contact training resumes. I tried a few of these with a pad, some worked fantastically, others less so, but I am defintely going to be diving in with both feet to this kind of pad training when I am in the mood for some more physical impact work, that isn't bagwork.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Hi Zach,

Zach Zinn wrote:
Thanks for the details Iain, really invaluable.

I’m pleased it helped :-)

Zach Zinn wrote:
I had never even thought about the solo padwork thing, which is kind of amazing. It is really fun and I plan on making it a regular thing.

It is fun and very relevant to the many kata sequences where we can a locating hand in play.

The undisputed champion of these kind of drills has to be Lee Morrison. Lee’s “Urban Combatives” material is superb … but almost none of his videos are “safe for work”. Well worth a watch, but only when the young and those offended by “bad language” are not in ear shot. Here’s some examples he’s put online:

 

 

Zach Zinn wrote:
So here is the routine I came up with:

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing this and the video. Lots of good ideas for people to play with and benefit from.

All the best,

Iain