Shadow Boxing Tips: Don't Overextend

Video Transcript

"Next up the area we're going to talk about is not to overextend. That gets a lot of talking about in the boxing world, a lot of differences among coaches, etcetera. Some will say extend as far as you can while you're shadowboxing, others will say don't extend at all. And there's somewhere in the middle where extending enough to get the form, but not--we're not going to pull any muscles and ligaments. The other thing about not extending is we want to try to keep that shoulder above the knees at the same time. When we turn our body, we want to make sure that we're lifting our heel when we're throwing the opposite hand--in this case the left, if I was a southpaw boxer. We don't want to overextend by trying to turn our body without using our legs. Chad's going to demonstrate a few times here on what to actually do to not overextend. Okay, as you can see his foot is going up at the same time he's throwing his power hand. That way he's not pulling those muscles. And on his jab, you still want to keep the opponent as far away as you can, but don't overextend. Don't pull yourself. But you still want to get the full--the full reach. All the time trying to keep your shoulders above your knees. And you'll know after awhile if you extended too far. You'll feel it. Okay, thank you."