I used to think shadow boxing was just warming up. Boring filler before the "real" training.

Then my coach made me shadow box for 6 rounds straight. No bag, no pads, just me and a mirror. It was humiliating. My form was trash, my footwork was lazy, and I was dropping my hands after every combo.

Now I do 3 rounds of shadow boxing before every session and my technique has improved more from that than from anything else. You can't hide bad habits when there's no bag to absorb your sloppy punches.

Anyone else have a shadow boxing routine? What do you focus on?

All I wanted was: set rounds, set rest, press start, hear a bell. That's it.

Every timer app I found was either full of ads, required a subscription, or had 47 features I didn't need. I just want to hit the bag without watching a 30-second ad between rounds.

So I built BoxTime — a dead-simple round timer for boxing, Muay Thai, MMA, whatever. You set your rounds, rest time, and go. No account, no subscription, no interruptions.

Features I actually use:

• Custom round/rest times
• Warning bell at 10 seconds
• Different sounds for round end vs rest end
• Works with screen off (this was huge for me)

But honestly, even a kitchen timer taped to your wall works. The point is having STRUCTURE in your training. Random bag work without timed rounds is just cardio with extra steps.