practicing defense alone

[StrictlySP]

Hi jonbonez152,
You wrote:

I am a college student in the middle of nowhere and there are no martial arts gyms any where close. I have boxed for the past few years and want to get back into it. There is a bag at the school gym which i hit and i also shadow box. Is there any way for me to practice my defense other then just shadow defense drills? thank you

In terms of solo training your defensive skills, I have three suggestions for you:
1) Stand in front of your TV or computer and watch a boxing match, picking one of the combatants to go up against and, assuming a "first-person" perspective, go up against him as if you were actually fighting him yourself.

2) A more personal and effective way to implement suggestion #1 is to have a friend videotape you shadow boxing (maintaining a front-facing position to the camcorder the entire time whether stationary and/or moving around) then watch it as I recommended above, going up against yourself.

You can make this training method even more effective by filming yourself shadow boxing in slow-motion, medium speed, and full-speed so that you can practice responsive defensive maneuvers in gradient levels.

If you want to work on specific areas of your defense/counter-offense, make specific videos addressing those concerns.

3) First-person and third-person visualization - stand or sit with your eyes closed and conjure up an adversary to fight then do so in your mind's eye, working on overall or specific defensive maneuvers in the process. Spend one to five minutes on this practice whenever you can.

Anyway, hope this helps you out...

Take Care,
Lito