shadow boxing?

[HerbM]

I used to think shadow boxing was just a warm up and didnt help with anything besides warming. Then i talked to a guy at my gym who is a pro heavy and fought Holyfield and he corrected me. It was him who told me to visualize an opponent in front of me and focus on my technique. This may sound stupid has i have been hit in the head way to many times, but im still not sure how shadow boxing helps other than it is an exercise where you focus mainly on technique therefore improving it. All i know is that to this day it still helps improve my form. If i learn something new i apply while shadow boxing and use shadow boxing to sharpen what i learn. It helps to sharpen and improve your skills and technique. So visualize your opponent and focus on your technique and it will help you improve for sure.

It helps you techniuqed because the old saying "Practice makes perfect" is WRONG -- or at best incomplete.

"Perfect Practice makes perfect" -- doing the wrong thing will ingrain that just as surely. So shadow boxing gives you the opportunity to string together perfectly executed techniques into combos.

Yes, you most definitely SHOULD be visualizing an opponent, along with practicing in front of a mirror to ensure your technique is as flawless as you can possibly make it.

Even MENTAL practice is a good adjunct to your training -- in some cases mental practice has been found to be almost as valuable as actually doing the task to improve physical performance.

Mentally imagine your opponent, your defense and your counter attacks - in exquisite detail, going at least through an entire combo with unbroken concentration. See, hear, and feel everything.

Make sure to be "in your body" (not just SEEING YOURSELF) for at least some of this mental practice (well more than half probably, if not all of it.)

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HerbM