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Shadow boxing

What it means

Working technique in the air with no partner and no bag, usually as a warm-up. It looks like the least serious part of a session and is where most technical correction actually sticks.

Thai gyms shadow box a lot, often in front of a mirror and often for longer than visitors expect. Trainers watch it closely, because errors are easier to see without a bag hiding them.

If you want to keep something after you go home, this is the part that travels. It needs no equipment and no partner.

Related

Words that go with it

  • Pad work

    Rounds worked one-to-one with a trainer holding Thai pads, where you throw combinations and he corrects them as you go. It is the centre of a Thai session and the reason people fly there.