Dance and Basketball Study for Shadowboxing (Patreon)

• LMA Curriculum

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"Mine was definitely drill work. Of course, started out with cones, then I'm just using my imagination at this point. I really just try to figure out where a defender will be and just use my imagination with different combos and different body movements. I think the shifting, I just learned that just naturally. I just try to get my defender leaning and just try to really just see him out of the picture. I want to just see the rim or another help defender. So I think just being crafty, different movements with your bodies, I think that'll just change a lot of your ball handling skills." – Darius Garland

I consistently mention throughout the curriculum that perception is more than vision. Perception is also imagination.

I use a small weightlifting studio for my one-on-one martial arts training. Yet despite moving around with my practitioners, we never run into any of the equipment because even though we are not looking, we can imagine where the equipment will be with high accuracy. Fighters and nonfighters alike use this skill all the time.

For martial artists, imagination is not only a thing that can be developed but should be developed.

In two different examples, we see how imagination informs movement and gameplay. The dance sequence has been edited to show the pretend ball of energy that the dancer uses to drive his actions. Perception should drive your decisions; otherwise, your decisions are uninformed.

The ball of energy is consistent, which is important because, just like an object or opponent in real life, it will not disappear and reappear somewhere else. This is the level of consistency and imagination we want to work toward in our shadowboxing and shadowplay. Just as our imagination can tell us where objects in a room are, it can also do the same for the actions of our opponents.

Set conditions to get the most out of your shadowboxing and shadowplay. For instance, regardless of what you're working on, I think you should always practice orthodox vs. orthodox, southpaw vs. southpaw, southpaw vs. orthodox, and orthodox vs. southpaw stances.

Other conditions you can set: jabs only, slips only, blocks only, checks only, teeps only, kicks only, kicks and checks only, punches only, boxing rules, kickboxing rules, muay Thai rules, MMA striking rules (muay Thai with takedowns), and even self-defense.

None of these conditions are static; not only can you vary the stances, but you can also vary the types of opponents and, for self-defense, vary the scenarios. Imagination affords you so many possibilities.

Since self-defense is so nebulous, you can set training goals such as not being cornered, not being grabbed, avoiding haymakers, and multiple opponents.

If you want to make these scenarios more realistic, set fatigue as another condition. Do shadowboxing and shadowplay after conditioning before you have a chance to recover. Not only will it train composure, but it will also familiarize you with the feeling of high arousal and fatigue and how to orient for that.

Under these stressors, you can't do everything you can typically do when you're fresh and confident. You also have to modify your pace and your breathing. Your concentration will be limited. Perhaps you're underslept on top of being tired. What better way to safely assess what modifications you must make when you're at your worst than through shadowplay.

A lot of what you do at the beginning of the round might be buying time, lowering your arousal, and catching your breath. De-escalation, as far as LMA is concerned, means reducing arousal and buying time to think and plan. Most often, who you are de-escalating is yourself.

For example, when I am tired, I tend to cover up more and rely on hand techniques because they're more accurate, more energy efficient, and less likely to throw me off balance. I'm also more economical with my footwork and more likely to look for counters.

However, none of these adaptations happen unless I understand I am a different person when aroused or tired. I need to safely experience that. It is impossible for me to use my whole wealth of knowledge under tremendous stress, and it is a fool's errand to try. Perhaps fatigue can guide your own personal style so that everything you do can be done under fatigue.

Another aspect of training fatigued is discipline. You want to adapt rather than do everything you typically do with a quarter of the effort.

In my one-on-one training, I take practitioners from a period of conditioning (fundamental motor skills) to techniques (fundamental movement skills), to shadowplay (adaptive movement skills), and to sparring games (strategic movement skills).

Creating and building off scaffolding and never going through a period of pad work (rehearsals) helps avoid feedback loops (unconsciously scripted movements). The other benefit is you don't break or damage your hands if you're not constantly hitting things. This is why shadowplay and games are integral to LMA. It also requires less equipment and lacks restrictions to training alone, which allows for more training.

A one-on-one practitioner recently told me since she never hit mitts or pads and went straight from shadowboxing to sparring games, it makes sparring easier because she doesn't look for any fixed patterns or targets. In fact, she said she doesn't see targets as fixed and one-dimensional. Targets all have a three-dimensional shape and three-dimensional movement. She perceives multiple moving spots you can hit to the head and body because that's all she's ever known.

She said if she started with pads and mitts, her relationship with the target would be different. It's like practicing basketball but with just a backboard with a black dot painted on it. So long as the ball touches any part of that black dot, you score. To make it easier, the coach follows you around with this backboard. That's often what pad work is.

Furthermore, despite sparring being a game, the practitioner doesn't think about winning or losing. Not all games are about winning or losing. Puzzle games are also games and have no winner or loser. Instead, it's about seeing a shape and matching it with a corresponding shape. For our sparring games, rather than even hitting, we focus on touching. (It makes for more efficient, straighter, and more accurate movements.) Rather than touching the face, we instead touch the shoulder. So the shoulder has a shape, and the opponent's guard presents obstacles to that shoulder. What position do you have to get to, and what shape do you have to make with your arm to touch that shoulder? That's the game. Fitting shapes together.

If the goal is to avoid the clinch or a grab, what position should I be in to avoid direct contact? What shape should I make to be incongruent with their shape? However, what shape should I make if I wanted to invite the clinch?

I often talk about freeze frames: If we freeze here, what shape should you be making to execute your goal? Different shapes create different results.

See how this can simplify training and make decision-making much less stressful and time-consuming? You don't need to be a bootstrapper if you see sparring as a puzzle to be solved.

This framework is also better for people with disability and neurodivergence because they're already used to navigating the world with their current shape. Moreover, shadowplay and online training like LMA is better suited for many folks because they don't require you to directly gaze at someone to learn or participate. There are many reasons people have a hard time with direct gaze (perhaps they gaze too intensely). This can get them picked on, called out, and singled out. People's ability to learn and develop is not about talent but the conditions. It is impossible to know where talent begins, and conditions end. Since LMA is Marxist, we don't think about talent, we think about the conditions.

All of this starts with shadowplay and your imagination, and how well you can give your opponent shape, form, and consistency. This is true for martial arts, dance, sports, and every art form. Even as I write this now, I can only effectively communicate if I can imagine my intended audience.

Martial arts is a social relationship, even by yourself. It's a relationship with an imaginary training partner. So you should always work on expanding your relationship skills.

– Sam