No gym. No bag. No gloves. No excuses. This is the workout for when all you have is a room and your own body. It’s built around the same movements fighters use to train — shadow boxing, bodyweight strength work, and conditioning — structured into rounds so it feels like a real session, not some random circuit you found on Pinterest.
You can do this in your living room, your garage, a hotel room, or a park. It takes 30 minutes and it will leave you on the floor.
What You Need
Nothing. Literally nothing. Shoes are optional. A timer on your phone is the only tool required. Set it for 3-minute rounds with 1-minute rest — the same structure every fighter in the world trains on.
The Warm-Up: 5 Minutes
Don’t skip this. Cold muscles and stiff joints lead to pulled shoulders and tweaked backs. Take five minutes and get your body ready.
- Jumping jacks: 1 minute. Get your heart rate up.
- Arm circles: 30 seconds forward, 30 seconds backward. Loosen the shoulders.
- Bodyweight squats: 1 minute. Slow and controlled. Full depth.
- Torso twists: 1 minute. Feet planted, rotate your upper body side to side.
- High knees: 1 minute. Drive your knees up, pump your arms. Now you’re warm.
The Workout: 6 Rounds
Each round is 3 minutes of work with 1 minute of rest. The rounds alternate between shadow boxing and bodyweight strength. This keeps your heart rate elevated the entire session while building both cardio and muscle endurance.
Round 1: Shadow Boxing — Jabs and Movement
3 minutes. Stay on the balls of your feet. Hands up by your face. Throw jabs — single jabs, double jabs, triple jabs. Move after every combination. Circle left, circle right, step back, step forward. Don’t stand flat-footed in one spot. The goal is constant movement for the full three minutes.
If you’ve never shadow boxed before, it feels awkward at first. That’s normal. Nobody’s watching. Just move and punch. You’ll find a rhythm within the first minute.
1 minute rest.
Round 2: Bodyweight Strength — Push-Up Circuit
3 minutes. Rotate through these three variations, doing as many as you can of each before switching:
- Standard push-ups. Chest to the floor, full extension at the top.
- Wide push-ups. Hands wider than shoulder width. Targets the chest.
- Diamond push-ups. Hands together under your chest. Targets the triceps.
If you can’t do full push-ups yet, drop to your knees. No shame. The point is three minutes of continuous upper body work. Rest for a few seconds when you need to, then get back to it.
1 minute rest.
Round 3: Shadow Boxing — Combinations
3 minutes. Now add the cross and the hook. Jab-cross. Jab-cross-hook. Jab-jab-cross. Double jab-cross-hook-cross. Pick a combination, throw it three or four times, move your feet, pick another one.
Focus on rotating your hips into every punch. A punch without hip rotation is just an arm movement. A punch with your whole body behind it is a core workout, a shoulder workout, and cardio all at once.
Throw in some defensive movement between combinations — slip your head to the left, slip to the right, duck under an imaginary punch. This keeps your core engaged and your legs burning.
1 minute rest.
Round 4: Bodyweight Strength — Legs and Core
3 minutes. Alternate between these exercises, 30 seconds each:
- Squats. Full depth, controlled pace. 30 seconds.
- Lunges. Alternating legs, step forward and drop that back knee. 30 seconds.
- Plank. Hold it. Tight core, straight back, don’t let your hips sag. 30 seconds.
- Squat jumps. Squat down, explode up. 30 seconds.
- Mountain climbers. Plank position, drive your knees to your chest alternating. 30 seconds.
- Plank. Again. Finish strong. 30 seconds.
That’s 3 minutes. Your legs and core will be on fire.
1 minute rest.
Round 5: Shadow Boxing — Speed and Volume
3 minutes. This is the round where you push the pace. Constant punching. Jabs, crosses, hooks, uppercuts — everything. Don’t worry about power. Focus on keeping your hands moving for the full three minutes.
When your arms get heavy — and they will — don’t drop your hands. Keep them up. Punch through the fatigue. This is where conditioning is built. The last minute of this round is where the workout earns its keep.
1 minute rest.
Round 6: Bodyweight Strength — The Finisher
3 minutes. This is the last round. Empty the tank.
- Burpees: 1 minute. Full burpee — drop to the floor, chest touches, push up, jump. As many as you can in 60 seconds.
- Push-ups: 1 minute. Any variation. Just don’t stop moving.
- Squat hold: 30 seconds. Drop into a squat and hold it. Don’t come up.
- Plank: 30 seconds. Last 30 seconds of the workout. Hold it and breathe.
Done.
The Cooldown: 5 Minutes
Don’t just collapse on the floor. Take five minutes to stretch and bring your heart rate down.
- Standing hamstring stretch: 30 seconds each leg.
- Quad stretch: 30 seconds each leg.
- Shoulder cross-body stretch: 30 seconds each arm.
- Hip flexor stretch: 30 seconds each side.
- Child’s pose: 1 minute. Breathe.
The Numbers
Total workout time: 30 minutes including warm-up and cooldown. Active work time: 18 minutes of rounds plus 6 minutes of rest. That’s it.
In those 30 minutes you’ve hit:
- Shoulders and arms from the shadow boxing and push-ups
- Core from every punch you threw and every plank you held
- Legs from the squats, lunges, and burpees
- Cardio from the round structure and constant movement
- Coordination and balance from the footwork and defensive movement
No equipment. No gym. No cost. And nobody had to explain how to use a cable machine.
Scale It
Too easy? Add rounds. Go from 6 to 8 to 10. Shorten the rest from 1 minute to 30 seconds. Add a weighted vest if you have one.
Too hard? Drop to 2-minute rounds. Take longer rest periods. Cut it to 4 rounds instead of 6. Modify push-ups to your knees. Walk in place instead of high knees. Meet yourself where you are and build from there.
Traveling? This is the perfect hotel room workout. You need the floor space of a yoga mat and nothing else.
The heavy bag is the king of boxing equipment. But when you don’t have one, your body is enough. Show up, start the timer, and work. Three times a week and you’ll feel different inside a month.
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