Bellicon Shadowboxer

The Shadowboxer is a piece of equipment developed by Bellicon. The Shadowboxer is a belt that goes around your waist and is secured by a velcro strap (it sits very securely). Two resistance tubes are attached to the belt on one end and on the opposite end are handles. You grip the handles and they give you resistance for boxing moves and upper body strength moves. To get the most out of this piece of equipment, there are 3 things you need: the Shadowboxer, a rebounder and a subscription to Bellicon Home Streaming. I have all 3 of these things, so I decided to review the Shadowboxer and the workouts that Bellicon has created for it.

The Shadowboxer costs $89.99 currently. If your plan to use it regularly, I think it is worth the price. It adds a lot of resistance. Not so much to the punches (though it does add several pounds of resistance to those) but to the upper body work. Just jumping jacks will burn your shoulders out big time.

Currently, the Shadowboxer workouts are done by 2 trainers on Bellicon Home Streaming and only one of them speaks English. Her name is Julia and she is actually the one who developed the Shadowboxer concept. She is German so English is not her first language but she speaks it very well. She is an excellent trainer and one of my favorite Bellicon trainers.

All of the workouts below use the Shadowboxer. As new workouts come out and I do them, I will update this post. Since all of the Shadowboxer workouts are also done on a rebounder, the workouts will also continue to be posted to my Bellicon Home Streaming post.

Shadowboxer Basics is 27 minutes. It is a level 9 workout. Cardio. This is an introductory workout if you bought the Shadowboxer. My husband bought it for me for Christmas 2022 and this is the first workout I did with it. And I like it a lot! In this workout, Julia teachers you all of the basic punches using the shadowboxer while on your rebounder. Then she puts them together into short combos. Finally, she combines some short combos with some basic rebounding moves (jogs and basic bounces with power). Nothing difficult and it’s not supposed to be since you are learning how to use the shadowboxer. I am not sure why it is listed as a level 9, other than the fact that your upper body is getting some strength work. It was enjoyable and makes me look forward to using my shadowboxer in the other, more intense workouts Julia has created for it. This workout has a warm up, a cool down and a stretch. During the cool down you get some body weight strength work. She has you hold a squat isometrically while doing some upper body toning exercises. You are not be wearing the shadowboxer for that. It is only worn during the actual workout (you put it on after the warm up and take it off before beginning the cool down). You are on your Bellicon for the entire workout, so no shoes necessary. Though I will mention that Julia recommends wearing shoes. I did not and had no issues. Bellicon estimates you will burn 250 calories. According to my Apple Watch, I burned 172 calories.

Box FIT is 32 minutes. It is a level 8 workout. Cardio. Julia talks for the first minute or so. This was a fun cardio boxing workout using the Shadowboxer. My husband bought me the Shadowboxer for Christmas. The first time I did this workout was before Christmas so I used 3 pound handweights. My review with hand weights follows then I will add my thoughts using the Shadowboxer to the end. Using handweights: This workout has a warm up and a stretch. After the warm up you put on the Shadowboxer (or pick up your light dumbbells, or put on your weighted gloves–whatever you choose to use). The workout has 5 or 6  circuits. Each circuit contains 2-3 exercise combos. The exercises are all done interval style: 45 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest. Between each circuit you get 30 seconds of rest. Each interval contains some sort of combo–either a boxing + bouncing combo or a strength combo. When you are actually punching you are not bouncing. So, for instance, you will do a punch combo followed by 8 scissor runs. The strength combos combine squats with some type of shoulder work (front raises, lateral raises, overhead press). Now, since I was using light handweights, I did not find this a strength workout for my arms. But maybe the Shadowboxer gives a lot of resistance and you get a strength workout, too. Bellicon’s website says the resistance is 4-10 pounds, so it is heavier than what I was using. The final circuit is a plank circuit. Then you take the Shadowboxer off (or set your hand weights aside) and do a cool down bounce followed by a stretch. It was a fun workout. Using the Shadowboxer: I felt like it was definitely more intense with the shadowboxer. I felt it more in my arms and shoulders. Like most resistance band workouts, the resistance is all in the stretch. These are light bands, so the punching did give me some good resistance but the strength moves were what really worked my shoulders. Bellicon estimates you will burn 315 calories. According to my Apple Watch, I burned 219 calories.

Boxing HIIT is 33 minutes. It is a level 10 workout. Cardio + strength. This is a tabata workout using the Shadowboxer. A tabata is a type of HIIT protocol: 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of recovery, repeat this 20/10 interval 8 times for a 4 minute tabata circuit. Julia pairs together two exercises and you repeat them each 4 times (do one exercise for a 20/10 interval, do the second exercise for a 20/10 interval then repeat those 2 exercises 3 more time for a 4 minute tabata circuit). I think there was 5 tabata circuits in this workout. It is not super intense but my shoulders did start burning from using the shadowboxer. The exercises are either cardio punching, upper body strength or core strength. There is no real lower body strength except some squats. This was a very enjoyable workout that challenged me strength-wise, even if the cardio wasn’t very intense. You get a warm up, a cool down and a stretch. It is all done on the rebounder so I wore bellicon socks. Julia does recommend wearing shoes for these shadowboxer workouts. Maybe that is because of the pivots you do when doing some of the punches. I do think the shoes would add stability and I might start wearing them to see. Bellicon estimates you will burn 665 calories. According to my Apple Watch I burned 229 calories.

Tone & Box is 33 minutes. It is a level 7 workout. Cardio + strength. This workout has a warm up, cool down and stretch. Julia gives conflicting info about the level of this workout. She first says it is a beginner workout, which is why she is wearing socks instead of shoes. She then says it is an advanced workout but the moves are easy. In my opinion, it is one of the easier Shadowboxer workouts, so I guess it is beginner level for a Shadowboxer workout. This workout is made up of 4 circuits. Each circuit is 5 minutes long and contains 5 intervals (45 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest).The circuits are all structured in the same basic way. The first 2 circuits you will do one strength move interval followed by and one boxing move interval then the 5th interval you alternate the strength move with the boxing move. The third circuit you do that too but instead of alternating them for the 5th interval you just repeat the strength interval. And for the fourth circuit you alternate 2 exercises the first 4 intervals then the final interval you do something different. You are wearing the Shadowboxer for everything except the warm up and stretch. First Circuit: 1. straight arm lateral raises, 2. front punches. Second Circuit: 1. overhead shoulder press (arms in goalpost when not pushing overhead), 2. one hook punch each arm, one upper cut each arm then hold squat. Third Circuit: 1. bent over read delt flys, 2: side punch + cross punch. Fourth Circuit: 1. Elbow plank hold, 2. stand beside rebounder with one foot on rebounder and one on floor and facing forward, squat and hold while doing 2 quick punches; 3. bent knee boat pose on rebounder w/ alternating straight arm front raises, lifting arms all the way over head. This was not a super intense workout but it does give you some minor strength work and some very low intensity cardio. Bellicon estimates you will burn 259 calories. I burned 196 calories.

Upper Body Heat is 36 minutes. It is a level 10 workout. Cardio + strength. This workout has a warm up, a cool down and a stretch. As the title indicates, this workout focuses on your upper body and it starts to burn! Especially at the beginning. This workout is made up of circuits. The first circuit is cardio without the Shadowboxer. Then you get 2 upper body strength circuits using the Shadowboxer. You remove the Shadowboxer and do another cardio circuit. Put the Shadowboxer back on for 2 more strength circuits. Take it off for a cardio circuit. Put it on for a short plank circuit then you get one final cardio circuit, again–no Shadowboxer, before the short cool down and stretch. None of the circuits are long but some of the strength circuits really start to burn out your shoulders. Especially the earliest circuits because you do isometric (or as Julia calls them “static”) holds. It’s a great workout and I really enjoyed it. I did not wear shoes for this one. Everything except the plank based moves are done on the rebounder and for the plank based moves your elbows/forearms are on the rebounder and your feet are on the floor. She does have you doing plank jacks so I probably should have worn my yoga shoes. I laid out a thick yoga mat beside my rebounder to protect my feet. Bellicon estimates you will burn 582 calories though at the end of the workout, Julia actually looked at her watch (some kind of FitBit or Apple Watch) and said she crushed almost 350 calories. According to my Apple Watch I burned 225 calories. This is not a cardio intense workout. During the strength exercises you are not jumping at all.

Box Power is 42 minutes. It is a level 8 workout. Cardio + strength. It has a warm up, a cool down and a stretch. This is a live workout that was posted on Bellicon Home Streaming for us. I am glad! We need more Shadowboxer workouts! It wasn’t any different than the workouts filmed specifically for streaming (rather than done live) except that you do not get your count down timer in the lower right hand side of the screen. Which I did miss, but if it gets us more Shadowboxer workouts I can live with out it. For this workout Julia alternates strength circuits with boxing circuits. Everything uses the Shadowboxer except for the warm up, the last cardio circuit and the stretch. All of the circuits that use the Shadowboxer are done interval style: 45 seconds of work followed 15 seconds of rest. The first circuit is boxing, the second circuit is upper body strength with some balance moves, the third circuit is boxing, the 4th circuit is core work (both laying on the rebounder and plank holds). The 5th circuit is the last cardio circuit–no intervals and no Shadowboxer. This was an enjoyable workout. The cardio aspect was not super intense but the upper body strength burned my shoulders and the core work was a burner, too. Bellicon estimates you will burn 231 calories. According to my Apple Watch I burned 270 calories.

Box ‘n’ Burn is 44 minutes. It is a level 8 workout. Cardio + strength. This workout has a warm up and a stretch. This is a live workout that was posted on Bellicon Home Streaming for us. It isn’t any different than the workouts filmed specifically for streaming (rather than the fact it was filmed live) except that you do not get your count down timer in the lower right hand side of the screen. This was a fun workout. Julia works your entire body in this workout, though your shoulders get the most work, but that is the nature of resistance bands. This workout contains four 8 minute circuits. All of the exercises are done interval style. The first 3 circuits are done in the same fashion and the last circuit is different. Circuits 1-3 are cardio + strength circuits and you wear the Shadowboxer the entire time. You alternate one strength exercise with one cardio boxing exercise. Each of the first 3 circuits contain 4 exercises. For the first 4 minutes you will do each exercise for 45 seconds followed by 15 seconds of rest. For the last 4 minutes you do the exercises tabata-style: 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest, so you will run through the 4 exercises twice in 4 minutes. The final circuit is all core work, no cardio. All of the exercises in the final circuit are done for 45 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest. The first 4 exercises are plank exercises done wearing the Shadowboxer (hands or forearms are on the rebounder and feet are on the floor) and the last 4 exercises are done without the Shadowboxer and sitting or laying on the rebounder. For the first 2 circuits all of the exercises are done on the rebounder, for the 3rd circuit, the strength exercise is lunges, so the front foot is on the rebounder and the back foot is on the floor. The boxing exercises are on the rebounder. For this reason you definitely need shoes for this workout, though Julia recommends them for all of the Shadowboxer workouts. Bellicon estimates you will burn 248 calories. My Apple Watch says I burned 298 calories.

Shadowboxer HIIT is 45 minutes. It is a level 9 workout. Cardio + strength (but mostly strength). This workout has a warm up, a cool down and a stretch. Before I get into the actual workout description I have some issues with the filming. The sound was terrible. It appeared Julia was filming this in her own home rather than at a bellicon studio. The music was louder than her voice at times and drowned her out. We also do not get the little count down timer in the left hand corner of the screen. I was expecting something more cardio intense from this workout. It did get intense but it was the burn in my shoulders from the strength work that was intense. This workout is done interval fashion. For the first 3 circuits you will do 2 exercises. The first for 60 seconds followed by 15 seconds of rest and the second exercise for 30 seconds followed by 15 seconds of rest. Repeat this circuit 3 times then you get 60 seconds of rest before moving on to the next circuit. For the 4th circuit the only change is that the first exercise is done for 30 seconds rather than 60 seconds. Most of the “cardio” was more strength focused than cardio focused. The first circuit is alternating front punches for 60 seconds followed by 30 seconds of wide squat with straight arm front raises. The second circuit is 60 seconds of straight arm side raises while tapping one foot out to side (after 30 seconds you change legs but arms continue to do lateral raises) followed by 30 seconds of overhead shoulder presses. The third circuit is one minute of alternating upper cuts followed by 30 seconds of forearm plank hold (forearms on rebounder, feet on floor). The final circuit is 30 seconds of jumping jacks followed by 30 seconds of holding isometrically at bottom of a squat whole also extending arms straight out to sides in a T and holding that isometrically entire interval as well. You may need shoes for this workout so you can execute the punches with good form. Bellicon estimates you will burn 310 calories. According to my Apple Watch I burned 334 calories.

Knock It Out is 47 minutes. It is a level 10 workout. Cardio + Strength. This workout has a warm up, a cool down and a stretch. OMG. This is definitely what I expect from a level 10 workout. Julia burned my shoulders out big time! Of course, it was the use of the Shadowboxer that really caused the burn. This workout is set up in a ladder format. You do the first exercise for 30 seconds then get 30 seconds of rest. Then you do the first exercise plus a new exercise, each for 30 seconds (60 seconds of work) then you get a 30 second rest This continues on until you are doing 6 exercises back to back for 3 minutes. Then you reverse it and start subtracting exercises, going back down the ladder. All of the exercises are shadow boxer exercises that will burn out your shoulders and upper back. Oddly, the exercise that burned my shoulders the most was jumping jacks. Here are the exercises: 1. hinge forward, raise arms to sides at shoulder level with elbows bent (goal post), push arms forward then pull them back; 2. jumping jacks; 3. jack the legs while doing alternating front punches; 4. push one arm overhead 4x + 4 single knee raises, rotating torso and arms toward knee as it raises; 5. repeat #4 on other side  of body; 6. stand with legs wide and arms straight at sides, squat while hinging forward and also raising straight arms overhead so that at bottom of squat arms are beside ears. After you go up and down the ladder, you will remove the shadow boxer and do some core work. This was a tough workout! I wore my shoes because the Shadowboxer workouts sometimes need shoes, but for this workout they weren’t necessary. Bellicon estimates you burn 831 calories! I burned 347 calories. And I wasn’t slacking! I was working hard! Where do they get these calorie burns from?!?!

Complete Body Power is 48 minutes. It is a level 10 workout. Cardio + strength. This workout has a warm up, a cool down and a stretch. Unlike the above workout, Knock It Out, this did not feel like a level 10. It was a great workout though and I thoroughly enjoyed it. What makes this workout less brutal is that it really is more total body focused. My shoulders were not fried by this workout like they were in Knock It Out. They did get some work but so did my back and my lower body. It was structured similar to Knock It Out. It is set up in a ladder format. You do the first exercise for 30 seconds then get 30 seconds of rest. Then you do the first exercise plus a new exercise, each for 30 seconds (60 seconds of work) then you get a 30 second rest. This continues on until you are doing 7 exercises back to back for 3:30 minutes. Then you reverse it and start subtracting exercises, going back down the ladder. Here are the exercises: 1. 4 alternating front punches + jack the legs 4x; 2. 4 single knee pulls with hands in guard + 4 single knee pulls with single arm front punch (all of this is on same leg and same arm); 3. repeat #2 on other side of body; 4. 2 overhead punches each arm + squat hold for 4 counts; 5. 2 alternating cross punches + 2 alternating hook punches + 8 high knee runs; 6. hold wide plie squat while doing windmill arms (extend arms out to sides to overhead then back down out to sides and down to thighs); 7. bent over rear delt flies. I wore my shoes for this workout. It is all done on the bellicon but there are lots of pivots for the punches, which is why I wore shoes. Bellicon estimates you will burn 748 calories. According to my Apple Watch I burned 364 calories.

Full Cardio & Strength is 49 minutes. It is a level 10 workout. Cardio + Strength. This workout has a warm up, a cool down and a stretch. This workout is very similar to Knockout (below) but I did Knockout before I did this workout. This workout was a lot of fun, too, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually didn’t pay as much attention to how many intervals we did but I do think it is structured the same as Knockout (but with different exercises of course!): You alternate one approximately 3 minute cardio circuit with one 6 minute interval circuit that uses the Shadowboxer. For the Shadowboxer circuits you do 6 intervals that are 45 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest. There are 5 Shadowboxer circuits. The first 3 are cardio + strength circuits (boxing, some cardio moves with the legs, some kicks, some squat holds). The 4th circuit is all upper body strength and the 5th circuit is shorter and it is plank holds. You will hold elbow plank (arms on the rebounder and feet on the floor) for 30 seconds 3 times; you get 15 seconds of rest between each plank hold. Remember, each Shadowboxer circuit is alternated with a cardio rebounding circuit that does not use the Shadowboxer. Except for the last 2 Shadowboxer circuits, they are done back to back. So you will be taking the Shadowboxer on and off. Also, except for the planks, everything is done on the rebounder. I am not sure shoes are necessary for this workout but I wore them anyway. I would not classify this as a level 10 workout, but I suppose that level also comes from the complexity of some of the combos Julia puts together during the first 3 Shadowboxer circuits. Bellicon estimates you will burn 748 calories!?!?! According to my Apple Watch I burned 339 calories.

Knockout is 51 minutes. It is a level 9 workout. Cardio + strength (but mostly cardio). This workout has a warm up, a cool down and a stretch. This workout was tons of fun! I loved it! It is set up in circuits. You alternate one approximately 3 minute cardio circuit with one 6 minute interval circuit that uses the Shadowboxer. For the Shadowboxer circuits you do 6 intervals that are 45 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest. The Shadowboxer circuits vary–they are sometimes cardio boxing and sometimes strength and sometimes a mixture of both. You do need shoes for this workout since you will be on and off the rebounder and you also have the pivots during punches. There are 4 circuit combos. Remember, each Shadowboxer circuit is alternated with a cardio rebounding circuit without the Shadowboxer. So you will be taking the Shadowboxer on and off. The first and second Shadowboxer circuits are cardio boxing done completely on the the rebounder. The 3rd Shadowboxer circuit is boxing + lower body strength moves. For some of the moves you will have one foot on the rebounder and one on the floor. The final Shadowboxer circuit is core and upper body strength work. It has 2 plank moves so your forearms will be on the rebounder and your feet will be on the floor. All of the Shadowboxer moves, even the cardio, will give you some upper body strength work. Bellicon estimates you will burn 644 calories. According to my Apple Watch I burned 386 calories.