I'm trying to get back into boxing after about a year without training. I don't have a heavy bag or decent gloves, just space in my room. Are there any decent exercises I can do to stay in shape and improve my technique without spending a fortune?
Start with proper shadowboxing, not just going through the motions - move like you've got an opponent in front of you, full combinations, footwork, the whole thing. From there you can add pushups, abs work, burpees and maybe jump rope if you've got the space, which is key for footwork and cardio. If you want to work on technique without gloves, a mirror or even just filming yourself on your phone helps a ton for correcting your posture and movements. For getting back into it after a year I'd say don't go all out right away: a few sessions a week for 20-30 minutes is way better than overdoing it and hurting yourself.
Shadowboxing is the foundation, but what people skip is training it with a proper timer. Do 3-minute rounds with 30-second breaks just like a real session, so your body gets used to the actual rhythm and it doesn't turn into something random. Add burpees and push-ups between rounds to keep the intensity up and work on cardio endurance.
For technique without a bag you can use a trick: record yourself on your phone while shadowboxing and watch it back. You'll immediately see if your shoulders are tense, if your footwork is sloppy, if your chin is exposed. Everything changes when you get visual feedback - seems obvious but it actually works way better than throwing punches in the dark.
Also work on movement with an imaginary cone - create a pattern in your room space (like 4 points forming a square) and move in and out hitting the right angles, like you're slipping and countering. This trains distance better than anything else. Abs cables, planks, bodyweight exercises - anyone can suggest those to you, but technique is what risks getting worse after a year off - you've got to keep that sharp.
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