Heavy Bag Training...

[Asteer]

Hi Everyone,

I was inspired by the pictures of the heavy bag in Tony's garage and decided to get myself set up with a bag at home. I train on my own most of the time so figured it was worth the investment.

Now that I am all set up, I am wondering if those of you who train with a heavy bag could share some of your training tips. What kind of stuff do you do on the bag...? I found a video on bag training for boxers, but I am wondering what the Uechi guys are doing...

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Adam

[Guest]

awesome! What kind of bag did you get? How heavy?

I don't practice it alot but sometimes when I walk by the bag I have to hit it so I do a Shotokan-style scoot off my rear foot and thump it as fast as I can with a reverse punch. Hitting hard is pretty easy but what I like to do is find out just how far I can be away from it so to try to cover as much distance as I can... thats tricky!

Marcus can probably articulate the technque as he is no doubt an expert at it. Personally, I think a pair of those are what needs to be in the Kyu Kumite instead of a Herman Munster punch.

[Asteer]

Hey Tony,

Thanks for the tips. I talked to the guy at the warehouse for a while a decided on a 90 pound bag from a company called Genesport near here in Montreal. I just set it up today and started playing around with it. It is a lot of fun!

Adam

[Guest]

90 lbs is a bit heavy... if your shoulders give you some grief, you may have to augment with bench presses and butterflies (that is what i'm doing and i'm looking for a place to install a chin up bar). Then again, it might be just right! Just take it easy at first because if you hurt your wrist, you won't be able to hit it for a while. Also, do a few sets of knucklepushups now and then to build up your wrists. Don't worry about digging your knuckles into the concrete, the key is good form so that there is little flex in your technique... at best, you'll lose power, but at worst, you can sprain your wrist.

[Asteer]

Tony, do you use gloves or just work the bag bare handed?

[Stryke]

I use palms and Bushikens , just do combos of flurrys .

do elbows and striking with the forearms .

Mines a thai style bag , so leg kicks etc ...

just fun banging .

[Guest]

Asteer, it depends on what I want to work on. Today, I did 6 rounds with my 14 oz gloves because the extra weight is what i'm pushing around in the ring. It also adds mass to your shots and that bag starts to really move. I will move to light gloves to work on speed and I occasionally go bare knuckle to make sure my technique is good. Gloves and hand wraps will give you a false sense of security (of course, if the bag is not leather but canvas, it's gonna hurt for a while going bare knuckle and it can slow our progress quite a bit if you've got sore knuckles). I would reccomend starting out with some light gloves that wrap around your wrist and go easy at first then switch to heavy gloves (14 or 16 oz) to build your shoulders up... they will get heavy. The important thing is to stay busy for an alloted amount of time. I do 3 minute rounds but 2 minutes will give you a hell of a workout too. Here is an audio file I created for a3 minute round. simply drop it into your burner software several times for as many rounds as you want (I have a 10 rounder CD) and burn as an audio file. Works great!

Because you're training karate techniques, strike has the right recipe. I'm mainly just punching right now but definatley develop some "simple" combonations like jab/cross/crashing elbow or Jab/Cross/Roundhouse etc. I am occasionally doing stuff like this on my last round at home (I won't do stuff like thatin the gym, hah hah) but not usually (gotta work on the punches for now, you know).

Don't make your combos too complex for now because it will throw your rythym off and that is one thing you'll want to develop on the bag... not just power. You'll see! Happy hitting!

[Asteer]

Cool... Thanks guys. Good advice. I am having trouble staying away from it. Every time I go by that room I end up going in and just hitting the thing a few times.

[Guest]

HA! That is so funny... I am the same way! You'll learn to love it man!

Send us some pics of the new rig when you get a chance...

[Rick Wilson]

Lots of good advise.

In addition to everything else I would recommend working the bag as well. By that I mean move around it and close on it for combinations. Treat the bag like an opponent you need to close on.

Use all weapons.

[Guest]

I like this bag

http://www.genesport.net/store/Out/8427.htm

Nice and fat... good for body shots.

Is this the one you got?

[Asteer]

Hey Tony,

The one I got is pretty much identical, but the guy at the warehouse talked me out of leather. He said for the price difference it wasn't worth it. I went with "vintex" (synthetic leather) and so far so good. I think if I ever upgrade I would go for leather just for the aesthetic value if nothing else.

I have a photo but I'm having trouble with my ftp uplink. I'll post here when I get it sorted.

I had a great workout on it last night. It is amazing how well it gets the heart going, eh...

Cheers,
Adam

[Guest]

Oh yeah.. thats good too. My other bag is some kind of "Powerhide" or soemthing to that effect, it's fine. The important thing is, it doesn't rip the skin off your knuckles when you train barehanded because then you will have a hard time staying on the program... you know? If it's a standard girth and height there are leather covers you can buy for them if they start to get worn. Those are pretty nice because they have the D ring on the bottom in the event that yours doesn't (mine does but I can't use it because it's low profile).

Heavy bag training is an excellent workout... anyone whose done a few timed rounds on a bag can verify that claim... I did my rounds this morning at 5:00am, *after* a 2 mile run!

[Asteer]

I did my rounds this morning at 5:00am, *after* a 2 mile run!

Now that is dedication! I'm more of a coffee guy in the morning and workouts in the evening. Although sometimes I go on a kick of morning workouts and I must admit that it is a great feeling throughout the day to know that you have already "put your time in".

[Guest]

Well, wednesdays are tough for me. I have class after work and don't get home until around 9pm. I can wait to get home to do my mid-week training but then I end up strung out all night and hardly get any sleep. So on Wednesdays I get up at 430am and hit the road. It ***** but I gotta stay with it and not get lazy...