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The heavy bag is probably one of the most common and important training tools in combat sports, for a good reason! The heavy bag is used to develop power, cardio, speed, technique, coordination and core stability, as well as, helps condition your shins! You also don’t need a partner to use it and you can meet all your training needs in the comfort of your own home.
Here are some tips when using the heavy bag:
1. Don’t push the bag, but punch the bag! You want to snap your punches and kicks when hitting the bag. As soon as your punch makes contact with the bag, snap it by pulling it back to your face. Similarly, as soon as your shin hits the bag, snap your leg and retract it back into stance.
2. Every strike does not have to be thrown with full power. For example, you can throw light and fast punches to set up a big hard punch, then go back to light and fast punches. If you are hitting your hardest with every strike, you will quickly gas out. However, if your goal is to develop power and cardio, you should be striking with maximum power but at the same time following the correct time and rest intervals. If that's what you're working on, be sure to check out this full 16 minute heavy bag workout video.
3. Make sure your legs are planted to the ground before striking as you generate most of your power from the ground and up!
4. If you are tired, don’t stand in front of the heavy bag, but instead use your foot work to move and circle around the heavy bag. Imagine it is a fight. You want to strike, move around, and strike again. While you move around with your footwork, you can focus on your breathing and recovery.
5. Go into a heavy bag workout session with a plan. Have in mind several combinations you want to work on. For example, when I work on the heavy bag, I have 9 favourite combinations that I like to throw on the heavy bag.
6. If you are like me or most people, if you start hitting the heavy bag with no plan in mind, you will get bored REALLY quickly and just give up on it! Like anything in life, you want to optimize the time you spend on something to get the maximum output, that's why a plan is important.
