Everybody loves to workout on a heavy bag and nearly all fitness buffs would like to have one in their homes. If you are lucky enough to have access to one in a commercial gym, it can be a great way to get an intensive full body workout in, increase your fitness, burn calories, blast fat and improve your overall boxing skills and conditioning.

Learning a few good combos is one of the first things you need to do to make sure you are getting an effective workout and practicing techniques that will be effective once you move into sparring and drills with a partner.

The Basic Beginner Combos For Shadow Boxing

   

1. The Jab

While the jab is only one punch and not a combo, it is the most important one in boxing and almost all of your combos will start with a stiff jab.

The jab controls the distance between you and your opponent and when you can land a jab on their gloves, there is a good chance you are in range to follow up with another punch.

If your opponent is trying to move closer to you to land their shots, a nice stiff jab to the nose can make them think twice about their strategy and make them more reluctant to try and close the gap on you.

Turn your foot and power through your hips for a nice heavy one and remember to bring your hand straight back to your head as quickly as it went out.

Also remember the heavy bag is great for building power so you can hit it with a nice hard jab too and make it swing.

 

2. Jab – Cross

Once you are comfortable with the jab, it’s time the add the cross in straight afterwards.

The Jab finds the range and then the right hand does the damage.

Think of the jab as your rangefinder when you are moving forward, once your jab lands on the bag, your right hand will know exactly where to go to hit the target flush.

The 1-2 is one of the basic combos and it is particularly effective for taller fighters who want to keep the fight at distance.

 

3. Jab – Cross – Left hook

The third most basic yet effective combo you can throw is the 1 – 2 – 3. The problem with the simple jab – cross is that the punches both come from the same angle so it is much easier to block for an opponent in real life.

If you opponent has their gloves dug into their cheek bones, the punches won’t hurt them as much unless you have power like Deontay Wilder.

If you dip slightly to the left after you throw the 1-2, you should be able to follow it up with a heavy left hook.

Your opponent can’t block the front of their head and the side of it at the same time so the goal is that the 1-2 takes away your opponents vision as he is blocking leaving room around the side to land the left hook and do some damage.

 

4. Jab – Jab – Cross

The jab is such an important punch for setting the range you can even throw 2 of them in a row to close the distance and land a devastating cross to finish off a perfect combo.

The first jab in this combo can be used to get you closer to the bag as inch forward and the second two punches should be hard and fast.

If you land you do some damage but your opponent will still feel the punches and your power through their guard.

As a taller fighter, this is one of my favorite combos and it is perfect when your opponent is on the back foot and moving away from you.

 

5. Left Hook – Cross

The 3-2 is a decent combination as the hook forces your opponents guard around the side of their head and leaves an opening for the right cross to break the guard, straight down the middle.

The lead left hook is one of the hardest punches to master as a beginner. Practice just the left hook on its own on the bag for a round if you want to get more comfortable and make sure you turn your hip into the punch to generate more power.

Another thing beginners will struggle with is dropping the right hand when you throw the left hook, if you can catch yourself doing it and cut it out early, it’s a great habit to cut out for your boxing.

 

 

6. Jab – Left Hook – Cross

The 1 – 3 – 2 combination works is kind of the same way as the 1-2-3 although it is more of an advanced beginners technique.

The thinking behind the 1-3-2 is that the jab will bring your opponents card to their face, the left cross will slightly surprise them and make them move their hand to the side of their head to block the hook leaving and opening for the cross straight down the middle.

This is a slightly more awkward one to throw on the heavy bag. Most beginner combos will involve the left hand followed by the right but this one has two lefts followed by a right.

Navigate this by throwing a soft jab, bring your hand half way back to your face and swing it around the side for a hook, you should be able to comfortably throw the right cross after the lead hook to complete the combo.

 

7. Cross – Left Hook – Cross

You don’t always have to start a combo with a Jab. If your opponent is trying to close the distance on you quickly, you might have chances to throw a cross as the first punch once they are in range and easy to hit with the cross.

The 2-3-2 works because the first punch will cause your opponent to block down the middle and the left hook will open up a gap down the middle for the right hand to land.

Practice this combo with the first 2 punches light and land hard with the third cross down the middle.

 

8. Jab – Right Uppercut – Left Hook

Similar to the 1-2-3 except you are giving your opponent more to think about by throwing a right uppercut instead of a cross.

An opponent will need a more narrow guard to block the right uppercut coming through the middle and it can open extra space for the left hook to land well and do some damage.

If you throw this combo well, you could land flush with the uppercut and the hook but just remember to keep you guard and bring you hands back to the face quickly after each punch.

 

9. Jab – Cross – Left Hook – Cross

The first four punch combo on the list and this is a great one to work on with the heavy bag as it will increase your stamina and give you a good cardio workout.

The main thinking behind this combo is that the first two punches get you opponent on the defensive with the protecting hands in a central position the hook can land and cause your opponent to bring their hands around to the side of their head and you can really hit home with the right hand.

This should be a nice combo to work on for the heavy bag as well as it is left right left right. Try to develop some rhythm in your punches, turn your hips into the shots and keep your hands up to your face.

 

 

10. Jab – Jab – Jab

We started the list with the jab and we are going to end it with three of them. The job is such an important punch as it can close the distance between you and your opponent, you can keep them behind a closed guard so they can’t attack and it can keep them off you if they’re moving forward aggressively.

Almost every combo will start with the jab so you really need to get used to practicing this punch on the bag.

Throw a nice hard strong jab, Bring your hand back to your chin and throw another one and do it again once more.

If you can practice a full two or three minute round just throwing a jab, a double jab or a triple job, you will be learning the most important punch in boxing, building up your arm and shoulder endurance coming a step closer being a better boxer.

 

Tips to keep in mind for a better heavy bag workout

 

#1 Get Organized

The first thing you need to get for a heavy bag workout is a good timing app on your phone if there isn’t a round timer in your gym.

Don’t make the mistake of just walking the bag until you get tired and then taking a breather, you won’t get an effective workout.

Work in two or three minute rounds within minutes break in between and you can even do some active recovery like head slipping and head rolls in the minute break.

 

#2 Use Foot Work And Head Movement

Don’t just stand straight in front of the bag throwing a barrage of punches, use your heavy bag workout to develop some footwork as well. Move in and out from the bag to change the range and land your punches  And move side to side to create angles where your punches could land in sparring or a fight.

You can also learn how to move your head. pretend your opponent is throwing a job and slip to the right before countering I’m pretend he is throwing a cross so you can slip to the left encounter with our left hook, right cross combo.

 

#3 Work The Body

As you get better after combos don’t forget to start adding in some body shots. If you are doing the 1-2-3, try throwing the jab to the head, the cross to the body and left hook to the head. Throw a couple of jabs to the body, throw a 1-2 and add a left hook to the body.

Remember to have fun, focus more on your proper technique before you start hitting the bag as hard as you can and work hard for the entire round so you can build up some good stamina and endurance in your arms.

Let us know how you get on in the comments below.

 

 

 

 

Boxing is one of the toughest sports on the planet, It requires incredible levels of fitness, endurance and stamina. You have to be ready for constant intense exercise for the duration of your workout and you have to be able to recover quickly when you do get a quick break.

Hitting the heavy bag is a perfect cardio workout as you have so many variations and different ways to workout with a heavy bag making it an excellent piece of equipment to have at your disposal.

Because the heavy bag and boxing in general is such a good cardio workout, athletes from all different sports take on boxing to boost their fitness, stamina and toughness for their own sports.

While hitting the heavy bag is not the best way for beginners to improve at fighting as it won’t correct bad technique and it can promote bad habits, it can be one of the best ways to get a solid cardio workout in.

Like with any workout, you will only get out of it what you put and that is why we put together this explosive Heavy bag workout PDF for you to follow along with.

 

4 Tips For Working On The Heavy Bag Effectively

Keep Your Hands Up:

The heavy bag doesn’t hit back so it can be easy to keep your hands by your side. This is a bad habbit to get into, especially as a beginner.

The hand you use to throw a punch needs to come back to a defensive position as quickly as you threw it and the other hand should remain glued to the side of your head. This will give the correct defensive techniques for moving forward with boxing.

 

Use Your Footwork

Boxing is as much about the feet as it is the hands. The better you move around the ring, the better you will be able to control a fight.

Don’t just stand in front of the bag unloading shots, move in and out, side to side and try to create different angles to create your punches by using your feet as you improve.

 

Move Your Head

If you don’t move your head, you’re going to get hit when you start sparring so get into the habit of slipping to the right and left as you workout out on the bag and get a few rolls in as well.

Visualize and attack from an invisible opponent, dodge it with head movement and fire back with a counter punch. Head movement is a great habit to get into early on.

 

Get Organized

I see this all too often, people just start hitting the bag until they get tired, take a little break and then go again for another 10 or 20 seconds.

If we want the heavy bag to be an effective workout we need to get organized with a timing app on our phone to split our work into well defined rounds. This will let us know when we need to push even when we’re tired and when we can take a break.

The more organized we are, the better workout we will have and the easier we can track our progress overtime, when we want to add rounds or make our workouts tougher and progressive.

 

 

Here Are The Main Reasons Why The Heavy Bag Is An Excellent Cardio Workout.

The Calories

Nothing gets the heart rate up, the blood pumping and the sweat flowing like a solid heavy bag workout.

We recommend doing 10 – 3 minute rounds with a conditioning finisher at the end of each round like 10 burpees, pushups or sit ups to get some conditioning in or actively recovering for the break with a head movement drill.

The heavy bag can burn up to 600 calories per hour which is 25% of the average intake for a grown adult male per day. It is an intense workout that burns a ton of calories.

 

Full Body Workout

When you throw a punch, it starts at the bottom of your foot, turns through the glutes and hips and extends through the back and shoulders to generate a powerful punch.

A lot of people think boxing is only for the arms but the reality is that it conditions the entire body and this is especially true when you add conditioning work in at the end of every round like 10 jumping squats every time the bell timer sounds the end of a round.

 

Builds Aerobic And Anaerobic Conditioning.

Aerobic conditioning involves long bouts of steady state cardio and anaerobic training is fast aced intense exercise. Both of these systems will define your overall fitness and we want to fine tune them as much as possible which is the overall goal of cardio.

Boxing is the perfect mix of Aerobic and Anaerobic conditioning. Your arms fill with lactic acid but you can take a little breather to work on your footwork and come right back again. It is like a HIIT workout where you don’t have to put any emphasis on speeding up and slowing down every ten seconds.

Boxing hits both of these systems in a way that is almost unique to sports and that is one of the reasons why boxing are in such fantastic shape.

 

Builds Lean Muscle

The heavy bag is tough to get moving so you need to hit it hard to get it swinging and develop a rhythm. Punching hard will rip the muscle fibres in your shoulders and cause to build a small amount of lean muscle.

Because hitting the heavy bag is so intensive on your arms it will burn away any flabby areas and leave your arms toned, ripped and looking awesomely strong.

 

You Don’t Need A Partner

In a boxing class, you need a partner to hold the pads for you or spar with you. You don’t need any partner to work on the heavy bag so you can train for whoever long you want at a time that suits you perfectly.

Hitting the bags for a full hour can get a bit boring and repetitive but with boxing there are plenty of supplementary exercises you can do on your own for an amazing and varied workout like jumping rope, shadow boxing and conditioning circuits.

 

 

Its Progressive And Addictive

If you are anything like me, you will quickly get addicted to hitting the heavy bag and you will also get better, fitter and stronger quickly as you workout out consistently with the bag.

If you start with 5 rounds, you can add an extra round every week to make it tougher, improve your cardio levels through the roof, get stronger and leaner while developing stamina levels that will make any other form of exercise seem too easy.

Heavy Bag Combos

If you are just starting out with the heavy bag, here are some of the best basic combos you can throw starting off.

You could start off in round one just throwing single punches with correct form and with defense in mind. Take you time and focus on getting the technique right.

Jab

Cross

Left Hook

Right Hook

Left Uppercut

Right Uppercut

 

In Round Two Throw 2 Punch Combos

 

Jab – Cross

Jab – Jab

Left Hook – Cross

Right Uppercut – Left Hook

Left Hook Body – Left Hook Head

Cross – Left Hook

Cross Body – Left Hook Head

 

 

In Round Three Throw 3 Punch Combos

Jab – Jab – Cross

Jab – Left Hook – Cross

Cross – Left Hook – Cross

Cross – Left Uppercut – Cross

Jab (head) – Cross (Body) – Left Hook Head.

 

 

In Rounds 4, 5 and 6 Can go all in and work on whatever you like.

 

 

Mixing it up

If I’m doing an hours workout in the gym, I won’t work on the heavy bag for the full hour but incorporate other exercises in as well.

 

Rounds 1-3 – Jumping Rope

If you are talking about improving cardio, jumping rope is another excellent way to do it and it is perfect for boxing. Not only does it get you warmed up, it also develops to coordination between arms and feet and it develops muscles and endurance in the shoudlers.

Work for three minute rounds with one minute rest in the middle.

 

Rounds 4-6 – Shadow Boxing

Shadow Boxing is also an excellent exercise for a cardio workout and we can build up to getting on the heavy bag with shadow boxing.

Again we are working 3 minute rounds to develop our technique and head movement, I would start with 2 minutes holding 2 lb dumbbells to increase punching power and speed and then drop the weight for the last minute to really burn it out.

At the end of each round do 10 push ups, burpees, sit ups or jumping squats to really get some full body work in

 

Rounds 7 – 12 – Heavy Bag

6, 3 minute rounds on the bags with good intensity and we should be sweating profusely by the time we even reach the heavy bag.

Work in 1 punch combinations in round one to get you use to the bags and work through our rounds as planned, utilizing footwork, head movement and creating angles.

Keep going with our 10 exercises between rounds and keep pushing as you get into the later rounds.

 

Rounds 13-15 Conditioning Circuit

Finish off the 1 hour workout with 3 rounds of this conditioning circuit to blast fat, build our abs and condition our full body.

30 seconds on each station – move straight the next station – 1 Minute rest between rounds.

 

Exercise 1 – Mountain Climbers

Exercise 2 – Jumping Squats

Exercise 3 – Plank Hold

Exercise 4 – Lunges

Exercise 5 – Elbow to Knee Sit Ups

Exercise 6 – Burpees

 

After that workout, make sure you get your sugar levels back up with a protein shake or some fruit and get a good protein based meal to repair and build the muscle as quickly as possible after your workout.

 

 

 

Ref:

 

https://www.livestrong.com/article/541231-calories-burned-while-boxing-with-a-heavy-bag/

 

 

 

 

Anybody who tries boxing for the first time will quickly realize that it’s not as easy as it looks. we have all been beginners, where you start punching for 30 seconds and your arms fill with lactic acid, forcing you into defense as you can barely hold your hands up to your face anymore.

Once you get a bit more advanced, your arms can take more punishment and you start to run out of breath struggling to suck any oxygen in so you can keep pushing forward and throwing punches.

The truth of the matter is that boxing is one of the most intense sports in the world. It utilizes all three energy systems heavily and it requires amazing levels of overall fitness. That is one of the main reasons why athletes from all sports come to boxing to get in better condition and increase their stamina.

 

Introduction To The Body’s Energy Systems

before we go trying to increase our stamina and endurance for boxing, we need to understand the different Energy systems that the body has so we can train affectively for the sport.

The Aerobic, Anaerobic and Alactic energy systems cover our total fitness. They range from slow pace and long lasting, to max force and short lasting.

 

The Aerobic System

The Aerobic system covers slow paced long-lasting activities like jogging or long distance running. Aerobic exercises allow us to keep going using the oxygen that we breathe in throughout the exercise.

the Aerobic system, is the building block or foundation of your fitness and developing a solid base here will allow you to train harder in the other systems and increase your stamina.

Once you build the solid base you should maintain it for years to come.

 

The Anaerobic System

anaerobic exercises are the ones that cause your body to fill with lactic acid, making your muscles sore and forcing you to stop. this will include activities like bag drills, padwork, strength training and sprinting.

Anaerobic exercises typically last from 5 seconds up to a minute and there are plenty of effective ways to build this fitness that will all stem from how fit you are in your aerobic base.

Having a good aerobic and anaerobic system will allow you to get through a boxing class a lot more easily.

The Alactic System

Alactic exercises use almost all of your body’s force in less than 5 seconds and it represents throwing your hardest punch or short combo in a quick flurry looking for a knockout.

This system will build on the base that we have developed through our aerobic and anaerobic bases although there are ways to target it on its own as well, like strength training.

 

Putting A Plan In Action

Now that we know what the energy systems are we can start to put a plan in action to increase our stamina, endurance and overall fitness for boxing

Pro boxers will try to work their aerobic conditioning before they even enter a fight camp and in the first couple of weeks they will look to do long runs and other forms of cardio to get their aerobic system in peak condition.

As a beginner, you should be putting heavy emphasis on building a strong aerobic base or even if you are an intermediate who hasn’t put enough emphasis on cardio but only training in the boxing gym, cardio is the starting blocks.

 

#1 Running Is Crucial For Boxing

It’s no coincidence that you see all of your favorite boxers putting in a lot of miles on the road with slow steady paced running. It is important to note that the energy systems aren’t a sliding scale so if you start running faster you will move more towards the anaerobic system and a lot of exercises are a mix between aerobic and anaerobic conditioning.

To start building a base for boxing you should start with a 5km run twice a week on top of all your other training or at least get one 10 kilometer run in per week or else build up to that if you can’t manage it starting out.

Floyd Mayweather is famous for running 6 miles every day when he is building up for a fight and he does it quite fast. A 12 round boxing contest last 36 minutes and there isn’t too much point in running for over 10 kilometers although a few do long distance running like a marathon it could really help to increase your stamina.

as you get better at running try to increase your pace and you can always use a smart watch to get all your vital details

Slow steady pace running is the key to building a robust fitness for boxing and it also as the benefits of building the muscles and toughness in the legs and conditioning them so you can move around the ring even when you’re tired

 

#2 Jumping Rope Or Skipping

Skipping not only provides an excellent Aerobic workout, it develops the coordination between the hands and feet, teaches beginners how to improve their footwork, it builds endurance in the shoulders and arms which is crucial for being able to last longer when throwing punches, and it is a fun, progressive workout where the more you practice the better you will get.

Roger Mayweather once said that skipping is the key to being a great boxer and if we look at all the great champions from Muhammad Ali to Mike Tyson they’ve all been very proficient jumping rope to a professional level.

For a beginner you can just do treat the five rounds of three minutes each and have a menace minute in between and you can increase the pace by lifting the knees and sprinting for 10 seconds a couple of times through each round.

Jumping rope is also excellent for burning belly fast when you lift the knees up to the chest.

#3 Swimming For Boxing

Swimming has been a favorite method of building aerobic and cardiovascular strength for popular champions such as the Klitschkos, Anthony Joshua, Floyd Mayweather, Amir Khan and many more.

Swimming not only works every muscle in your body, it has low impact on your joints, you can use it for active recovery and you can get a great fast or steady pace workout.

Swimming can have just as positive an impact on our aerobic conditioning as running although it doesn’t build up the leg conditioning it could still be considered as part of building up your stamina for boxing.

Aim for 10 or 20 lengths without stopping.

 

#4 Cycling

cycling is another great way to build up our cardiovascular endurance and stamina for boxing and it also builds up the leg muscles and works the glutes which is great for increasing our conditioning for boxing.

I personally like to do spinning classes which is high intensity interval training will you go from fast anaerobic work to slow aerobic active recovery. You get to workout as part of a group and everyone can encourage you to put in a good effort to increase your fitness and stamina for boxing.

 

#5 The Rowing Machine

The rolling machine is ideal for boxing as it works the shoulders and back and it has no impact on your knee joints but you can really push hard and get a good workout.

You can go for a slower steadier pace for say 2 kilometers without stopping are you can try and hit 1 kilometer as fast you can.

You can also do high intensity interval training will you push hard for 10 seconds and then go at a steady pace for another 50.

If we want to take our cardio to more intense level all we need to do is pick up the pace. Instead of running 10 kilometers quite slowly you could run 5 kilometers as fast as you can and this kind of work will help you to deal with the faster pace of boxing building on a good foundation.

 

#6 Hill runs

if you want to make your running more intense then you could always find a good Hill to run up i put an incline on your treadmill and run at a good pace for 5 to 10 minutes. This will build up your calves and your conditioning very well.

 

#7 Sprinting

sprints are the ultimate way to build up your anaerobic cardio outside of the boxing gym. Set a timer so that you are sprinting for 10 seconds and then jog back to the start before sprinting again. Do this five times before you take a break and do 3 sets of 5.

 

#8 Hill sprints

Hill sprints are one of the best friends of professional boxers when they have six to three weeks to go before their fight.

This really Hammers the anaerobic conditioning system, burns fat and increases our stamina no matter what happens in the ring whether the pace is fast or slow or we’re moving forwards or backwards.

 

#9 Sled Runs

Another of my favorite ways to blast the anaerobic system is with sled runs in a commercial gym, loaded up with some nice heavy weights and push it as hard and fast as you can for five to 10 seconds before turning around and doing the same.

This builds the legs on the glutes as well as really hammering our conditioning systems

Boxing is a sport where you’re gonna see all different kinds of things coming at you in the ring and having a good variety in the way you workout will allow you to condition yourself in various different ways and get you used to dealing with different situations.

 

#10 The Heavy Bag

The heavy bag is the ultimate piece of equipment for increasing your stamina, you can hit it as many times as you want and it will keep coming back for more. I guarantee you that you will run out of stamina before the heavy bag does.

You want to be organized when you work on the heavy bag. Don’t just work until you get tired and take a break, download an app on your phone or use the gyms timer to slot you work and rest into rounds.

You can go 2 mins with 1 minute rest when you are starting out and you can increase that to 3 minutes when you get more fit.

Work on your footwork as well as your combos and remember that you don’t have to load up on every punch but you can set up a hard right with a soft left.

 

Good Heavy Bag Combos

 

Jab

Double Jab

Jab Cross

Double Jab Cross

Cross – Left Hook – Cross

Cross (Body) – Hook (Head)

Jab – Rear Hook – Cross

 

The possibilities are endless and it will help to improve your stamina, endurance and punching ability. The heavy bag is the king of increasing your stamina among other bags like the speed bag and reflex bag which are also great for improving your game.

 

#11 Pad Work

Pad work with a coach is one of the most enjoyable ways to improve at the sport but it takes a lot of stamina. Going a few rounds on the pads has a number of advantages:

It increases your arm endurance and stamina.

It allows the coach to correct your technique and help you improve.

You can practice all the techniques you learned on the heavy bags and improve further as a fighter.

 

#12 Shadow Boxing

Shadow boxing can feel awkward at first but once you realise that all of the top fighters in the world put a heavy emphasis on it, you can start to understand the benefits.

Shadow boxing simulates to exercise you want to grow your stamina in perfectly so it a great way get fitter for the sport.

Use your round timer to go for 2 or 3 minute rounds and you can always use light dumbbells to add resistance to the workout, build the shoulders, endurance and stamina for boxing.

 

 

#13 Sparring

Sparring is the ultimate test of your conditioning. It simulates a real fight except you will only be going about 70/80% most of the time depending on how well matched you are with your partner.

Both the offensive and defensive elements of sparring can take it out of you but if you stick with it, you will make a tremendous improvement quickly as a fighter as you learn what combos work and what doesn’t and what is going you to get hit with punches can be quickly corrected.

If you want to increase your stamina for fighting, sparring is the perfect way to do it.

 

Conclusion

An Important thing to keep in mind is that you might be tensing up too much as a beginner causing you to fatigue more quickly. Keeping your shoulders lose and free as you box will help to improve your stamina. If you are too rigid, you will get tired much more quickly as your arms have to work a lot harder from a stiff position.

 

We hope you enjoyed this article and let us know your feedback in the comments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Heavy Bag and the Speed Bag are both synonymous with boxing gyms and two enjoyable bags to hit for different reasons.

The main difference between the heavy bag and the speed bag is that you usually hit the heavy bag hard and the speed bag fast.

The heavy bag is probably the one that will help you to improve the most as a fighter but speed bag also offers a good workout and allows us the build up our arm endurance.

If you have to make a choice between getting one of these as a heavy bag for your house it would depend on a number of factors like, whether or not you have space for a heavy bag, can you drill in the wall or have a good spot on a ceiling and will the noise effect your housemates.

You have 3 choices for mounting a heavy bag and they include A Heavy Bag Stand, Wall Or Ceiling Mount or a Free Standing Punching Bag, depending on your situation and with a Speed Bag you will need to mount it to the wall or you can even get one to hang in between the door frame but for a gym you will looking and mounting

 

What Muscles Do Does Each Bag Work?

The Speed Bag

The Speed Bag works the shoulders mostly which is main muscle used in punching and it significantly improves you shoulder endurance once you get into a ryhtm it can be a good exercise for anaerobic  arm and cardiovascular conditioning. It will also slightly bring in the triceps, the traps and the upper bag.

The Heavy Bag

The Heavy Bag will also work your shoulders and triceps extensively and the biceps will be used for any uppercuts. The will use your legs to move around the bag and dip down to throw shots to the body. You will power through your glutes, hamstrings and hips for your punches and you can add power to those muscles by working out consistently on the heavy bags and by working out smart, pushing yourself to the limit and incorporating drills.

Hitting the Heavy bag is a full impact consideration that will also engage the core and cause you to add muscle in your upper back and shoulders while getting lean and shredded.

As with anything, how far you go with the heavy bag to getting in the shape will depend on how frequently you work out on the heavy bag and how organized you are.

 

Get A Good Timing App For Your Rounds

Whether you are on the speed bag or the heavy bag, you should get a good timing app on your phone and time your rounds unless you want to invest in a better timer for your home or gym.

Work in rounds of three minutes and you can do 5 – 12 rounds with a minute rest in between where you need to do 20 push ups, Squats, Lunges, Mountain Climbers, Burpees Or 20 seconds plank to make it a solid workout where you can add some intensity and all round conditioning.

You don’t really want to take the same approach on the speed bag, use all of your energy for hitting the speed bag with as much speed and rhythm as you can for a rounds of 2-3 minutes with a minute rest in between rounds.

 

What Are The Benefits Of Hitting The Speed Bag

The Speed Bag is a crucial bag for becoming a quality boxer because of all the benefits it provides to the fighter once they can begin to master it.

 

Improves Hand Eye Coordination

The coordination between the eyes and the hands is fundamental to the sport of boxer, you need to see you opponents movements and throw your punches to land on them and it is a fundamental part of excelling in the sport.

 

The name of the game is to hit and not get hit and you can achieve that with a combination of what your eyes can see and what your hands can land on successfully. Working on the speed bag consistently will allow you to develop how your eyes and hands work together in unison.

 

Great For Arm Endurance

When you are working the heavy bag, you can get little breaks between your punches to actively recover but on the speed bag it is constant action. This will cause lactic acid to build up in your arms and shoulders. By pushing through this feeling of discomfort and continuing to hit the bag fast and consistently, we are training our arms to have more endurance and to be able to remain fast when we get tired in sparring and in a fight.

Increasing arm endurance is a great way to improve your effectiveness as a boxer.

 

Increases Hand Speed

Once you master the speed bag you’ll be able to hit it with speed and precision. This will allow you to potentialize and increase your speed to highly levels your body is capable of.

 

Defines The Shoulders

The Speed is particular intense on your shoulders and will help to craft muscular and lean muscle that is full of fast twitch fibres and ready to punches instantly with precision. Boxing is great for building solid and strong shoulder muscles.

 

 

Con Of The Speed Bag

 

Doesn’t Represent A Real Fight

It’s good for anaerobic condition and chiselling the arms but the heavy bag is much better for simulating a fight, practice new combos or drilling new techniques and combos that you have been learning.

That’s one of the main reasons why I’d recommend the heavy bag to a beginner over a speed bag but they are both very different styles of training.

 

Benefits Of Heavy Bag Training

You Can Throw Any Combo At A Heavy Bag

Having a heavy bag allows you to sharpen your offensive arsenal by throwing any type of combo you can imagine. If you learned a new combo with your coach on the pads or you have been thinking about one in your head, the heavy bag is the best place to try them out as well as shadow boxing.

 

Increase Punching Power

Working heavy shots on the bag is as good a way as any for increasing your punching power. You can hit the bag as hard as possible over and over again to train you arms and body to throw with more power.

Incorporating strength training into your routine can be another great way to increase your punching power over time.

 

Focus On Your Footwork

A heavy bag is basically a sitting target for you to have a fight with, so you can either slug it out with the bag or you can box and move around the bag utilising and improving your foot work.

Footwork is going to help you offensively, when you can use your footwork to create angles where you can land your punches effectively, you will have more success in the long run.

You want to learn how to pivot of your lead hook and follow up with punches.

 

You Can Work At Different Tempos

You can use the heavy bag for slower more aerobic workouts and fast high tempo anaerobic workouts. You can easily switch between one tempo and another from round to round but still be getting a quality workout overall.

 

You Can Get A Hit Workout

This is where you couple fast intense exercise with slower aerobic work in the same round.

A good example of this would be to throw straight punches as fast as you can against the bag for 30 seconds and then move onto 30 seconds of slow deliberate hooks where you can get active recovery for a round of three minutes.

Hiit is one of the best way to burn fat and get in great shape.

 

You Don’t Need A Partner To Hit It

One of the best things about the heavy bag is that you can workout with it any time you want. You want have to wait for a class to start or for someone to hold pads for you. You can get a full workout on the heavy bag without having any partner to consider.

Not needing a partner means you can get a good session in when you miss a class or you can workout in the comfort of you own home.

 

Full Body Workout

At the end of every three minute round you can incorporate 20 of one of the following ( Burpees, Push Ups, Squats, Lunges, Plank, Sit Ups, Mountain Climbers. Do a different one each time and work for 10-12 rounds for a huge calory burning, full body workout.

 

 

Cons Of The Heavy Bag

It can teach bad habbits, like keeping your hands too low. The heavy bag doesn’t hit back so it is of the most importance to remember to keep a good defense when you are hitting the bags.

If you throw your jab and cross make sure the hand comes straight back to your chin and keep you chin tucked in when you throw.

Keep everything short and compact with an emphasis on protecting yourself.

 

Best Situation Is To Have Both Bags Available

If you have both of these bags and even a couple more bags you can have a much more varied workout by moving from bag to bag for an hour of three minute rounds.

There is nothing like consistent workouts on the bags to get fighting fit and stay at the top of your game.

 

Conclusion

These bags are vastly different but the most important bag is the Heavybag for boxing, by a long way as it is a better bag for overall boxing conditioning and technique but the Speed also provides a worth second place allowing you to improve hand speed and eye coordination to attack more successfully n the ring.