Heavy bag work has the ability to help you do all this provided you understand its underlying mechanics and begin to use it properly.
So, first things first. Why does hitting an 80kg, padded leather sack offer such a good workout? The principle is sound enough. By having a target to hit you tend to focus in terms of your technique. The power you generate offers immediate feedback upon impact so that part of the force travels back up your arm and shoulder to your body. The twin exertion of throwing punches and absorbing the impact of the blows you are landing creates vibrations which increase the density of the muscles and bones and are then responsible for molecular changes in their make up. In common parlance you become stronger and leaner.
Whatever you decide to do on the heavy bag the principle is not going to change so the question has to be what do you want to achieve? If leanness of muscle and weight loss is your primary aim then you need to go hard and long. Set yourself a fixed period of time – anything between one hour and ninety minutes. Get some quality handwraps and a good pair of boxing gloves to protect your hands and go to it.
If all you want is lean muscles and to lose weight it really does not matter what kind of punches you throw as long as they are hard and you do not let up. Go for routines which are simple and maintain the rhythm of 2 – 3 minutes for flat out punches with a 30 second break between bursts to an uninterrupted 30 minutes if you are going to throw hard punches but you take your time between each one.
Increasing aerobic capacity
The heavy bag is versatile. If you want to increase aerobic capacity which will help you in any sport you should think about 3-minute bursts of heavy punching. The rule here is three minutes on thirty seconds off. Use a stopwatch to keep you focused. You will find that after the first round or two you begin to lose intensity and power. Do not despair. Maintain your work rate go for volume of punches as opposed to quality of technique or heavy power and work so that you actually feel the burn in your lungs.
Give yourself thirty seconds to recover and aim, the first time, to complete three rounds. Experienced boxers and gymnasts can go for as many as 25 in a two-hour session.
The result: increased aerobic capacity and stamina. Faster recovery time.
Increasing limb speed
The heavy bag also allows you to increase limb speed through heavy-duty repetition. Here it is important you stick to a simple two-hand technique in order to give recovery time to your arms. Go for one-two for instance. The speed should be in the execution as opposed to the repetition. So you want to execute the punches as fast as possible even if you take two-three breaths in between.
The result: building up muscle memory. Building up speed through repetition which increases neuron generation in the muscle strands.
More power
If you are male and know how to punch you also need to build up power. Power comes from three distinct things which in order of importance are:
- Technique
- The ability of the muscle to expand in a homogenous way
- Muscle density
The heavy bag helps work all three. If you have any experience of punching you know that when you shadow box, particularly in front of a mirror your technique is near perfect. In a heavy bag situation designed to simulate striking a body the technique tends to drop in quality. Fatigue sets in, the feedback of the bag is also a problem and, of course, there is no mirror.
To fix the first make sure you have your punching technique clearly visualized in your mind. You know exactly which body part moves, how your body is positioned, where your reaction arm is and how your feet move. When you punch and as you get tired it is important to run mental checks making sure you adhere to the correct punching technique.
The second is harder to fix because the only remedy is time. If you do weights muscles tend to be heavily built up in the centre of the muscle fiber and taper towards to ends. Homogenous muscle strands are heavy throughout the muscle length which means you do not need to have bulky muscles in order to generate a lot of power. It also means that you will be able to move faster and hit harder. Using the heavy bag consistently allows for this homogenous built up of muscles.
Finally muscle density. This is the direct result of how hard you hit the heavy bag and how often. The more you hit the more feedback travels from it through your muscles and bones and the stronger they become.
If you are a girl a heavy bag can probably be your best friend because you can go to town on it without being afraid that you will bulk up in any way. Upper body strength is always a problem for women and doing weights poses different challenges and can cause a whole set of problems. The heavy bag takes care of this and it also tends to help you drop weight instead of out it on which weight-training does.
For guys the heavy bag is the holy grail. Whether you play squash, do martial arts or go rounds in a ring with your sparring partner the heavy bag will really help make you lean and mean.
