A FIGHTER’S FRIEND – THE HEAVY BAG WORKOUT PART 1
In the first of a two-part article, fitness and health writer David Robson looks at the competitive fighter’s best training tool - the heavy bag – and considers the many ways to get the best out of your bag.
With the advent of sophisticated training devices, and methods to achieve amazing results in minimal time, the fitness industry is increasingly veering away from many tried and tested ways to improve health and fitness.
One piece of equipment that has become almost legendary in its shaping of champions, and the results in physical fitness it has achieved for many an average person, is the heavy bag.
The heavy bag is a stuffed bag made of leather or vinyl, which weighs between 40 and 100 lbs, and is used primarily among boxers for building punching power and improving boxing technique. Hitting the heavy bag is physically demanding and a true test of strength and stamina.
For a relatively simple piece of equipment, it delivers many amazing benefits. Whether it is a full body workout, sharpened self defence skills, or a defined, muscular body, the heavy bag is a valuable addition to any home or commercial gym setting.
How do you use the heavy bag and what are its main benefits? Why might the heavy bag be a useful addition to your training plan? Read on and all will be revealed.
Improve Aerobic Fitness
Training on the heavy bag at the right intensity will greatly tax the cardio respiratory system. The mere act of moving around a bag, while changing body position, equates to an aerobic workout where you are utilizing oxygen at a lower intensity. Throwing punches with bad intentions will add an anaerobic (higher intensity) dimension while adding to the aerobic workload. Most bag sessions last for a minimum of two minutes. Professionals typically sustain their high intensity punching and moving for three minutes. Occasionally, I will box the heavy bag for a five minute round. This saves time due to the need for fewer rest periods, and provides a greater workout overall. However, the ability to do this must be developed over time, so there should be no rushing into this type of training. To realize any aerobic benefit, it is important to build up to at least two minutes, and increase this to three, as aerobic capacity increases.
Improve Power
The heavy bag was actually designed for boxers to enhance their punching power. It allows for the perfect opportunity to focus on using as many muscles as possible, to ensure a punch is thrown with perfect technique and with the greatest possible force. The bag never hits back. Main muscles worked on the heavy bag include the shoulders, arms, back, chest and waist. Legs are also used in the process of punching the bag, to generate power through the upper body. Straight punches, such as the right cross and jab, will help to develop power through the shoulders and chest, while uppercuts and hooks will utilize the back and arms to a greater extent.
Improve Coordination & Core Stability
Circling the heavy bag and throwing off combinations of punches will help with coordination. Keeping on the toes, and transferring weight from one foot to the other to throw a specific punch, will help one to develop core stability and, as a result, overall body coordination. Coordination has obvious implications for how one moves and performs on a daily basis. Boxers, with a large degree of experience on the heavy bag, tend to exhibit excellent posture and move with a certain grace.
Improve Boxing Technique
Obviously, hitting the heavy bag will improve boxing technique, provided all punches, and body-movements, are performed correctly. The idea is to keep everything tight, while remaining relaxed and ready to react. Elbows in and hands up while continually moving is the basic approach to hitting the heavy bag. Of course, the punches will be all the more sharper and powerful if one is relaxed, and in the correct stance.
Develop Self Defence Skills
The bag cannot retaliate, therefore making it the ideal way in which to perfect self defence technique. Visualize the bag as an opponent and hit as if being hit. In other words, use lateral movement and bobbing and weaving to set up a punch or a series of punches on the premise that the bag is a living and breathing opponent throwing its own combination of attacks. Try swinging the bag to make it a moving target. This will make it harder to hit, and improve the real-life application of your workout. Hitting the heavy bag will also build confidence translatable to a real life situation. Building power and developing your technique on the heavy bag will better prepare you to respond when it is needed, whether that is in the boxing ring or on the street.
Improve Body Shape
I have personally witnessed an improvement in terms of shoulder, biceps and back detail as a result of heavy bag training. Although hitting the heavy bag does not equate to a pure bodybuilding workout - as would weight training - it does provide an excellent way in which to add detail and strip body fat. Adding detail in the form of greater cuts and a certain hardness and stripping body fat to reveal the underlying muscles will enhance anyone's physique. For the amount of work many boxers do - particularly in the pro ranks - many of these athletes do seem to hold an impressive degree of muscle size. For those wanting to improve general health while preserving their muscle gains, I would suggest following program one at the end of this article.
Decrease Stress
It has been accepted for some time now that hitting the heavy bag is one way to dissolve the burden of stress. Although any form of exercise has special stress countering qualities, boxing is probably unique in that it is a physically exhausting, aggressive activity which demands total concentration while allowing one to literally strike out at an inanimate object. This striking out aspect is thought to allow a channelling of the aggressive tendencies that we all have into something of benefit to mind and body. Due to our increasingly hectic lifestyles, we are continually faced with an inherent urge to act in a physical manner on various stressors. Unfortunately, the position we are in often precludes us from physically confronting or running from a particular stressor. Hitting the heavy bag, like any intense activity, allows one to act in a very physical manner, to vent the build up of toxins that form as a result of the inherent stressfulness of their lives. This aside, hitting the heavy bag also provides great aerobic/anaerobic benefits, which have conclusively been proven to help lower stress levels.
A Low Cost Activity which Requires Minimal Equipment
Hitting the heavy bag is an activity that requires minimal equipment, therefore making it low cost and relatively easy to set up. A bag, some wraps, and a good pair of gloves are the only mandatory requirements. A good set of shoes and a flat surface with enough surrounding room to move at least three feet in either direction of the bag are to also be considered. With its many benefits, hitting the heavy bag is an ideal addition to ones regular exercise program.
- David Robson
Fitness and Nutrition 
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