A punching bag exercise, often known as a heavy bag exercise, is a boxing-style train that requires a stuffed heavy bag both hung from the ceiling or held up by a stand. With it, you get the perfect of each worlds: cardio (with velocity) and power coaching (with punches). It’s not only a exercise on your arms both. A punching bag exercise is a complete physique exercise partaking the chest, shoulders, legs, and core.
Able to punch the stress manner? Maintain studying to find out about punching bag exercise tools, the suitable option to heat up your physique for the sort of exercise, and 4 punching bag exercise strikes that can make you feel and look like a complete knockout (sorry, we needed to).
Punching bag exercise tools
The fundamentals required for a punching bag exercise embody a heavy bag, hand wraps, and boxing gloves to guard your fingers and knuckles. There are completely different baggage to select from, together with hanging, sitting, sandbags, and aqua. Reams recommends aqua baggage as they take in the impression whereas a standard heavy bag reverberates the impression again into the joints.
In your toes, Katie Webb, an ACE-certified coach and boxing teacher, suggests cross-trainers as an alternative of operating or jogging footwear as they permit extra lateral motion.
Punching bag exercise warm-up
To get your physique warmed up earlier than a punching bag exercise, look to basic warm-up strikes resembling leaping jacks, excessive knees, butt kicks, and mountain climbers to ramp up your coronary heart fee. Reams suggests focusing the warm-up on the higher physique in relation to stretching, as that’s the place probably the most motion will come from.
One other professional tip: Incorporating shadowboxing, which is boxing with out making contact with the punching bag. In line with Webb, it is one other glorious option to heat up the muscle mass and get comfy with the stance and kind.
Do that 10-minute newbie boxing exercise with coach Michelle Sim to get your blood pumping earlier than turning to the punching bag:
4 Punching bag exercise strikes
Earlier than diving right into a punching bag exercise, turn into acquainted with the shape and stance. Start along with your toes shoulder-width aside, pointing towards the bag. Then drop the leg of your dominant facet again and barely pivot your physique to face one o’clock. “It is best to primarily be capable to draw a straight line out of your entrance toe to your again heel,” Webb says. “Knees must be softly bent, and your weight is evenly distributed. Each fists must be by your face, defending your chin and elbows at your facet.”
1. Jab
To get your jab on out of your boxing stance, punch the middle of the bag along with your non-dominant hand main along with your knuckles. “Your hand/wrist goes to rotate in direction of the middle of your physique as you throw the punch, creating extra energy because of the torque,” Reams says. “Do that for 100 reps, ensuring to maintain the punches round eye degree and the off-hand as much as defend your face.”
2. Cross
For the cross, you’ll use your dominant hand and arm. Beginning out of your boxing stance, “prolong your again arm out in entrance of you, making contact with the bag and rotating your fist barely inward because it leaves your facet,” Webb says. “Return it to your facet, ensuring to carry your again fist up by your face. Your jab and your cross ought to ideally be hitting the identical spot on the bag.” Reams recommends doing 100 reps of the cross.
3. Hook
To throw a entrance hook, “make a 90-degree angle on the elbow in your entrance, arm parallel with the ground, and hit the facet of the punching bag by rotating via your waist,” Webb says. “The bag ought to get in the way in which of your punch. Mimic this identical motion on the alternative facet for a again hook. Pace this up right into a circuit by performing 20 seconds of a front-and-back hook mixture with a second relaxation in between every pair of hooks.”
4. Uppercut
Prep for an uppercut by guaranteeing your knees are bent. You’ll get energy out of your hips and decrease physique to push off the bottom. “Throw a entrance uppercut by shifting your weight to your entrance foot,” Webb says. “Drop your entrance elbow downward in order that it virtually touches your entrance hip. From there, push powerfully upward out of your legs to launch your punch up and into the bag.” To do a again uppercut, repeat this course of on the alternative facet. Webb recommends rushing it up right into a circuit by alternating rapidly between back and front uppercuts for 20 seconds nonstop.
The quiet down
You’ve obtained the punches out. You’re feeling good. (Stress? What stress?) Now, it’s time to chill your physique down. Webb’s go-to cool downs incorporate yoga-style stretches. “Baby’s pose is a good way to sluggish your coronary heart fee whereas additionally stretching out your shoulders, which tackle loads of impression in heavy bag coaching,” she says. “Hip flexor and decrease again stretches additionally relieve rigidity after the sort of train.”
Tips on how to elevate your punching bag exercise
Take your heavy bag exercise up a degree with these professional suggestions.
- Solely make contact with the bag. Attempt to not transfer it. “It’s okay in case you do transfer it a bit, however the objective is to strike rapidly then defend,” Reams says.
- Maintain your knees bent.“Staying low will strengthen your heart of gravity and help you garner extra energy in your punches by rotating via your waist,” Webb says.
- Shield your face.“In case your fists aren’t throwing a punch, they need to all the time be up by your face,” Webb says.
- Maintain shifting. “As you turn into extra comfy with the punches themselves, attempt to transfer across the bag and incorporate head motion,” Webb says. “This retains your coronary heart fee up and also you prepared on your (imaginary) opponent.”
- Intention for brief combos.“Repeating brief combos at a excessive depth with rests in between are greatest, fairly than making an attempt to place collectively lengthy mixtures,” Webb says.
