Boxing Bags

[ThomasTabin]

I have heard a few different philosophies when it comes to working the heavy bag. One is to have the bag swing more as to allow you to work on an assortment of punches and techniques, with a lot of emphasis on footwork. The other side that I've heard is that the heavy bag should not swing much as the fighter should focus more on getting set for their punches. Personally I like my bag to swing. Does anyone have their own thoughts on this?

The swinging is good I think but just not to the point that it is flying around with every hard punch. If you have a good heavy punch and you know what you are doing then a 70 lb bag is going to be bouncing around like crazy. At this point you lose some realism since no punch you will ever throw on an opponent will make him react like that. 150-200 I enjoy because it is a realistic weight for a human being. That is, how many 70 pound fighters do you expect to be hitting? In addition, the 150-200 pound bags forces you to drive your punches into their targets because it wont react to you unless you do. On a 70 pound bag the slightest hits send it on its way. On a 150-200 you better know what you're doing because the light stuff wont affect it. If you punch hard it will swing for you.

At that weight the filling has to be soft.


And also personally i tend not to like skinny and long bags. They react strangely when you punch them. They kind of shake around from top to bottom and do little in terms of swinging. They're no good to me. I like the bags fat gives you a good solid thing to sink into.

[Chris Nagel]

I think that any skill related training that a boxer does should simulate the kinds of things that one would experience in a boxing match. Just like what we've been talking about, let's you're sparring and you hit your opponent with a good body punch they're not going to fly backwards unless you're boxing on the moon. If the bag is too light or responsive then it's not going to add to your abilities as a puncher more than likely it might teach you bad form for the reasons that's been said already.

That being said I don't think that the punching targets that look like manaquins are practical for a boxer because they don't move and respond like an opponent would when you hit it. Some people like it because they can see the targets clearly since it resembles a person, but besides looks it doesn't offer much else.

Alternatively it's a good idea to mark your heavybag with tape making x's where all the targets corresponding to the vulnerable spots on an opponent's body. This is one of the valueble tips I got from Thomas and Grey. This way you're more deliberate when it comes to hitting as you're placing your shots where they count. Building on this in regards to actual sparring you can plan the different combinations and punches that you'll throw, and more importantly on how you would go about setting it up. This is a great area to work at because you can get the logistics down, and it corresponds to the different kinds of things that you'd experience in a fight. If you notice anything while you're watching sparring matches, or any recorded fights you can certainly incorporate that into your training as well. That you can keep improving, as there's so much things to draw from.

[donnydarkoIRL]

X's on the heavy bag sounds like an interesting and effective idea.

Lennox lewis when trainig for the Mason fight applied an x on the headgear of all sparring partners as Mason had just had surgery on his eye.

[Dizaster]

Suggestions have been good so far......

Make sure you get wraps and decent gloves.... Do not even bother laying in the the bag one single time without wearing wraps...

Also try to find a bag that has the foam padding around the inside... They do cost a little more i've found, but it's a night and day difference when your training. I traded out my old one for a foam padded one and I can train a lot harder now for longer,,, and my wrists are thanking me for it!! I wish I could get back all those years I pounded away on "the rock" I now call it....