Martial arts and combat sports such as Karate, Taekwondo, and Muay Thai; adapted heavy bags, standing bags, and similar apparatuses for practicing kicking, striking and developing punching technique.A punching bag (US) or punch-bag (UK) is a sturdy bag designed to be repeatedly punched. It's used for conditioning, physical exercise, and stress relief. Athletically, it's used to improve one of three areas: physical strength, aerobic fitness, or punching technique.
Two Karatekas practice striking the heavy bag
Punching bags are often filled with grains, sand, rags, or other material and are usually hung from the ceiling or affixed to a stand. Other bags have an internal bladder to allow them to be filled with air or water. The design of a punching bag allows it to take repeated and constant physical abuse without breaking. The bag must also absorb the impact of blows, without causing harm to the user.
Types of bag
There are different types and names of punching bags based on their size, use and mounting method. Almost all punching bags are covered with leather, or synthetic materials such as vinyl that resist abrasion and mildew. Canvas is also used as a bag material where there is lower use and humidity.
Speed bags/ Speed Balls /Speed Ball Bags are small, air-filled bags anchored at the top to a rebound platform parallel to the ground. Speed bags help a fighter learn to keep his hands up, improve hand-eye coordination and learn to shift weight between feet when punching.
Swerve balls / floor to ceiling balls are almost the same as Speed balls with the only difference that the bag size shape and material may be different and that the cable system is attached to the ceiling and a clip on the floor. The objective using this bag is to swerve, punch, dodge and learn about co-ordination. The harder and faster they are hit - the more they rebound and react in different motions of angles.
Double-end bags or Focus bags are light, round bags, often anchored to floor and ceiling with elastic or semi-elastic materials. These types of bags are used to practice mobility and accuracy on a moving target.
Maize bags or Slip bags are not punched with great force but are used in boxing training to improve the athlete's head motion and ability to evade an opponent's punch, their name deriving from the fact that traditionally they are filled with maize.
A heavy bag is a larger, cylindrical bag, usually suspended by chains or ropes for practicing powerful body punches, and can be used to toughen hands, or any other limb used to hit the bag. Pedestal bags or tower bags are heavy bags mounted on a weighted pedestal rather than being hung from above. Other variations on the standard heavy bag include horizontal suspension from both ends to practice uppercut punches and non-cylindrical shapes.
Another type of pedestal bag is Body opponent bag or body-shaped training aids. This bag made primarily of synthetic materials, and punching bags are sometimes mounted on a weighted pedestal rather than hanging from above. These are not punching bags in the strict sense, but modern versions of apparatus such as the wooden man apparatus (wooden dummy doll/ Muk Yan Chong) of Chinese Wing Chun.
Grandmaster of Wing Chun, Yip Man practices striking Muk Yan Chong
The uppercut bag began to appear towards the beginning of the century. With so many different variations of bags and training equipment for boxing taking off, the upper cut bag was and is still a common sight in clubs and gyms. Designed for upper cut practice, jabbing, curl punching and low quick burst of high and low punching practice.
The good practices
Powerful strikes to the heavy bag aren't recommended for inexperienced, or younger athletes(<18 female, <21 male), as risk of sprain, strain, or bone plate damage may adversely effect bone structures. Using hand protection is highly recommended(boxing gloves, bag gloves, training gloves, hand wraps, etc).
Example of hand wrapping in Muay Thai Boxing
Consider a punching bag workout as a long-term fitness addition. Don't throw all you have at the bag at the very first time or you may get injury. Commit to working up to full intensity over a period of months. See the tables below to give you some standards of training.
NOTE: use 3-minute rounds and 1-minute rest periods between rounds.
Feel free to modify things if you fight or spar in an organized setting where they pick the round length for you. Keep the intensity level fairly high during rounds. It's important to train the recovery ability in the rest interval. For fighting and self-defense, or if you just want to work out as efficiently as possible, make sure you learn proper punching technique. [MM]
Reference:.
- http://heavyfists.com/
- Mas Oyama, 1979, Mas oyama Essential karate, Sterling Publishing: New York.
- Master Yip Chun, 1981, 116 WingTsun Dummy Techniques, Leung Publication: Hong Kong.
- Wikipedia
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