7 Quick Tips For a Better Heavy Bag Workout

by: Asen Qvorov

One way of working the heavy bag is just training drills and polishing your technique. The other way is to “simulate”, to pretend that the heavy bag is an opponent. This is the kind of workout we will focus on so continue reading to check our 6 quick tips on heavy bag workouts.

Tip #1. Stay at the right distance

Distance is the key to hit and not being hit. Think of the bag like it’s your opponent and stay out of fighting range. If you step closer you must punch. When you are not punching get out of the danger zone and follow Tip #2 which is:

Tip #2. Move around the bag

Don’t stay still in one place in front of the bag. Move around just like you would to in a real fight and try to keep the intensity of a real sparring. Step in, do a combo, step out and continue to move.

Tip #3. Don’t wait in between combinations

Work. Try to keep yourself as busy as possible. Watch any professional boxer training video and you will see that they keep working and throwing punches. Don’t just throw one big combination and then just walk for 10-15 seconds. In a real fight, you will not have this 10 seconds to rest.

Tip #4. Keep breathing

Focus on exhaling on your punches and pushing the air out. Good breathing allows you to relax and throw more punches without getting tired so it’s very important for every fighter who wants to have good conditioning and endurance.

Tip #5. Keep your hands up

A lot of people get lazy with their defense simply because the heavy bag is not throwing punches. Always keep your hands up. Of course, the bag won’t punch you in the face but your opponent will when you form the bad habit of not protecting yourself all the time.

Tip #6. Don’t push on your punches

Pushing on your punches is a common mistake when hitting the heavy bag. Don’t try to make the bag swing left and right with just one punch. Instead of that, the bag should appear like having a “seizure” like the one on the picture.

Try to keep your body and arms relaxed and loose but tighten your fist and forearm just before you land the shot.

Tip #7. Less power, more volume

Hitting the heavy bag is all about volume.

Don’t worry so much about the power and try to keep the pace and don’t stop punching. If you watch some professional boxer training on the bag you will notice that he won’t rest.

In a real fight, you don’t have time to rest or to catch your breath. Try to push yourself to the maximum to simulate the real fighting experience – that is where the benefits of the heavy bag work come.