Best Heavy Bag Workouts: Benefits and Tips

Being a boxer, it is essential for you to have a well-toned body, exceptional punching skills, and maximum stamina to last all the rounds of a boxing bout. All these things don't come with just running on a treadmill for hours or going for other heavy-weight workouts. They come with rigorous boxing training and working on heavy bags is an essential component of it.

Here you will learn the eminent heavy bag workouts, their benefits, and pro tips to perform them in a perfect manner.

There are a number of benefits of heavy bag workouts that amount as substantial reasons to include them in your boxing training routine. The following are some of the major ones.

Do you want to improve your boxing technique and increase the impact of your punches? Working on heavy bags is helpful for that purpose. Consistent workouts involving heavy bags are quintessential when it comes to improving movement and punching precision.

When you throw some straight punches, it not only improves your technique but also body movement. By throwing punches at a heavy bag, you can easily analyze the impact and force that your punches hold.

Heavy bag workouts are not only amazing for bettering punching techniques, but they are also exceptional for power and strength training. As punches involve most of the major muscle groups of your upper and lower body, these workouts can help you build your muscles. In other words, heavy bag training is a full-body workout.

You can hit a heavy bag with your maximum force to increase total strength and power with the passage of time.

Heavy bag training is also outstanding for building endurance and increasing your stamina to last 12 rounds. When you put your 100% effort into these workouts, they help you get out of your comfort zone and improve your cardio. The more you exert the effort and push past your limits, the better endurance you will get. Having good endurance always helps in lasting all rounds in sparring sessions as well as in actual fights.

Apart from boxing, these workouts benefit you to get strong joints and bones to keep on excelling regardless of whatever you are doing in your daily life. You will have enough stamina to perform any activity without getting tired.

In boxing, if you lack balance, stability, and hand-eye coordination, you cannot go too far ahead in the sport. But don’t worry, working out on heavy bags can help you improve these aspects. While performing a heavy bag workout, you don't just stand still but also move around the bag and incorporate footwork.

Throwing different punching combinations while circling the bag always helps boxers to improve their balance and hand-eye coordination. During these workouts, you stay on your toes and transfer your weight from one to the other foot while making movements, consequently building balance and stability.

The other major benefit of heavy bag exercises is stress reduction. They allow you to channel your anger by throwing powerful punches and taking out your stress. On top of that, such physical exercises trigger the production of neurohormones such as norepinephrine which is linked with improving cognitive functioning and mood. By assuming your heavy bag as your trouble, you can hit them with maximum power. This will help you feel relaxed.

There are a large number of heavy bag routines that you can use to get in shape for boxing while improving your techniques and movements. Here are five of the best heavy bag workouts listed:

Do you want to do an intensive heavy bag exercise while having fun? The poor boy exercise is perfect for you. This exercise is usually performed with a group of 3-4 people. Each participant gets a chance to hit the heavy bag until their breath runs out during this workout.

When one participant is done with it, the next person will also do the same. In general, all participants perform this drill for 5 minutes. However, to increase the intensity level of this workout, participants can prolong the drill for as long as 15 minutes.

In this heavy bag workout for beginners, you start with a 15 second freestyle followed by an interval of 15 seconds of rapid punches. It is just like a short interval of sprinting while running normally. For this workout, it is an ideal way to perform it on 15 seconds on and 15 seconds off schedule for 3 minutes.

This is another one of the best heavy bag workouts that is similar to the rapid fire. But there is a very minor difference between the two. In this workout, you start with 15 seconds of free style punching followed by a 15 second period of power punching. You hit the bag as hard as you can while screaming loudly.

Satellite is another beneficial yet fun heavy bag HIIT workout that can help you build muscles and practice how to throw body shots at opponents perfectly. In this workout too, you need a partner or instructor to perform.

You start this workout by touching the heavy bag at a slower pace while moving around. Then, when your partner or instructor calls to go, throw 4 to 6 body shots to the bag. Stay ready for the surprise calls from your partner or instructor during the workout.

Touch and go is also the best heavy bag workout that can benefit you build muscles and improve your punching technique. This workout also requires you to have a partner or trainer with you to assist you to perform it effectively.

You will start this by touching heavy bags at a nice and slower speed and when your partner or trainer calls go, you will throw quick and powerful punches for 15 seconds and then return to your slower pace bag touching. Continue this workout for three minutes with 15 second on and off schedule.

Here are some pro tips about heavy bag training to help you make the most out of it for yourself.

Whatever exercise or workout you are going to perform, it is essential to start with a light warm up to prepare your muscles for the respective activity. While you are up for heavy bag training, it will be vital to go for a light punching round with circling the bag.

To keep your hands safe from scratches and joint dislocations, it will be vital to wrap your hands and wear boxing gloves before starting any boxing workout that involves heavy bags.

Though people focus more on power and speed while performing heavy bag workouts, you should put technique first. Speed and power are not one time thing, they develop with time. Therefore, you should be focusing on technique from the start. Training with proper technique will not only improve your boxing skills but will also keep you secure from injuries.

Hitting a heavy bag is a tough job and you cannot do that consistently for a long time. It will make no harm if you devise your training into an interval training system. For example, you can go for 1-minute punches to the bag followed by an interval of rope jumping or any other such exercise to make your workout cross-functional.

While focusing on your workout do not forget about your breath. It is essential to engage in perfect breathing during your training sessions. It will be vital to inhale in resting motion while exhaling when you exert during the workout to feed oxygen to your working muscles well.

Though everyone loves to attack opponents to get an advantage and win bouts, improving defense is also an important factor. The basic purpose of these workouts is to improve your performance in the ring. Therefore, along with practicing your attacking techniques, you should also be practicing your defensive moves such as slips and rolls while working out with heavy bags by assuming that you are fighting with a real opponent.

Heavy bag workouts are considered exclusive when it comes to training for boxing. These workouts are designed with different purposes and are performed in different ways to accomplish a variety of clearly set goals. You can also take their advantage to polish your boxing skills and perform better in the ring.