Few exercises have such a comprehensive effect as using a punching bag does.
Sure, you can workout with dumbbells and other weights, or even go for a run, but using a punching bag can help you relieve anger, stress, and other negative emotions. At the same time, it gives you a workout along with a nice dose of dopamine, the feel-good chemical in your brain.
Just because you’ve bought a punching bag doesn’t mean you’ll instantly be able to use it properly.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind before you start your punching bag workout regimen, and in this post we’re going to talk about what those things are.
You’ll also need to ensure you thoroughly read a large amount of punching dummy reviews so that you can ensure you purchase the right one.
Get Acclimated with Your Body
One way to lose weight and put on muscle is to go for a run. While this is beneficial towards your health, it isn’t going to be a panacea that solves all of your problems.
For instance, mixed martial arts fighters don’t tend to do much running either on or off the treadmill.
Instead, what these fighters do is take to the punching bag or have some other kind of light fight training to activate muscles that are responsible for fight responses in our body.
This won’t just tone your arms and legs by making contact, but it will activate many different kinds of muscles such as those in your abdomen in order to do the work.
What this all means is that you’re going to slim down at the same time that you bulk up on muscle. Do this enough and you’ll get to the point where friends and family will barely recognize you anymore.
It’s important, of course, that you use the proper safety procedures when hitting the bag.
Your legs and feet should be fine while making contact, but your hands might end up taking a great deal of damage if you don’t keep them gloved at all times.
An extreme workout won’t matter if you end up breaking your hand by the end of it.
For added protection, you can even wrap up your hands beforehand. This will ensure that there’s virtually no chance of you doing any kind of serious damage to them.
After all, there’s a reason why professional fighters do it. If someone whose livelihood depends on it does these things, it’s a good idea that you do the same.
How it Works
Hitting a punching bag doesn’t just get you fit. It can increase your stamina, strengthen your power, and even increase your metabolic rate for days afterward.
Even if you’re only boxing instead of kickboxing, you’ll be activating muscles in your legs and lower body anyway. This is a full-body workout that doesn’t seem like a full body workout.
How to Do It
This exercise is best done as a circuit, with one workout being done after the other without any rest in between.
After this is over, you should take a 30-second break before continuing again. That will be a single round.
Once you’ve done one round, you should do a total of five to get the most out of this routine.
The Workout
There are plenty of different exercises that go into an ideal workout routine. We’re going to look at a couple of them here.
Low Kick Right Leg
This exercise as well as the rest of the kicks on this list will be done for a total of five reps and nothing in the way of rest.
You’ll do this exercise by kicking low on the bag as if you were aiming for your opponent’s leg.
Instead of kicking straight and moving your whole body, you should pivot on your support foot and drive your other leg hard into the bag.
You should swing your whole body on this pivot in order to put as much power into the kick as you can. This will be done for a total of five kicks.
High Kick Right Leg
This particular workout round will be done by kicking the upper part of the bag as if you were aiming directly for your opponent’s head.
You should always be protecting your head, and this isn’t an exception for kicking. Keep your hands up to protect any kind of strike your opponent might throw your way.
Low Kick Left Leg
This is the same as the low kick with your right leg, just flipped. Take just as much care to not injure yourself while performing this set.
High Kick Left Leg
This is also the same as the high kick that you did with your right leg.
One should include both limbs to get an even workout and make sure that you’re just as strong with your weaker leg as you are with your dominant one.
Punches
These will be performed with 20 reps instead of five, and your rest period will still not apply here.
You’ll want to perform a series of 20 straight punches on the bag while alternating the hands that you use.
If you’re punching with the right hand, be sure to guard your face with the left. If you’re using the left hand, keep your guard up with your right.
Your head is the deadliest target, so it’s important that you get in the habit of protecting it at all times.
While a bag isn’t a living person and can’t attack you back, all of these strikes will get you ready for a potential altercation in the real world.
What you do over and over again is what you become, so you need to set up the right habits in your routine.
While this list isn’t exhaustive, it should give you a good idea as to how to start up a killer punching bag routine.
You’ll get yourself in peak physical shape, while at the same time getting rid of all of that unnecessary stress.
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