what should..................

[lau gar]

I hit my new heavy bag with?
Im training for self defense so i immediately think barehanded but won't i get a whole lot of injuries?
Any good ways to prepare for hitting the bag barehanded?
Will using hand wraps or gloves make that much difference?

[Kempo Guy]

My curent MMA/Boxing coach will never allow us to hit heavybags with anything less than 14oz gloves. He tells us that if you just hit bags with wraps or 'bag gloves' we'll injure our shoulders etc. I can actually attest to this... I have chronic shoulder problems....
But, to each their own...
KG

[Losttrak]

barehand may split the flesh around your knuckles.. but it will toughen them up... gradually.

always good to use wraps for your wrists... wrists tire out first and one misplaced punch and WHAM, sprained wrist...

yeppers, always good to use gloves to reduce the impact strain on the joints and to practice with more weight/resistance. once you take those gloves off your punches will be flying.

[IronFist]

Why use wraps? Will you have them on the street in a real fight? No. So in my opinion it's best to not become reliant on them for wrist support.

IronFist

[ElPietro]

You won't have them in the street, but you also won't be throwing hundreds of punches every day either. Training isn't the same as the street. If you are training your punch, and you are going to throw hundreds upon hundreds of punches, then over time you have a pretty much 100% chance if doing yourself injury without the proper gear. If you sprain your wrist in a fight oh well, your adrenaline will not allow you to feel it, and you will still be defending yourself. But if you sprain it training, you now cannot train, and will be rendered less effective, and over time without equipment, develop chronic injuries that never go away.

Unless you plan on getting in a fight every day, simulating the exact circumstances is only going to end up getting you hurt. Why not train on a heavy bag as hard as the human skull as well? Since that's what you'll be hitting.

Just my thoughts on this.

[Kempo Guy]

ElPietro,

Good post. I agree completely.

I'd also like to mention that my coach recommends the 'wave' type bags as well. The heavybag has it's place but it's not there to simulate a person, rather to work punching 'technique' with relatively good feedback.

KG

[yenhoi]

You should hit and kick as many different types of things as you can, and also switch what your hitting with all the time. I have a couple different wraps and 4 or 5 different types of gloves, not to mention barehands that I hit the bags with regularly.

Dont always hit with wraps, but dont think you can hit something really hard 100s of times a day and not expect some sort of damage.

[IronFist]

Ok you guys win. You made some good points.

But I still think you should do at least a little barehanded stuff sometimes.

IronFist

[lau gar]

thanks. i think i'll use gloves + wraps most of the time with a little bit of barehanded work sometimes.

[Sho]

I used to hit the bag barehanded, but then changed to 16oz gloves with wraps. I heard about the shoulder problems, so I started cushioning my hands. And like Losttrack mentioned, it's a lot tougher to hit the bag with gloves (extra weight) on, therefore improving barehand punching power.

[rubthebuddha]

i think it's a combo -- be nice to your body, but your hands should be able to take quite a bit of contact. otherwise, when ironfist picks a fight with us, we don't want our poor patsies getting broken the first time we clock him in the grill. :)

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

wraps are for pu ssies and fa ggots.