Best heavy bag drills...

[Apprentice]

This is a opinion post, and a question :) knew i'd work it in there somehow huh?

I think if you want power in strikes, you should hit the bag your hardest, and if you want endurance for strikes, you should hit it for the longest, and if you want speed for strikes, practice technique, and practice practice practice....

Would you reccommend hitting lighter for endurance to go longer? or what?

And when doing striking-only workouts...how long do rest periods do you need? more? less? none? explain. thnx

[Black Jack]

A heavy bag is a must.

I have two heavy bags, spar pro dummy and a war post that I train with and I could not do without them.

You have to do impact training to develop certain key attributes, if you want to develop power, penetration, and proper body mechanics it can not be avoided.

Some quick bits of advice I can offer up are to make sure you work with a certain aggressive attitude in your attacks. IMHO it is very important to develop a controlled rage, to be offensive, to get the proper drive and full commitment.

Besides the different combination drills and cycles you can work off of a bag, you should also practice from different neutral positions, hands in your jacket, in your pants, behind your back, on one knee, etc.

My two cents

More later,

[Water Dragon]

Small, controlled combos. Understand your strengths so you can develop your strategy. A few of my favorite are:

jab-jab-clinch (headlock clinch)
jab-right body punch, right elbow, right shoulder (or headbutt. It's a continuous fist based on seven star theory) -hip if I'm lucky.
Double jab, right horizontal elbow, left horizontal elbow, right vertical elbow up the middle
double jab, right elbow, go to plumb and body shots with knees.

[Xebsball]

Do you mean theory from:
A) the style Seven Star Mantis
B) the man Seven Star
C) the style of the man Seven Star

I will be buying a bag soon.
Should i use gloves to hit it or not? I was thinking i would like to strike on it barehands since it would maybe give more of a street fight feel into it.

[Water Dragon]

The body has seven "fists", known as the seven stars. Each star can be used to attack the opponent. The goal in continuous fist is to use the stars in succesion along a circular or spherical line of force. You want to have each succesive strike be as powerful as if it was generated independantly.

I've seen a senior practitioner use it to actually spin through someone and exit the other side. The series was: Right fingers, right fist, bore with right forearm, right elbow, right shoulder and hip, rightside of forehead, back of forehead, Butt (which is considered hip. This one also created space to safely continue the cycle by slamming open the side door under the other guys left arm.) left elbow (this one is now hitting the guy in the back of the ribs, so you can follow the path) and the hand swings down, smacking the guy in the butt and pushing him out of your safe zone.

The path, for those interested, is coming in with a right hand to the face, as you begin to fold and hit, you are circling through his left side, under the left arm, out the left side door.

I have no idea if anyone could ever pull this one off in a live situation, but it was a beautiful example of the principle.

[Apprentice]

Thanx for all the replies from everyone so far...the "Controlled Rage" idea i will use, sounds good...and Water Dragon, i read your post about the Continuous fist before....is that in a certain style? or a style all by itself, and i beleive it'd work good if it were practiced enough, the only thing that'd go wrong is hittin em too hard,(so they back up) but hey, whens that bad? :D

[Jaguar Wong]

If I'm working for speed/precision, I use focus mitts if I have a partner available. It's much better for that type of training. But for power, and endurance, it's the heavy bag all the way. The heavy bag is great for developing, not only power, but the ability to put full power combinations, and learn how to keep your balance, and root, without sacrificing your "ground", or flow.

Also, if you don't hit the bag correctly, it's not afraid to tell you so. You better be able to properly align your fingers, hand and arm for a punch, or you'll be hopping around cursing the bag for a minute or two. ;) It's also great for developing power with your lead hand and foot techniques. After all, if your jab, or lead leg low roundhouse don't have the proper power, and snap, why would you use them?

xeb,
I would reccomend getting some bag gloves. If you want to develop your hands for striking, you can work the bag without gloves on, but that's something you better take slowly. needlessly ripping all the skin off your knuckles so you can convince yourself how "hard" you are just doesn't do any good in the long run. The gloves let you blast full out on the bag so you can build your power and technique properly. Any conditioning on your hands can be done along side this type of training. You can also do some type of Makiwara, or bean bag striking type training, as long as you know how to do this properly. Bare knuckle on the bag isn't as good as those types of conditioning. I mean it works, but if you injure yourself, you can't even do any bag work. Best to take that part slowly.

Also, I'm too lazy to keep track of rounds and stuff like that, so I don't get the full endurance benefit, since it's hard to keep track of improvement without it. I usually listen to the radio, and work the bag for a song or two, then take a little break and keep going. That's why I hate Metallica...Their songs are so freakin' long. ;)

[MightyB]

I just started doing this...

Instead of starting out with combos on the heavy bag, I "warm up" by just letting go on the bag. I hit it alternating left and right for one minute or longer, hitting it as hard as I can. I'm not concerned with form or style during this "warmup", I just pummel it making sure that I hit it correctly so I won't injure myself. I try to punch right through the bag.

I find that it's a good cardio and strength building warmup. Then I move into combinations, forms, and round/interval training.

[Ray Pina]

I don't use a heavy bag anymore. My sifu is against it, and, now looking back, I see why. Its not good for the wrist. And taping up only makes it worse. Boxers have a hell of a time out of the wring, because they are used to being taped up or having glove suppost their wrist. I used to hit the heavy bag for 3 minutes straight, for three rounds, then fight. It helped indurance. And Iron Palm helped power. But there are other ways.

I'd be careful with the shock from the heavy bag. Maybe down grade to a lighter bag.

It doesn't take much, in the right place, to drop a guy. The hardest part is getting in and out cleanly. But if it works for you, then keep at it. Just my view. Now I train in the air. FLuid. If its smooth, the power is there. I hit with the mass of my arm times the speed from a fluid delivery delivered to the base of my palm. Very strong there, straight to the forearm bone -- a straight line.

Check this: http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/01/09/hockey.dad.trial/index.htm

[Johnny Hot Shot]

You want to time your work outs on the bag. Typically you want to work on your form and power.

Pace your self at first you should be able to last 3 minutes and still be able to talk at the end of a round.

During the last 30 seconds of a round you want to push yourself as hard as you can.

You can use all kinds of combinations for your drills or you can just focus on one technique. Sometimes the later is better for your form.

[fa_jing]

I go up to six 3-min rounds on the heavy bag, but only if we run the drill during class. Sifu hits it for 10 rounds regularly. I work on power and footwork, keeping my hands up when I get tired, flicking the fly off the bag when I get tired. I used to have a 80-pound bag set up in my apartment, since I moved I don't have a place for it, now. I found it increased my punching power tremendously. I don't feel pain in my wrists anymore, actually it's helped alot with the alignment of my fist. One thing, though, if you hit it at a certain angle it makes a loud smacking sound, I'm not sure if it's really the optimal angle to hit, but I'm always looking to make more sound with my punches. In reality, I need to make sure I'm driving through with the knuckles.

-FJ