I just purchased both. Switching back and forth for 20 - 30 minutes kicked my ass in a big way. I have a decent jump rope routine and am looking for a heavy (100 Lb punching bag) routine. I would also like some pointers for a beginner for using the heavy bag, it trashed my elbows. Any advice would be appreciated.
I would suggest wearing gloves. Also, make sure your wrists are straight. Punchin a 100 pound bag and having your wrist bend is very painful.
I bought wrist/hand wraps but you are correct, I need gloves, I’ve already bruised and bloodied my hands.
Hi Mate. Ive been a Thai Boxer since 1994, so I know a bit about bag & Pad work 
There isnt really any routines to heavy bag training. The best thing you can do is perform 4, 2 minute rounds to begin with, with 60 seconds rest. As you get better, you can work up to 6 rounds, then 8. Then you could work up to 3 minute rounds. Im assuming that you mean 30 minutes on the bag with no rest. Which is too much, which most likely explains the elbow pain.
If you want to add some sort of structure, then you could work on 2-3 punch combinations for x amount of seconds, and then focus on moving around the bag and using single hits for y amount of seconds.
Though now I think about it, there is a couple of routines you could try.
If you want a kickass conditioning routine, try working Tabata’s on the Heavy bag! Not really gonna do much for your punching power, but its gonna burn fat like nothing on earth! 20 seconds Hard Straight punches, followed by 10 seconds rest. Try that for 2, 3 minute rounds! Its awesome!
Another good one is the HOC approach. Check the HIgh Octane Cardio article by Mike Mahler on here for more info.
Hope that helps mate :).
bag gloves, or regular sparring gloves are a good idea. As for the routine, look into Mike Mahler’s High Octane Cardio article. It involves some good bag work.
Check out the Bas RUtten tapes. My fight team is using them right now and they are killer.
I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Im assuming that you mean 30 minutes on the bag with no rest. Which is too much, which most likely explains the elbow pain.
I wish I could have gone 30 minutes with no rest!!! I was fooling around and didn’t have any structure to this particular workout. Just testing it out. I was punching for about a minute then a 30 second rest, then jumping rope for 30 - 60 seconds with another rest. Just giong back and forth.
The info. you gave sounds great, thanks for the advice!!
No problem, glad I could help, I completely forgot about the Bas Rutten Workout! That is excellent for bag work too.
Yours,
Beev
I didn’t read all of the responses so someone else may have covered this: Make sure that you are punching with your hips and shoulders, not your elbow. If you are feeling pain in your elbow you may not be punching properly.
There is a line that can be drawn with a perfect punch. It begins with the foot of the same hand you are punching and can be traced up the leg to the hip then shoulder and eventually the fist.
[quote]ZEB wrote:
There is a line that can be drawn with a perfect punch. It begins with the foot of the same hand you are punching and can be traced up the leg to the hip then shoulder and eventually the fist.
[/quote]
My understanding is that it begins with the weight-bearing foot – whichever side that happens to be on – and that maximal power is generated when it’s on the OPPOSITE side from the striking hand.
Not that I’m saying you’re wrong, but clearly we’ve been taught slightly different things. My question would be, have you been trained to keep your weight on the same side as the hand with which you’re striking? In combination, this would result in the same power line, but I’d be curious as to why you would have been taught this when I’ve been taught essentially the opposite.
The elbow pain might be from hyperextension. It’s common when someone starts working with a heavy bag that they want to MOVE the bag, which involves some non-functional “pushing” activity and often leaves the hand shoving into empty space at the end; which, if you lock out the elbow, can stress the tendons. Think fast-out and fast-back, striking to the center of the bag rather than the surface, and you should avoid this kind of injury if you can get over your desire to see the bag move. Owing to inertia, a good strike barely moves the bag at all… it just rocks a little on the chain.
CDarklock, you weren’t taught different things. You just aren’t interpreting what was said properly.
The line mentioned does come from the back leg and into the punching hand. They are on the same side. Imagine a punch with the right hand. The right leg is back and the left leg is bearing the weight.
However, the right leg is the stabilizer. It is offering the rebound support and the power comes from that leg through the hips and into the punching arm. Most martial arts teach that as well as boxing.
[quote]Arioch wrote:
The line mentioned does come from the back leg and into the punching hand.[/quote]
It sounds to me like you’re envisioning a traditional reverse punch from the forward stance, which is certainly one kind of punch, but it’s also not the only kind of punch. Right offhand, I know Yang form Tai Chi incorporates a punch with the right hand while the right leg is forward and bearing the weight.
I think that was my problem, I tried to move the bag. Great advice.
All punches (with the exception of the jab) start with the weight transferring from the foot on the same side as the striking hand to the foot opposite on the opposite side.
If you’re orthodox then your jab starts with your weight on your rear (right) foot and transfers to your forward (left) foot.
Be careful if you are hyperextending your elbows with a snapping motion on the end of your punch. This happens because you do not have the necessary strength in the antagonist muscles, mostly the biceps. Not only does this put you at risk of crunching your joints, damaging the cartilidge and tendons but it slows your punching down.
I have been off for long periods of my training due to elbow injuries caused by hyperextension. Had loads of ultrasound and other physio treatments but the only thing that helped was strengthening my biceps. Now, touch wood I haven’t hyperextended my elbow in years.
The reason behing this is because the body has a natural inhibitory nerve reflex which limits the force and acceleration of the concentric motion, in this case the punch to prevent injury from hyperextension. Same is true of kicks. You may have really strong quads but cannot kick fast because your antagonists (hamstrings) are weak.