Anyone Use the Heavy Bag for Metcon?

My gym has a few heavy bags and a bunch of boxing gloves, so a few weeks ago I began fooling around with them at the end of my workout. I really enjoy it and am surprised how much I’m sucking wind and sweating. I have been working simple punching combos for one minute with 30 seconds rest. I do 10 rounds. I’d like to get some ideas for different workouts from anyone using the bag.

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I’ve had a little Everlast timer for years where you can set either 30-second or 60-second rest periods and two-minute or three-minute rounds, so I usually manipulate the work:rest ratio with those.

Typically start with 2-minutes work, 60-seconds rest for a few sessions (2:1 work/rest); then 3m work, 60s rest (3:1 work/rest); then 2m work, 30s rest (4:1); ending up at 3m work, 30s rest (6:1). That way, even if I keep the total rounds the same, it’s more total work done with less rest.

Depending on your comfort level with throwing punches, you could play around with alternating lead sides or spend one round using only one hand or just one type of punch (a round of only tight hooks to the “body” can light your abs up).

You can also sprinkle in “punch out”-type drills where it’s not about power but just firing as many shots in X amount of time as possible, like 20 seconds of non-stop left-right-left-right-left-right, basically a high-speed interval.

Good stuff Chris. I use an app called round timer. I can manipulate the round time, rest time and # of rounds. I focus more on speed than power. Right now I’m doing one minute work and 15 seconds rest for 12 rounds. I start off with simple combinations then get more complex in the later rounds. I use the rest period to do really light work like ducks and slips etc.