Boxers: Heavy Bag Training

I recently started boxing with a heavy bag. I have done plenty of fighting sports before but my shoulders are all torn up so i can’t do something as dynamic as grappling anymore.
Either way, i love spending some time pounding away at the heavy bag, both for cardio and to release some aggresion.

The problem is that my wrists have been hurting quite a bit. The pain is definetely in the ligaemtns, not muscular. I use both wraps and bag gloves, and i believe the bag is a 120lb bag. Is this a common phenomena when begining bag training? Are there any good ways to aleviate the pain? its getting in the way of my weight training and further boxing

appreciate it!

A common cause for wrist pain from heavy bag work is punching form. If your wrists are not straight when you hit the bag, you will end up injuring yourself. A 120# bag provides enough resistance that striking it at a bad angle can cause a significant amount of pain and damage. Review your punching form without gloves on. If your wrists are not straight upon impact, work on making them so.

If you are striking correctly and still experiencing pain, then I would suggest using either a softer bag to start out with (Wave bags are good for this), or using gloves with more padding. Just until your body adapts to the impact.

Try using your foot work and moving around the bag when you hit it. This will bring down your striking force a little and it is more realistic.

Another thing is the punching technique you use. I don’t use wraps or gloves and I have no problem hitting full power with straight linear punches, however I have hurt my wrist a few times with hook punches because the bag can’t rotate around fast enough.

When you have your hands all wrapped up you can’t see what they are doing when you hit the bag. Try backing off the power and speed and watch what is happening when you hit. You’ll probably find that you are torquing your wrist from some angle and that you can relieve the problem with a slightly different hand or elbow position.

I also don’t like having the bag tied down or held.

You might also want to try throwing in some kicks and elbows, this will spread the wear and tear and allow you to throw more things into a combo.

I think its normal at first. Your wrists just aren’t used to the impact. And your right its not a muscular thing. I can hit a bag as hard as I want with no gloves and there is no pain, but I build this up over many years and I a, not an overly muscular guy. I would suggest pushups on your knuckles often and levering something like a small sledgehammer to build up the wrist. But of course form is the most important. This is my experience anyway.

Also, I think the the brand of bag glove is important. If it’s Mexican, TKO, or Everlast, they usually skimp on the padding and put most of the weight in the wrist.

Ringside makes superior products and it’s a great invesment. Tim Lacijk once told our class that taking care of your hands is very important and often ignored by most fighters.

A lot of great info on this thread, I just wanted to echo the above posts and add that wrist roller helps with that too.

If you have quality equipment, and your wrists are fairly strong, then it’s in your form. It can be something as simple as being too loose or too tight, or as bad as you not aligning your wrist or letting your elbow drift too high.

A good idea would be to download some boxing matches/clips… and get a video of you. Or find someone who has a good attention for detail (and is brutally honest), and check your form.

Just curious guys but I have, picked up some boxing equipment over the last few months but dont reallly know how to put it into anything that resembles a program. Now i am boxing just out of fun, for cardio, and maybe a little self defense, not for competition. But that dosnt mean that i dont want to go hard on the bags. I have a heavy bag, a B.O.B “doll”, a speed bag, and a headache bag. any suggestions will help thanks.

honestly, check out Rossboxing.

quebola,

i agre with BradS-do pushus on your knuckles. i started fighting a long time ago, and had the same problem you are. then i started doing them, and it went away. after i did them for a while, i could hit WAY harder than guys that were a lot stronger than me. plus, they condition your hands and wrists for the impact, since you put weight on them. haven’t had an injury since then…

I love watching the old footage of Bruce Lee hittin’ the shit out of the heavy bag! Talk about applying power! That dude could bring it!

[quote]j62usa wrote:
Just curious guys but I have, picked up some boxing equipment over the last few months but dont reallly know how to put it into anything that resembles a program. Now i am boxing just out of fun, for cardio, and maybe a little self defense, not for competition. But that dosnt mean that i dont want to go hard on the bags. I have a heavy bag, a B.O.B “doll”, a speed bag, and a headache bag. any suggestions will help thanks.[/quote]

If you are primarily boxing for cardio and fun, try something like this for starters:

  1. Basic punches and footwork (no bag): 20 reps per hand, per side (switching leading foot so you get a balanced workout). Work on getting your technique correct and making your footwork smooth.

  2. Heavy bag: Basic combinations for three one-minute rounds. (60 seconds on, 30 seconds off)

  3. Speed bag: three one-minute rounds

  4. Heavy bag: three one-minute boxing rounds (full force, dance around the bag, etc)

  5. Heavy bag: burnouts. ie–take one punch, throw it as many times as you can for thirty seconds. Switch hands. This is great for jabs. --if you can still move your arm after a burnout drill, you are not doing it correctly grin

Total time: about 25 minutes.

Note: This is a very basic layout. But as you stated that you are a beginner, it should get you started.

[quote]j62usa wrote:
Just curious guys but I have, picked up some boxing equipment over the last few months but dont reallly know how to put it into anything that resembles a program. Now i am boxing just out of fun, for cardio, and maybe a little self defense, not for competition. But that dosnt mean that i dont want to go hard on the bags. I have a heavy bag, a B.O.B “doll”, a speed bag, and a headache bag. any suggestions will help thanks.[/quote]

Seriously consider getting a membership at a local boxing gym. It’s a lot of fun, and you’ll get a lot more out of it than just buying a bag and hitting it every once in a while. Even if you don’t stay at the gym, it will be good to get at least a month’s experience so you know proper technique.

Another thing that is very important is which knuckles you hit with. I highly recommend using the index and middle knuckles over the pinky and ring. This will also put your hand in a much more nuetral position.