by Keith Yates (NAPMA November 2003)

Just the other day I was teaching advanced students how to correctly and punch the heavy bag. One of them missed the bag with a sidekick and nearly fell flat on his face.

As you probably know, training on a bag is critical for improved technique and for learning to hit something solid without injuring yourself. Therein lies the problem: you can hurt yourself while learning how not to hurt yourself. So here are a few tips for proper bag work.

Don't just start hitting the bag as hard as you can. Just like my student who almost crashed to the floor, many lower belts wind up like a tornado and just let fly. Focus on the correct body mechanics instead. Always begin your bag training slowly, giving your body time to adjust as you build speed and power.

I have spoken before in these pages about warming up and cooling down. This is important when you are going to begin a bag routine. Work up a sweat first. Stretch before you begin to kick.

Telegraphing a kick or punch on the bag means you are probably over-emphasizing the preparation stage to the detriment of the actual strike. This is when you can miss the bag entirely and hurt yourself with a hyperextended sidekick or ridge hand.

To avoid hyper-extension, hit the bag with a few inches of extension left in your kick or punch. You should also snap your strikes rather than "pushing" them into the bag. Muay thai kicks can be effective in fullcontact fighting, but most students will not be doing those kinds of kicks in class or even in tournaments.

And speaking of in-class sparring or competitions, keep your hands up when kicking the heavy bag. Yes, bags don't hit back, to paraphrase Bruce Lee, but you will be developing bad habits for actual situations.

Also, breathe when hitting a bag. Exhaling on impact is something we teach in our forms, but many people forget that when they begin to hit the bag, instead holding their breath as they swing away. Breathing prevents injury and increases our ability to punch and kick for a longer time by continuing to furnish oxygen to our muscles.

How long should a bag session last? It depends on your skill and fitness level. Do a couple one-minute rounds with a minute rest period in the middle. Eventually work your way up to two or three rounds of two or three minutes duration. Start with hand techniques and move to kicks, since kicks take more energy. Those rounds should be done at a reasonable pace, not a blitzkrieg of speed (although that can come later as you develop stamina).

When working hands on the bag, use your primary martial arts strikes in addition to the obvious boxing punches. Jabs and hooks combined with reverse punches, uppercuts, ridge hands, and chops give your hand workout variety. Bag gloves are a necessity. The old bag in my original karate school was covered with dried blood from people scraping their knuckles on the canvas. Boxing gloves have much more padding than the typical bag glove but reduce the level of feedback you get. Some people like to wrap their hands first, although that is probably not necessary for anyone except professional fighters who are going to do a LOT of heavy bag work.

As you move to kicking techniques, try side and round kicks at first, but also incorporate front kicks and back kicks (both of which are difficult to aim, so start slowly) and maybe even knee strikes.

I wouldn't do heavy bag training every day unless you are preparing for a competition or perhaps a belt exam. Like weight training, you should give your body time to rest between workouts. Bag work can stress muscles and joints. Incidentally, if you have joint problems, check with a doctor before beginning a bag regimen.

Lastly, what kind of bag should you get? I know that the free-standing vinyl bags with the weighted base are popular these days, but I still like the canvas bag on a chain. To me it gives a much more realistic feel on striking. Filled bags tend to settle at the bottom, so be careful of kicking toward the end of the bag.