Brief Guide to Bag Work

“He who has control over himself has control over the world” - Seneca

Bagwork is one of the fundamental training method for strikers in combat sports. It exist alongside shadowboxing, partner drills, mitt work, and sparring. Here we are going to look at the benefits and limitations of bag work so we can build upon its strengths and limit bad habits that develop from bad bag work.

Limitations and Benefits

Many of the benefits and draw backs of bag work stem from the same issues of bag work. We are going to look at separate aspects of training on the heavy bag and how it affects our training.

Bag Don't Hit Back

One of the biggest issues with working the heavy bag is that it is un-alive. In live training the blows we receive from a partner is feedback on our technique. Getting hit informs us if our hands drop in the middle of a techniques, if we are slow returning techniques and reforming a solid fight stance, and if the our techniques have the intended purpose. The bag also lacks any response to meta-striking. The bag cannot respond to fakes or feints so we are left not knowing if there was any believability in those techniques.

Then Why Do We Use the Bag?

The bag doesn't hit back but it also has qualities that a partner often does not have. The bag cannot be hurt, doesn't get tired, and doesn't have hard limbs that we might impale ourselves on. Fortunately, for a practiced or knowledgable student, we can overcome the problem that arrive from limitation of a bag and use them to create a more focused and disciplined striker.

Manipulating the bag

The bag folds on impact (denoting proper follow through rather than a "push")

Filler

Power

Dangerous Techniques

Things to look for

Motion of the bag

Distance

Movement and Distance

The bag is going to move based on your strikes. The harder you hit the bag the further it will travel. This mean you can work combinations that are stationary or advancing on the bag based on how you throw your strikes (a partner may respond in random or unrealistic ways). Moreover if you can touch the bag, the safe bet you may assume, you can be hit by corresponding techniques. This will force you to be disciplined with where you initiate contact. Hard blows that drive the bag away mean the bag will swing back at you (similar to knocking an opponent back; they will try to retaliate or take back the space) forcing movement from the person practicing.

Keys to remember for active bag work

Target Zones - you are not just hitting a bag (are you hitting the face, kicking the ribs, bicep, god forbid you spend an hour kicking what would be an elbow).

Retracting your Weapons - You've been piecing up the bag, make sure when you go live you haven't spend countless rounds practicing being unguarded.

Breaks - Just like a live round you might get tired and need to recover mid round. Your partner won't let you drop your hands and hold your knees. Practice active recovery ( moving around the bag, using filler techniques as you regain stamina).

Correct Form - Pushing rather than snapping your techniques will over-exaggerated the bags movement. Also, the if you are able to use 100% power (compared to a live partner) then why use bullshit strikes that make the bag move like crazy but won't have an effect on a person.

That A Lot of Word, Less Word, More Point

To re-iterate, the bag is an inanimate object. It only works as well as the boxer using the bag. This means a mindful boxer can work technique and power whilst building the discipline needed to be an educated and crafty fighter.

Tips!

-Record yourself hitting the bag (what feels right and what looks right can be surprisingly different)

-Lower the centre of gravity, the less movement of the bag

-Having a partner hold the bag in place so you can practice power while limiting the movement of the bag