*** kicked by heavy bag

[maverick]

The title kinda says it all. I'm a huge fan of MMA and I finally submitted (no pun intended) to the bug of wanting to beat the p1ss out of the heavy bag for cardio. I went out and got wraps and bag gloves and had my first session today. Let's just say I have infintely more respect for the guys in the ring now.

The workout ended up being 7 rounds of 2 and a half minutes with a minute rest in between. I felt like dying after the second. I was heaving, throat burning, tired, sluggish by the end, pouring sweat, limbs feeling heavier and heavier. My left shoulder was on fire from leading all combos with a left jab (I'm a rightie). I read posts saying it was great cardio and very hard, I simply did not expect it to be THAT hard.

The one cool thing about the session was that I got some free instruction. I go to this great, old-school gym that doubles as a boxing training gym (a major one decades ago). Actually, if anyone knows the former lightweight champ Paul Spadafora, he still stops in from time to time. I was wailing away at the bag, probably looking like an idiot cause I had no instruction whatsoever when this older guy came over and starting telling me to take it easy and get my form down. At first I was kinda like "yeah, thanks", cause it seems a lot of the guys in my gym THINK they are experts in something. As it turns out, he used to box in the Army, so after that, I was all ears. I kept asking questions and getting critiques, he was really cool about it. So basically, I learned enough to not look embarrassing and get a good workout in. Great first day, other than having a bit of skin missing off my knuckles, need to perfect my hand wrapping.

Morale of the story: If you have been considering heavy bag work for cardio, DO IT!

PS - If anyone can guess why I can't deliver much power wth my left hook, I'm all ears

Originally Posted by maverick

PS - If anyone can guess why I can't deliver much power wth my left hook, I'm all ears

My guess is that you are not using the power of your hips and your whole body when delivering the hook.

Did you fire any kicks? They will really elevate the HR more. But when you do, be careful as there are alot of specialized lift and kicking muscles that you may not be accustomed to using and you could easily pull something that would take you away from your lifting.

Fun to read. Thanks for sharing.

[tim_mcf]

That's awesome. I'm working on putting in a "garage" (actually it will be a garage-shaped home gym), and I've been considering getting a heavy bag. Great for winter when I won't want to go running in the snow.

[Jeffery]

try a speed bag too....cheap and very effective for developing fast hands and eye co-ordination.. 150 bucks for a speed bag and 60lb heavy in a garage.

[Mr VW]

Originally Posted by maverick

I was heaving, throat burning, tired, sluggish by the end, pouring sweat, limbs feeling heavier and heavier. My left shoulder was on fire from leading all combos with a left jab (I'm a rightie). I read posts saying it was great cardio and very hard, I simply did not expect it to be THAT hard.

The same thing happened to me today with my first heavy bag session. I thought, well, I can run for 4 miles non stop...this shouldn't be too bad. After about 5 minutes in I was feeling really crappy. And my left shoulder was also damn tired. Have you progressed at all since you first posted this?

[maverick]

My knuckles are just now healed up, I'm hoping to hit it again this week!

[Firehawk]

Try diong Jui Jitsu at 100% intensity for 5 minutes and then you'll think punching the bag is child's play.

[maverick]

I'll bet, I don't have the opportunity to try MMA or anything similar right now, but I'd love to eventually.

[Firehawk]

It is very expensive you'll find if you try to go to an MMA gym or something. It's anywhere from 80-150 a month or more. Also it's rare to find black belts in BJJ. I think Michigan only has one. My friend used to take lessons. He is good. I roll with him on a mat at his house, or used to anyway, and we'd do 5 minute rounds with 2 minute breaks. It is insane cardio. By far the toughest of any cardio I've ever done. I mean one minute in you are already breathing, and a completely novice fighter would be straining for unncessary reasons and such, basically panic, when caught in a technique or on the bottom, etc. All normal things for beginners though. LOL it's fun though. We would roll for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, basically until all of the energy was gone. I bet in a 1 hour session we burned well over 1000 calories.

[Blaze]

Sounds awesome Mav. I've always wanted to try that, but haven't had the oppurtunity to. But now I feel I HAVE to...because anything that makes you feel like you want to die is cool by my standards. good post