Hey, good lookin'. Ando here from SenseiAndo.com.
So, I have a video out there called, How to Hit a Heavy Bag for Beginners, and
it's been getting a lot of views.
Thank you. Since you seem to like that kind of thing, I thought I would throw
another tip at you,
so you can get a little bit more out of your next heavy bag workout. So, let's get to it.
Okay. From the first video, you'll remember, always keep your hands up,
always use your footwork to move in and out of the bag, always use your
imagination to keep it real, and always think about working the bag, not killing the bag.
Today's tip, pretty simple-- you should move the bag, don't let the bag move you.
That's the way you know if you're throwing a good punch, a good kick,
a good knee, elbow, any kind of strike or not.
Let me show you what I'm talking about.
The easiest way to see this problem is when people are kicking the bag.
Don't you see this all the time? People kick and they fall back.
Or they kick and they lean back.
Can we all agree that those are terrible kicks? The timing is off, the distance is off,
their structures is off. Terrible.
Well, the same thing can happen with a punch. It may not be as obvious depending
on the weight of the bag or how bad their timing and distancing is, but
the problem is still there even very subtly. Let me show you some bad punches.
You see the problem there?
Every time you hit the bag, if your head is going backwards, that's not a good punch.
If your body is giving up ground,
that's not a good punch. And again, this can be-- I'm making it pretty obvious, but
it can still be very, very subtle.
It's just a little bit of a waver. You gotta pay attention to that stuff
when you're hitting the bag. If you slow down, you'll see it more easily than if
you're wailing away, killing that bag.
So, remember that the whole point of hitting something is to take as much of
your weight, as much of your intentions, and put it, dump it into the bag or bad guy.
I'm trying to gain ground and hold ground if I can. I don't want to retreat
unless it's my choice to retreat. So, throw punches not boomerangs
Whatever energy and whatever power you can muster, it should drive into the bag
and not bounce back into your bones or your body.
Here is the key moment that you must pay attention to when you're working with a heavy bag.
The moment when your hand touches the bag,
you'll notice that your arm is still not fully extended. If it was, then there
would be no punch at all. You'd just be touching the bag, not really punching it.
So, with my arm not fully extended,
there's only a couple of things that can happen after this point. If the bag is heavy
enough, or I've hit my target that's solid enough that my hand stops, but I insist
on still driving forward,
then my body is going to carry through which is now disrupting my
structure and putting me into a bad position.
I don't want. The next thing that can happen is-- if this bag is solid and heavy,
or my bad guy is, as I hit and this stops and I still insist on driving through,
well, it's not going that way anymore. I'm basically just going to start pushing
myself away from the bag.
You're basically doing a push up off the bag. It's just too heavy.
That's no good. What we really want is to try to find that sweet spot
where I'm at the right distance,
I have the right timing with my weight shift, I have the right structure and
balance in my body, so that as I'm making contact with the target,
I still have enough juice and enough balance to drive into the bag.
And I don't give up any ground with my head, with my body, with my feet,
with my shoulder, nothing. Everything goes into this bag.
That brings us to the topic of short punching. Remember how I said you should
always work the heavy bag not kill the heavy bag?
Well, that's where this will pay off. If you go after this bag with the killing
mentality, and every shot is going to be this fully extended, full power shot,
well, then you're constantly going to be finding yourself too close, wrong position,
which is going to break up your structure, throw you off balance, and make
you end up losing a fight.
So, instead, as a bag is swinging, or as your partner rushes in, or
as you find yourself a little too close,
just move your sweet spot. Instead of thinking that the sweet spot always has
to be at the end of your range,
find your sweet spot for middle range, find your sweet spot for close range.
No matter where you throw a punch, you should be able to keep your balance,
drive the force in, and not have it bounced back into you.
So, that's my tip. You move the bag,
don't let the bag move you. If you like that tip,
don't forget to hit subscribe. And hey-- jump over to SenseiAndo.com and get on my email list.
That way, you'll get everything I put out. Until next time, go train. Hit something.
Get a little better every day. And keep fighting for a happy life.