I had to edit myself it's not "really" light, more or less average. Bagwork is tough on the arms and hands so I think the gyms use these to give the most people the most fun or something with the lowest chance that they'll jack themselves up, especially since I'll bet zero of the people are wrapping their hands up first.
And NO offense hewho but you should be wrapping up , if you already aren't. You might also want to pad up your feet if you're kicking a lot, it helps in the long run. Inflammation sucks, but a lot of people get it bad because they don't take all the precautions necessary when smashing things with your body.
Never!! Go old skool. Rope. Glue. And broken glass! Make sure you lick the shards on your newly bedazzled fists a la BJ Penn..
I've gotta be honest, I was lazy and didn't. Light bag, light punches, but I should know better I actually just jam double edged razor blades between my knuckles, it's much quicker, and the adrenaline rush from licking them gets me through the first round
I don’t ever wrap my hands, but neither do I do the quantity of bag work that would be needed to be a successful competitor. This is an example of where your goals will affect how you train. If you want to be a successful full-contact competitor, where hands and wrists are wrapped and gloves are worn, then you need to train that way and you will be doing a whole lot more bag work in preparation for your time in the ring. If you are not interested in competition, then some amount of bag work is needed to develop your power and technique, but not as much. In a street self defense situation you certainly will not be wrapped. You need to be able to hit something without that kind of support. Training on the bag without wraps gets that done. It is safe if you approach it carefully, but the quantity and probably the frequency will be less. I’ve never wrapped, I haven’t worn gloves since I was a teenager in the 1980s, and I hit an 80 pound bag. I’ve never had an injury.
^ is that not the same as why should I run in good trainers, as when I have to run in self defence, I probably won't be wearing my running trainers. A single data point doesn't back up your generalisation. If your hitting a bag, doing it properly is better then improperly.
Was this comment aimed at me? Hitting a bag without wraps and gloves is perfectly safe if you approach it carefully. It works. You don’t need to wrap.
Yes it can work, but it will mean a larger chance of chronic joint pain later. Just like why running with a decent pair of trainers is better then a random old pair, sure you can run in terrible trainers, and you'll get away with it for a time, but when your start getting chronic injuries from doing it, you'll wish you just did it properly to begin with. People do, do it, but that doesn't mean it's a sensible option for training. Besides it can shorten the life of the bag too
I don’t agree with this. If you are mindful of your limits and careful in your approach, then your likelihood of injury is not significant. Like any physical activity, there is always a chance of injury. This is a given. And the more you do and the longer you do it, both in terms of per session and over the long term, your chance of injury will increase. But this again is true of any physical activity, including heavy bag work either with or without wraps. If you are training to go nine rounds in a ring, then you likely do a lot of bag work. Wraps are a good idea to add protection, given the amount of bag work being done. In addition, wraps and gloves are used in the competition, so again, it makes sense to train with them. Outside of a competition environment, you don’t need to do as much bag work, and you don’t need to wrap. You don’t need to condition yourself to be able to last nine rounds in a ring, if you have no intention of ever entering a ring. No legitimate self defense situation will last nine rounds. You do need to be mindful and be aware of your limits and be careful with your technique on the bag. You go easy in the beginning and you gradually build your intensity, both in terms of how hard you hit the bag and in terms of how long your bag sessions go. This enables you to develop the ability to reliably and safely hit a target without the support of having your hands and wrists wrapped. This is not difficult. It just takes focus and consistency, like anything in the martial arts.
If it works for you that's fine. But doing less bagworm because your not wearing gloves is counter productive for many goals. People don't do bagworm just for conditioning, they do bagworm to develop the skill of hitting hard, doing less heavy bagworm may mean you don't learn to hit as hard. Which depending on your own goals may or may not be a bad thing.
I don't expect to be wearing a gum shield box or knee sleeves on the streets either but I do when training as it will we me to train longer, safer and more effectively. Bare Knuckle hitting is different to gloves up striking we all can accept that but a mixture of both on the bag seems sensible if you are worried about being attacked on the street
Of course, and by conditioning what I was referring to was the impact conditioning from punching an object effectively and without injury. A self defense situation will not go nine rounds. You don’t need to condition your punching impact ability to withstand nine rounds of punishment, if you have no intention of ever getting into a ring. And to be clear, those who use wraps and gloves are only able to withstand that duration of punishment because they are wearing that protective equipment, the wraps and gloves. So those competitors do not really have that level of conditioning either, not without the protective equipment. So my point is, first that you don’t need to train for nine rounds in the ring, in order to effectively develop your striking skills on a heavy bag. Much less than that is enough to be very effective. Second, you can absolutely use the heavy bag, without wraps or gloves, safely, and develop serious power. You can do this to whatever level you wish, as long as you approach it intelligently and work up to it. You need to make sure your mechanics are clean so you minimize the chance of an injury from a tweaked joint; you need to develop the impact conditioning which simply comes from repeated strikes, so you start light and gradually increase your power as your strength and conditioning increases. Over time, you can increase your striking power, you can increase the duration of your sessions, and you can increase the frequency of your sessions. This all assumes you are intelligently paying attention to what you are doing, and don’t rush it too soon. Personally, when I am being consistent with my heavy bag training, I do it about once a week. That is plenty to develop good, solid power. I can hit plenty hard. I don’t feel inclined to do more than that, but that is a personal choice. The heavy bag is one of several training tools in my tool box. I don’t do everything every day. Recovery time is important, yes including after working on the heavy bag, probably more so if, like me, you do not use wraps or gloves. But that simply goes with the territory. I am in no way trying to tell you that you must stop using wraps and gloves. If that works and is appropriate for your training goals, then by all means keep doing it. But I do disagree with the notion that working a heavy bag without wraps and gloves is automatically dangerous. No, it is not. If you don’t approach it intelligently, then yes it is dangerous. But this is true of all physical activities, including other aspects of martial training.
Honestly, I don’t see the relevance in this comment. Teeth are delicate, and training can include strikes to the face that can damage the teeth. So of course a tooth guard makes sense in that context, when you know that you are putting yourself under that kind of risk. I don’t imagine I really need to explain that to anyone. Comparing that to wearing gloves and wraps vs. bare handed on a heavy bag is an apples to oranges comparison. Do you wear a tooth guard when punching the heavy bag? Does your heavy bag punch you in the face? Context matters. I don’t know what knee sleeves are, so I have no comment there. I disagree as to the need, but of course wearing gloves and wraps is always acceptable. I never tried to tell anyone that doing so is stupid or has no benefit or that you must not. I am fully aware of the benefits and reasoning behind using them. Certainly it makes sense when training for competition. Outside of competition, if you are concerned that you might be injured on the heavy bag, then use them. But I have found that if you approach the training correctly, it is not necessary.
Love it when people are condescending whilst totally missing the point. Close to 15% of the body's bones lay within your hands, they are small, delicate, easily damaged and perform very intricate actions day in and day out. Protecting them from unnecessary trauma whilst allowing you to do more work on the bag because you are protecting them seems to makes sense just as protecting your teeth from unnecessary trauma seems to make sense
Seatbelts aren't useful, because I only drive carefully for ten minutes a week. I have proven this by doing it for several years. Therefore I am now better then professional racecar drivers because they're so used to using seatbelts they can't street race like I can. That sounds quite silly doesn't it.
Ok gentlemen, you are welcome to believe as you wish, I honestly have no interest in trying to get you to change your practices. I have never suggested that you must. I have only presented an alternate approach to training, one that has worked well for me for decades. Each person needs to decide for themselves what is best for them. I have explained my position. I am happy to agree to disagree, I really have no problem with it. When people in the forums suggest that hitting a heavy bag without wraps and gloves is excessively dangerous, I will express my disagreement as I see fit. You guys know what my reasoning is, as I have explained it here. There really isn’t much left to say about it.
When I use a big bag with big gloves (14oz+) I sometimes dont wrap up. Mostly because I dont hit as hard, and theres plenty of padding based on how hard I want to throw the strike. But usually on the bag, Im doing more "stick and move" combos. (Not that I never wrap, I just gauge my output) Lighter bags or mitts, I wrap up. Because Im going for hard and quicker hits. Padwork, Im going hard and fast and moving. Again. Based on the goal of the session at the time.
Citation? Every time the correlation between not wrapping hands and chronic injury is given in a thread, I try to find data but always draw a blank. What is this assertion based on? Is there at least data for running shoes? Did most athletes before the 80s/90s end up with chronic injuries later in life? Do most soldiers have chronic ailments from running in boots? I'm not trying to be contrarian, I'm genuinely interested in where this received wisdom comes from because my research has come up blank. Oh, and as for not hitting as hard without wraps and using light/no gloves; that is the point. You learn how much force you can safely exert without added support. If your training goal is to compete whilst wearing gloves and wraps then obviously that is unnecessary.
Edd the owner says 'that's fine' to the question of kicking as long as the soles of the shoes don't touch the bag. Another few rounds today, drilled simple combinations on both sides for a minute per combination. Jab hook. Jab cross lowkick. (Should have put a lead hook in after the cross). Jab elbow.
Good point, the boxing one may be more difficult due to the longitudal aspect of chronic injuries, and the lack of people interested. However trainers Vs boots: (PDF) Influence of running shoes and cross-trainers on Achilles tendon forces during running compared with military boots
