Heavy Bag For Cardio

Apocalypse

Hi All

I'm looking to buy a heavy bag for some cardio training.

Gloves and wraps too I suppose.

Can anyone recommend a decent place to buy these ? want to buy a decent one (not from Argos etc.)

In terms of a workout , if done intensively enough is it a good calorie burner ?

Many thanks

conzy

It would have a relatively high calorie burn if the intensity was high enough. Its probably a bad approach to reduce calories though.

If you go to town on it for 30 minutes you might burn 300 calories. Usually eliminating calories from the diet and supplementing that with some cardio is the better approach

i.e If you want to create a 800 calorie deficit its a lot easier to eat 500 less and expend 300 rather than try and expend 800 calories in a session

Hanley

Do you know how to box?

Reason I ask is because if you don't you'll end up swinging wildly, making a mess of yourself really quickly and being so outta breath in the first 3 minutes that the rest of the workout will be crap and you won't burn any calories.

it's like when I try and swim - one length ruins me, just because i'm completely skill-less, but if i went for a run it'd be totes different.

Could be good craic to learn and stuff, but probably not the "go to" to reduce kcals without exprience.

TheSegal

Echoing Hanleys point, have you ever been shown how to box with a heavy bag? Without training it's a good way to really hurt your wrists.

Might be worth joining a local kickboxing or boxing club. Get to meet new people, get some quality training in with a professional and a bit of healthy competition with other beginners is always a good thing! A full class of conditioning and skill work will burn quite a lot of calories compared to just throwing endless punches at a heavy bag

I'll attest to the above comments. I was that soldier (you know the soldier you always hear about, that punches a boxing bag and hurts his wrist within 2 minutes and can't do anything with it for 2-3 days... well that was me).


That said, I am lead to believe that boxing is a good calorie burner if you're moving about and keeping occupied. I did an introductory thing before for an hour with a personal trainer (after hurting said wrist). We did, in the hour, about 35 mins I'd say, of actual moving around and doing things. To say I could barely move... I couldn't lift my arms for the life of me, and more importantly, the sweat was dripping off me. And I mean dripping off me. I looked like I was in a shower. I don't think I'd ever been so exhausted in my life.

positivenote

Reading these replies Im on the verge of buying a heavy bag to hang in the shed as a means of having a work out and expending some agression. Id be interested in anyones advice on what to buy (bag, gloves, wraps etc...) and the option of a personal introduction to techniques etc...

arybvtcw0eolkf

Well a heavy bag is a fantastic workout if you know how to use one, or as has been pointed out a very easy way to injure yourself.

Without knowing what you want from the workout, and how to plan one a heavy bag can get boring very quickly (seriously).

They're also costly, upwards from €200 by the time you buy the bag, mounting brackets & gloves (don't buy bag mits, I use 18oz gloves but its a choice based on your weight & hitting power).

Look at where and how you'll hang the bag too. Too high or low & it won't be nice to use, it'll be harder to control the bag.

Its a lot of money and effort before you get anything out of a heavy bag at home, and as is well know ~ its also very hard to motivate yourself into home training.

I'd recommend joining a club/gym and finding someone to coach you and maybe hold some focus pads for you too ~ finding someone who knows how to use these properly is hard, and like the bag working pads with a bad pad man will lead to injury too.

Something else to think about, are you going to kick the bag?.. Harder again, and you'll need a larger bag €€€€.

For a good bag and good advice have a look at MICK DOWLING ~ or ask in the boxing or martial arts forums (martial arts if you plan on doing some kicking too).

Mellor

positivenote wrote: »

Reading these replies Im on the verge of buying a heavy bag to hang in the shed as a means of having a work out and expending some agression. Id be interested in anyones advice on what to buy (bag, gloves, wraps etc...) and the option of a personal introduction to techniques etc...

If you know how to box it's a good work out.
If you don't know how, then it's probably not a great idea. Same way skipping/swimming is not a great of burning calories if you can't skip/swim.

Danye

Mellor wrote: »

If you know how to box it's a good work out.
If you don't know how, then it's probably not a great idea. Same way skipping/swimming is not a great of burning calories if you can't skip/swim.

Sorry to hijack the thread but just want to ask a question on the above point about an activity not being great for burning cals if your not good at it.

I was always under the impression (and I read it in a Dan John piece as well) that the less efficient you are doing an activity the more cals you burn? Is this not why people generally see fast, impressive results when undertaking a new activity but this gradually tapers off, as your body becomes accustomed to the activity?

arybvtcw0eolkf

I can't speak for Mellor but if you can't punch, and you don't know how to use a bag you're going to blow out and give up the workout very quickly (in which case its not a very efficient workout in terms of cals burnt).

Mellor

Danye wrote: »

I was always under the impression (and I read it in a Dan John piece as well) that the less efficient you are doing an activity the more cals you burn? Is this not why people generally see fast, impressive results when undertaking a new activity but this gradually tapers off, as your body becomes accustomed to the activity?

Sort of, but not quite. There's one key point missing.
In a very basic sense, the less efficient you are, the more energy your burn for a given output. The last part is key or the whole idea falls apart.

So a beginner learning to power-clean will burn excess energy. Or somebody running with an awkward beginners gait. One I see a lot is guys struggling with basic movements in jiu jitsu, mostly down moving very inefficiently.

But the notion that your results slow down because as you have become more efficient is a fallacy. It doesn’t really happen. It would if your output was the same, but as you become more efficient, you output goes up to match input not the other way around. In practical terms, as you get better at it, you lift more weight, you run faster, you move better. Less of the energy burned is wasted etc.
Plus, as your ability increases so too does your ability to use energy. An elite runner or weightlifter will burn energy at a much higher rate, on top of their improved efficiency.

As far as the boxing bag is concerned. If you can’t punch you run a huge risk of injuring yourself as Makikomi said above. And even if you don’t, chances are poor technique will mean low punching volume so there very little being burned. Think of riding a bike, a good way to burn energy. Cranking away at full pace will burn similar to running. But, if you can’t actually cycle then you aren’t going to burn much falling off the bike every few seconds.

This is what a bag work out looks like. Pacquiao is maybe burning less with each punch that a beginners haymaker, but his volumes means he is burning way more in that 60 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdJOz5fnJRc

Long winded answer, but hopefully that explains where I'm coming from

bur

Have a double end bag at home, think it's a great aerobic exercise that certainly helped a sedentary **** like myself build up just a tiny bit of cardio. could never do more than ten minutes on a bike without getting bored. And the sweat does lash out of you like nothing else. Just take it handy, focus more on movement and getting faster rather than throwing Conor McGregor straight lefts and you'll be grand.

Obviously do some googling..handwraps, routines, form etc.

Ush1

Bag is good for building power more so than cardio IMO. As has been mentioned, learn how to strike with decent technique.

You'll normally want to view the bag as an opponent and move around it a fair amount, this is difficult if you've no experience with any striking art.