Hitting the Heavy Bag: Great Training for Boxers or Anyone Who Wants to Be Fit

When you walk into Club One Fitness, it is hard not to notice that we have enough heavy bags to train what seems like 1000 boxers. The reason is that heavy bags are almost essential for a good boxing workout. First of all, it is absolutely exhausting to throw a punch. How many people can hit a heavy bag hard for two minutes straight? I'm in pretty darn good shape and there is no way I could do it. But that is not how I attack the heavy bag. I throw a series of combination punches (that admittedly would not knock over a flea), rest, and then throw another series, and so forth until I'm exhausted.

For the more advanced boxers as a number of our members are, the heavy bag increases their core strength, giving them greater punching power, a stronger, more defined mid-section (which looks great and also helps you take a punch) and also builds legs, back, and chest muscles.

At Club One, we have a round timer in the boxing area that gives the bell for the standard three minutes on, one minute rest that just like in an actual boxing match. To build your endurance, you want to build the number of rounds you can go against the bag. You can do this on your own or you can jump into one of the boxing classes.

The punching bag is a great tool to help you get in shape and work off a little frustration. I'm amazed at how many of the members at Club One that are not really interested boxing will still sometimes grab some gloves and throw some punch. It underscores what a great exercise and stress reliever the punching bag can be.