Heavy Bag Workout

I workout with a heavy bag, wrapped hands and gloves but after watching cage2street and thoughts of past training I wonder if it would suit me better to remove the hand protection and use open palms. I would appreciate your comments. Thanks in advance.

I've found it hard to strike a heavy bag open handed - the angle's wrong, not head shaped at all.
Hook type strikes work, but straight on, not so well, unless the bag is hung real low so you have the top edge to work with perhaps ..?

i thinks it's up to you and your sensibilities, but should you decide to open your hands, here
are some perks:
no special rituals for preperation
greater adaptability for different resistance training--bag/makiwara/stationary wall pad/ball bearing,
etc...
harder hits generally due lessor concern for wrists; fingers; knuckles
forgiving fook-ups if it's a real pressure test

i've seen the sites that essentially coach people to go fingers up for face,
fingers sideways for middle, and fingers down for crotch--or whatever. i've personally
never really thought about it, my body has made whatever adjustments so that my
palm hits in the right place. i've shot it straight out in drive-back drills and sort of ended
up mildly cork-screwing the hand placement [as if doing a diamond push up].
or if it's uncomfortable shooting it straight--as Maija indicated, put a slightly upwards
angle on it for your jab/cross work. nothing beats the jap slap--open handed hook. it's so
merciful on a hook style strike that i've vertually doubled my impact with it.
you don't have to be religious about it. just give it a go, but dare to drop your gloves
for a week and see what you come up with. form doesn't mean much, speed and power and
comfort using it do.

i love it now. on occasion my fist still comes out, but usually on a lessor impact strike--sort
of impulsive and reactive back fist like short strike. that comes out naturally so i'm not
worried and dogmatically purist about it. i also really like throwing the hammer fist--but as
as sort of quasi 'shoto-uke' [not sure if i still remember the term actually...if i fooked it up,
then i'm discribing a side-ish chop but with a tight fist to get my fingers out of it]. either way,
you're still protecting your hand enough to be able to do without the wraps/gloves.
you may feel like having fewer targets [but maybe this is just me, i'm partial to head shots] as this is practical and inclines a faster learning curve for the new open handed trial. go light at first so that you really feel the heel of your hand making the appropriate connections. i've used the jap slap--and it came off as a slap. it was quite shocking, but didn't have the effect it could have if the heel of my hand had made that connection. you don't have to change much. i fire it all off with a boxer's sensibilities and it feels really good, almost too good.

and i used to really really like making a fist; i've just had one too many sprains/breaks, etc...
i'd like to minimize on my injuries. another added perk is--the forearm strength that appears to
be gradually creaping up, and wrist strength. ironically i'm more geared to throw a fist without
consequence [or so i like to think] then when i primarily trained with fists.

forgive the passion. for me it was how i started fighting as a tean with no training. gradually
training replaced sensibilities, and now i'm picking up where i left off and liking it. there's, frankly,
a satisfying feeling of having your hands open and being fired up. less tension, more whip, feels
oddly more twisted in a good way. i've alternated explosive sets on the pads--bag, whatever...so
they resemble mid flow and straight from the fence. i keep the rep range down, the pacing quality
out, and prefer [when working alone] to have a wall behind the bag so that i can really go all out
for longer for speed and explosiveness. then when i have a warm body to hold pads, i'm almost in
the same position to pick up where i left off, but with the forward drive piece to add in.

too much caffeine i reckon.

good luck with your decision.

I'd add that I practice open hand striking almost exclusively, but it's generally either with pads, or we've got one of those 'Bob' dummies at the place I work out, which also works great.

I dont like palms on the heavy bag either, better on the thai pads with a partner

you could be looking to work some punches with out protection on the heavy bag- go light to start with till you get used to it or its skinless knuckles for ya!

Quote :

i've personally
never really thought about it, my body has made whatever adjustments so that my
palm hits in the right place. i've shot it straight out in drive-back drills and sort of ended
up mildly cork-screwing the hand placement [as if doing a diamond push up].
or if it's uncomfortable shooting it straight--as Maija indicated, put a slightly upwards
angle on it for your jab/cross work. nothing beats the jap slap--open handed hook. it's so
merciful on a hook style strike that i've vertually doubled my impact with it.
you don't have to be religious about it. just give it a go, but dare to drop your gloves
for a week and see what you come up with. form doesn't mean much, speed and power and
comfort using it do.

I think that advice from Russ is good, just give it a go mate

Richard Grannon wrote:

I dont like palms on the heavy bag either, better on the thai pads with a partner

you could be looking to work some punches with out protection on the heavy bag- go light to start with till you get used to it or its skinless knuckles for ya!

Quote :

i've personally
never really thought about it, my body has made whatever adjustments so that my
palm hits in the right place. i've shot it straight out in drive-back drills and sort of ended
up mildly cork-screwing the hand placement [as if doing a diamond push up].
or if it's uncomfortable shooting it straight--as Maija indicated, put a slightly upwards
angle on it for your jab/cross work. nothing beats the jap slap--open handed hook. it's so
merciful on a hook style strike that i've vertually doubled my impact with it.
you don't have to be religious about it. just give it a go, but dare to drop your gloves
for a week and see what you come up with. form doesn't mean much, speed and power and
comfort using it do.

I think that advice from Russ is good, just give it a go mate

Thanks to all for your comments. I don’t have a training partner so all my gear has to be purchased or improvised. I need to rig up something to practice the slap..I’m really impressed with that one... and open-palm strike. If anyone has seen examples of such… homegrown or otherwise… I would appreciate you passing them along.

Well I was using a corner of a concrete wall for quite some time. Slapping with the palm. And striking with the palm on the wall facing me. Works well enough but if you want to use power then gloves might be a good idea. Winter gloves, not boxing gloves or some such thing. Seeing that you want the padding in the palm and hand not the knuckles. Got myself a Body Opponent Bag these days though. Handy to have and not all that expensive either. You can usually find heavy bags at the gyms.

Mike Brown said,
"Thanks to all for your comments. I don’t have a training partner so all my gear has to be purchased or improvised. I need to rig up something to practice the slap..I’m really impressed with that one... and open-palm strike. If anyone has seen examples of such… homegrown or otherwise… I would appreciate you passing them along."

funnily enough mate, i've made a hobby out of improvised striking surfaces--to include mattresses strapped around trees--on the more extreme end of it.

if you have a small exercise matt--the sort that accordian folds when put away, this is more than handy
to have around. my stands just shy of my height, but i prop it against the wall [when i have no one to train with]. i use boxer mechanics to strike--but with palms [for the jab/cross]. and step to the side for
jap slaps. as the body mechanics for this incline leaning a bit passed the target, do watch for your head
going into the wall --don't ask! you can then choose your style to it. the easiest is keeping a crook
to your arm and letting your legs/waist do all the work. i've since added a whip like motion that ends with a slight bend in my elbow [to avoid hyperextension] but stays a bit on the straighter side for the reach it affords. if you've ever seen a ridge hand in karate, the body mechanics are the same--but superior for the safer personal striking surface. i've found that focussing on speed first, power second,
generates some impressive results. land one of those puppies after some time on the pads, and you'll feel you can take someone's head off [drooling now ]. always visualize, if you don't. adding stepping
in on occasion to not feel too rooted--then finish the set in place rapidly and all out. you'll start to feel you don't need to run. you'll be spent. i do about 25 really all out rapid slaps in a row--as fast as i can while still encorporating my body. i feel like i'm ready to fall over after. on occasion have a friend stand
in front so you can slowly go through the motion and realize how stepping slightly side of him whilst striking in the same direction adds momentum. align your thumb with his ear as i've heard Mick Coup instruct and keep your elbow parallel to the floor at first, then try whipping it out from you waist after you're familiar with the trajectory path [if this makes any sense--i'm guilty of getting myself all worked
up and communicating cryptically at best ]. this is one of my favorite strikes if not my most favorite.

folded up exercise matt--the sky is the limit. you can take it to the outside of an abandoned building, or
lean it up on your basement wall. whatever. it's light and goes wherever you do. if you train on other surfaces too, use the harder variation to learn the limitations of a harder surface [like a head]. when i was using a mattress [and once even thick cushions] tied to a tree. the rough and uneven surface made
me really get a feel for how hard may wish to strike versus how hard i wanted to.

have fun

RichB has good ideas too...i've used gloves/boxing gloves/etc...to add some cushioning to hard surfaces.
then all you're carrying is hand padding. i just prefer bare hands on buffered surfaces. use one at home,
and take the other with you when you don't have a training area. don't get caught in the rut that makes you feel you can't train, improvise. we're all nutters at the end of the day

Thanks for your time, sharing of your knowledge with important details.