Working out on the heavy bag is an effective and fun way to improve your fitness, build strength, and relieve stress.
Incorporating heavy bag workouts into your routine is an excellent form of exercise that provides a wide range of benefits for your body and mind.
This post will list out 9 undeniable benefits of heavy bag workouts.
From improved cardiovascular health to increased self-defense skills, heavy bag workouts offer a full-body workout that can help you achieve your fitness goals.
1. Cardio
One of the main heavy bag workout benefits anyone (even if you have zero skill) can gain is a major improvement in cardio.
Working out on the heavy incorporating punches, kicks and knees engages a large number of muscle groups throughout your body, including your legs, core, and arms.
By engaging more muscle groups engaged over a period of time (i.e a round on the heavy bag) this leads to increases in the heart rate, which can help improve your cardiovascular fitness.
A study from 2014 published the National Institutes of Health revealed that training kickboxing for one hour three days a week increased maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max), which is an indicator of your cardiovascular endurance and cardio health.
A higher VO2max means your body is more efficient and obtaining and using oxygen.
Over time, with regular heavy bag training, your body will adapt to the demands of the workout and become more efficient at delivering oxygen to your muscles, leading to improvements in your overall endurance and cardio.
2. Variety
As they say variety is the spice of life.
If your current workouts are predominately resistance training based i,e weights or bodyweight exercises, then incorporating cardio is important.
But, jogging, aerobic machines can become boring.
Heavy bag workouts are an excellent way to improve your cardio and provide variety in your training to keep things fun.
This will help you stay consistent wit working out in the long run.
3. Stress Relief is one of the Key Heavy Bag Workout Benefits
Unleashing punches and kicks on your heavy bag is an excellent way to release tension. It is also one of the main heavy bag workout benefits that really anyone can gain.
Many people find the repetitive nature of hitting the bag to be meditative and calming, providing an outlet for pent-up frustration and anxiety.
When you hit a heavy bag, you’re engaging in a physical activity that requires focus and concentration, which can help to clear your mind and reduce stress levels.
You also have the added benefit of endorphin release from the physical exertion training on the heavy bag. Endorphins are natural feel-good chemicals in the body that can help to boost your mood and reduce stress.
Overall, incorporating heavy bag workouts into your routine can be an effective way to manage stress and improve your mental health.
4. Balance
In addition to helping to bring balance to the mind and body, the improvement of physcial balance is another on the heavy bag workout benefits anyone can incorporate and improve on.
Heavy bag training requires the body to maintain stability and balance to generate power and maintain control.
Over time, this can help to strengthen the muscles involved in balance and coordination, such as the core and leg muscles.
Additionally, practicing footwork and movement patterns while hitting the bag can help to improve your balance and coordination in other areas of your life, such as during sports activities or daily tasks.
Incorporating heavy bag workouts into your routine can be a fun and effective way to improve your balance and overall physical fitness.
5. Core Strength
Heavy bag workouts (especially those including kicks and knees) engage muscles in the arms, shoulders, and chest, as well as the muscles in your core.
The core muscles include the rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, obliques, and lower back muscles. These muscles are responsible for stabilising your body and supporting your movements.
As you punch and kick the heavy bag, your core muscles work to generate power and maintain stability, which can help to strengthen and tone these muscles over time.
Additionally, heavy bag workouts often incorporate movements such as twisting, turning, and pivoting, which can further engage and strengthen the core muscles.
6. Confidence levels
Hitting the heavy bag can help to build confidence in a variety of ways.
A couple of the main ways include
“Mastering a new skill” – learning to punch and kick with decent technique takes time to learn and requires practice and dedication.
As you improve your technique and skills, you’ll gain a sense of accomplishment and pride in your abilities, which can help to build confidence.
“Developing endurance and a strong will” – Heavy bag workouts can be physically demanding and require mental toughness to push through fatigue and discomfort.
As you challenge yourself to work harder and overcome these obstacles, you’ll develop a sense of confidence in your ability to tackle difficult tasks.
Heavy bag training can be an empowering and confidence-building experience that can help to improve your mental and physical well-being.
As you develop your skills and push yourself to new levels, you’ll gain a sense of confidence and self-assurance that can carry over into other areas of your life.
7. Calorie Burn
An estimate is that a 200-pound person burns 525 calories/hour boxing a punching bag and a 150-pound person burns 394 calories/hour boxing a punching bag.
This is comparable to running which burns around 500 calories per hour.
BUT if you incorporate kicks and knees in addition to just boxing and throwing punches only, the calorie burn can be higher still.
Below are two reliable estimates of how much calories are burned through martial arts that includes punching and kicking.
An article published by The Independent in 2017 found that martial arts such as muay thai/kickboxing burned around 752 calories per hour for an average women.
According to a study by Harvard Health Publications, a 125-lb. person burns an average of 600 calories in an hour of kickboxing.
8. Self Defense
In addition to the confidence that heavy bag training builds (this alone can deter many attackers), learning to effectively strike with a heavy bag is an important self defense skill to possess.
Even if you never get into a self defense situation, having some ability to defend yourself with effective strikes can be useful.
After all:
“It is better to be a Warrior in the Garden than a Gardener in a War”
9. Convenience
One of my most loved benefits of the heavy bag is the convenience and ability to get in a workout in your own home.
There are even tutorials online on how to make your own heavy bag for free.
A heavy bag workout can be very convenient when you gym is closed, or it start raining just when you want to get a road run in.
Having a heavy bag at home is one of the most convenient, simplest and “no excuses” ways to incorporate the benefits of heavy bag training whenever you have free time at home.
9 Heavy Bag Workout Benefits Final Say
The heavy bag is truly a very effective and handy tool for training and working out.
Regardless of whether you fight or not, and regardless of your skill level (which can be improved very quickly over time), anyone can gain from the 9 benefits that heavy bag training can bring.
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