Speed bag training is a valuable tool for boxers and martial artists, offering a range of benefits that enhance both physical and mental skills. Depending on your overall goals, incorporating both smaller and larger versions into your routine can significantly improve your performance.
Improving Speed, Timing, and Accuracy
A smaller speed bag excels at enhancing your timing, accuracy, and eye-hand coordination.
- Timing and Accuracy: The rapid movements of a smaller bag demand precise timing and accurate punches, sharpening these crucial skills.
- Eye-Hand Coordination: Tracking the bag's quick rebounds and responding with accurate strikes dramatically improves your eye-hand coordination.
If you want more speed, the smaller the bag the faster it moves. Changing up speedbag sizes will make you more adaptable by requiring speed versus power. This depends on if you want to work speed vs power.
Building Endurance and Defensive Posture
Speed bag work is also an excellent way to build muscular endurance and reinforce a good defensive posture.
- Muscular Endurance: To keep moving constantly for several three-minute rounds helps with muscular endurance in your shoulders and increases your ability to keep your hands up high in a good defensive posture.
- Focus and Concentration: The repetitive nature of speed bag training requires a greater amount of focus and concentration, improving your mental stamina.
Conditioning Your Eyes
Another benefit of either size bag is that, when used correctly, it can condition you to keep your eyes open. By nature, people tend to blink when something comes in close contact with their eyes. It is a natural defense that happens instinctually.
Read also: Choosing the Right Everlast Bag
However, boxers need to keep their eyes open when hitting, getting hit, and slipping punches. It’s the only way to be aware of what’s coming next and see any counterpunching opportunities. Because of that, fighters need to condition themselves to do something that is against human nature and their body’s natural response.
A boxer training with a speed bag.
Developing Power and Punching Endurance with Larger Bags
Speed bags were originally much larger because more force was required to move a bigger bag and keep it rebounding. It demanded greater effort and punching endurance to consistently punch through the larger speed bag and maintain a constant rhythm.
- Increased Power: A larger bag requires more force to move, helping you develop punching power.
- Punching Endurance: Maintaining a constant rhythm with a larger bag builds punching endurance and stamina.
A large speed bag would be more in the 7” x 10” - 10” x 12” range. For power and working on trapping or other exercises like head movement, you would want a larger bag.
Versatility Through Varied Bag Sizes
Having several size speed bags for boxing training will help you gain versatility and change up the demands. A small speed bag is easier to move, while a bigger bag is harder.
Read also: Heavy Bag Workout
In summary:
- Smaller Bag: Ideal for speed, timing, accuracy, and eye-hand coordination.
- Larger Bag: Ideal for power, punching endurance, and trapping exercises.
Basic speed ball tutorial With Olympic Medallist
Need help?
Read also: Choosing the Right Speed Bag Platform