The Benefits of Bag Work in the Martial Arts by Instructor Ma

The Benefits of Bag Work in the Martial Arts by Instructor Ma

  Bag work is essential for Martial Arts training since it helps build power and Stamina in practitioners. The good thing is you can focus on perfecting technique and focus on building power by breaking down your technique in steps.

Stamina and endurance will be built by breaking your workouts into rounds and giving yourself rest time in between in order to recuperate. You will need to breakdown your workouts depending on what area of your training or individual techniques need improvement.

If you are looking to improve speed, but not lose speed then you will need to keep your rounds short, 1 to 2 minutes, and your rest periods short – 30 seconds.

Focus on moving around the bag throughout the workout to improve footwork and perform the techniques with lots of speed. Plan what techniques you will use per round, for example you might want to only work on hand techniques for one round, then only kicks, or only Spinning kicks.

If you want to focus on power, then you will need to keep the rounds longer – 2–3-minute rounds, and your rest period at a minute to ensure full recuperation.

Perform techniques with full power, and work on aiming as well. Mixing up speed and power training with only power training is the ideal training schedule. Bag work is also an essential part of sparring practice. It gives you a chance to work on combos It helps you improve footwork while delivering your techniques to a solid Object. It gives you an opportunity to get comfortable with ducking, weaving, blocking, and hitting without the pressure of getting hit. Plan to include bag work at least 3 times a week to your training as an Intermediate and Advanced Martial Arts Student.

About the author: Instructor Ma is a 3rd Degree Black Belt in the Korean self-defense art of Hapkido and a 2nd Dan in Traditional Taekwondo. She is a professional sports and fitness model and full time Nursing student. She is the Language, Culture and Leadership Development Teacher for the American Dragon Korean Martial Arts Academies and can be reached at www.AmericanDragonKoreanMartialArts.com