How To Utilize Different Punching Bags For MMA With Trevor Wittman
Heavy bag work is a fundamental aspect of pretty much all modern combat sports training if that combat sport involves striking. Heavy bag work is an iconic part of any fighter's training and pro level competitors have easily hundreds of hours of bag work under their belt. It’s important to help train your technique, conditioning and it’s also just really fun to do.
It also helps that heavy bag work is really fun and a great workout. You can train new combos, sharpen your skills or just let out some aggression with just a few rounds on a bag. Shadowboxing and pad work are great but there's nothing as satisfying as landing some solid shots on a heavy bag and making it dent with your power. You also don’t need a partner to work on a heavy bag, which is an extra bonus.
What’s also great about heavy bags is that there isn’t just one single style that they come in. Of course you have your standard boxing heavy bag in the shape of a cylinder that hangs from the ceiling but there are so many more options out there. There are tear drop bags, banana bags, double end bags, cobra bags and so much more. Each of these can be used in their own unique way to help with your training, so it’s important to know how to use each of them optimally.
In this video, renowned MMA coach Trevor Wittman goes over a few different heavy bags and some ways to use them that really make each of them shine. Trevor Wittman was one of the less talked about coaches until recently and all his recent attention has been way overdue. He isn’t just a great coach though, he also is the creator of top of the line MMA gear with his fight gear brand, Onx Sports. Trevor Wittman is the martial arts genius behind top UFC fighters like former UFC interim Lightweight champion Justin Gaejthe and former UFC Strawweight champion Rose Namajunas.
Trevor Wittman Teaches How To Properly Use Punching Bags
Master Different Types Of Punching Bag
The video starts with coach Wittman going over how to use a wrecking ball bag, also known as an uppercut bag. This bag allows you to throw uppercuts like you would against an opponent's head. This is great because this is an angle you can’t get with a standard heavy bag. Coach Wittman talks about how to use this bag for practicing power shots and to help strengthen the shoulder muscles. Coach Wittman also talks about how bag work can be used to help train fight rhythm by working power shots in between your less powerful strikes.
To end off this talk about the wrecking ball bag, Coach Wittman talks about how it is important to not only throw power shots. This is because some bags have really hard spots on them and it can be dangerous to land on those parts with full power, especially if you are new to striking.
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The next bag that coach Wittman goes over is known as a Banana bag. A Banana bag is basically just a standard heavy bag but longer, usually somewhere around six or seven feet tall. This is because Muay Thai fighters need the extra length in the bag to train their low kicks. Despite that being the origin of the Banana bag, Coach Wittman likes to use this bag for boxing because of the angle it lies at.
Due to the height, the bag touches the ground and it creates an angle that is similar to that of fighters who are in close range and in fighting. This means that you fighters can more accurately train the angles that they would to to use and work around during an in fighting scenario. Having the bag on the ground also means that it will move less and you can really practice those powerful shovel hooks to the body accurately and without having the bag swing around due to your immense power.
The next bag that coach Wittman goes to is a teardrop bag. Coach Wittman uses this bag to demonstrate the need to have access to a smaller and lighter heavy bag. This is important because it helps you train your motion and your movement. Due to the extra movement of this smaller bag, you will learn how to move with the bag. This will force you to learn how to move your feet with the bag and land shots, which is an essential skill in MMA. It can also be helpful for moving your head and fighting shoulders, because a lot of that has to do with feet position and movement. Coach Wittman says that he likes to have his fighters work with smaller bags by just having them move with it for a few rounds to get the feeling of it.
