Do you want to improve your speed, technique, strength, and focus for Muay Thai? The Muay Thai heavy bag workout can be your best friend to get all of those. However, many beginner fighters underestimate the importance of heavy punching bag training or commit mistakes that I will list below.
Kicking and punching the bag is the best way to boost your skills and condition. Hence, it must be in your workout routine. Here you will find some workouts to start with.
But, before, let’s talk about the mistakes.
- Lack of Intensity
If you want to develop, you should work hard. Many fighters attack the bag like mad at the beginning. Then, after a round, they just kick and punch it like a girl. Slowly and without power. To get the most from this workout, do high-intensity training. That will enhance your endurance and cardio for sure.
- Not Mixing Your Workouts
Another problem is that fighters almost do the same Muay Thai heavy bag combos repeatedly and on each workout. Okay, you will be perfect at them, but your opponent will quickly discover your weakness and use it against you.
The next time you start beating the bag, check out the combos you use. How many types do you do? It is time to add more combination Muay Thai bag drills, if just a few. Add more variety of knee strikes, elbow strikes, punches, and kicks to the combinations. Use a Muay Thai punching bag to get rid of those weaknesses.
- Not Using It Enough
The heavy punching bag is one of the essential pieces of equipment usually neglected by trainees. It is your best friend to enhance the power of your punches and kicks. It helps you to get better balance, strength, speed, and endurance—almost everything you will need in the ring. You’ll develop muscle memory and learn good fighting habits with heavy bag training.
Just think about it. If you hit it thousands of times correctly, your brain will be familiar with the moves that will come naturally.
Read this article if you want to know more about Muay Thai heavy bag workouts’ importance.
Now you know why you should use this equipment. After a proper warm-up, along with shadow boxing here are some workouts to see what you have learned in action and get more training methods.
1. Muay Thai Heavy Bag Drills for Beginners
Are you a beginner? You can learn a basic combo with straight punches to start with from this video. Plus, how to hit the bag correctly.
2. 5 Killer Bag Work Drills Tutorial
This is another excellent source to learn Muy Thai combos on bag that you can include in your routine. Stuart presents the moves in an easy way and slowly. I like the way he teaches.
3. Beginner Muay Thai Heavy Bag Combinations
This video is also for beginners, but you will learn harder combos with hooks and knees. Also, some Muay Thai basics for beginners on how to protect yourself.
4. Heavy Bag Workout for Power Kick
Workout for power kicking, a drill on the heavy punching bag. An excellent power kicking drill to develop your leg technique and kicking strength. To perform this exercise properly, you need to discover the correct range between you and the heavy bag.
5. Intense Muay Thai Workout for Stamina
We have been talking about the importance of intensity. This workout will show you how to have such training. It’s called 20/20/20 including body kicks and punches.
6. MMA, Boxing & Muay Thai Combos
From this video, you will learn not only great combination drills but also a lot of useful tips on how to use the bag to get the best training.
7. Muay Thai Punching Bag Drills to Increase Knockout Power Tutorial
Learn combos and techniques that will help you to knock out your opponent faster.
8. Workout For Conditioning & Bag Skills
This is an excellent routine to develop your cardio conditioning and use the bag to develop your skills. One round includes 10 Muay Thai conditioning drills; each is 30 seconds long with 5 seconds rest between them. Make 5-8 rounds with 1-minute rest between the rounds.
9. Kickboxing heavy bag drills for defense
Here, you can learn a drill and get other useful tips for defense.
10. MMA Heavy Bag Workout
For Muay Thai bag work for fitness workouts, this basic exercise routine with jabs and crosses is great. If you want to develop your condition or burn fat, just do this punching bag workout since it has so many benefits. For example, it strengthens your core. Don’t forget to wear boxing gloves to protect your hands and shin guards.
11. Muay Thai Training Techniques (elbow strikes, knees, footwork, rounds)
The video above is an excellent example of avoiding mistakes when throwing elbow strikes. This specific technique is very useful for both Muay Thai, and MMA fights since elbow strikes are legal in both.
Answers to FAQs
Could the heavy bag substitute a training partner?
As it’s said, the Muay Thai boxing bag doesn’t kick or punch back, so a skilled sparring partner is vital if you want to be a perfect fighter. With a partner, you can do pad work, sparring, and other training to improve your skills and proper technique. Also, you get used to the stress generated by Thai fighters and a real fight. Otherwise, with the bag’s help, you can imitate a bit the same environment and improve, for example, your punching and kicking strength, and you can beat the bag with full power.
How to have a complete heavy bag session?
Muay Thai is a combat sport in which you must use all your limbs. Hence, you should practice kicks, knees, punches, and knees, and combine them to maximize your striking technique. The more you practice the combos, the more naturally they come and the faster they will be. But don’t forget about footwork as well. Move around the bag and imagine as it was a real opponent.
I have a tip. We tend to focus on moves that we are the best at since that’s what we enjoy. And, we’re willing to neglect what we aren’t so good at. Focus on what requires development during the training session. For example, I’m quite good at punches and boxing combinations, but my high kicks are terrible, so I spend far more time with kicks these days.
Is a heavy bag stand suitable for Thai and kickboxing?
Without a doubt, the best is if you have a standard heavy punching bag with plenty of space around. This way, you hit it from every angle and you can have the right fighting stance. Unfortunately, a punching bag stand limits opportunities. You can attack it only from the front, and you must be careful while kicking to avoid hitting the frame upright. But it’s still much better than nothing for home training.
An alternative option is to get a heavy-duty freestanding bag such as Wavemaster XXL or Ringside Elite that stands powerful kicks. Lightweight training equipment is out of the question; they are only suitable for people who want to improve their cardio endurance.
What type of heavy bag should I use?
Standard punching bags for boxing are short, so we can’t practice kicks properly. The best choice is a Muay Thai bag or banana bag that lets us practice, for example, low kicks or roundhouse kicks. Plus, these bags usually reach the floor so they won’t swing as much; therefore, we can better practice the leg attacks.
How heavy should a Muay Thai bag be?
The bag should be heavy enough to challenge you but light enough that you can move around freely with it. It should be about 30-40% heavier than your weight so it won’t fly away if you land power kicks or power punches.
Is it possible to learn Muay Thai with heavy bags?
The heavy bag is a convenient striking surface for practicing Muay Thai or Boxing combinations and other exercises. You can also get a good cardio workout from training on a heavy bag while improving your technique and strength. Good fighting habits can be instilled when you train with authentic Muay Thai heavy bags.