Martial Arts Training With Punch Bags

Posted on September 24, 2009 by

During the very early beginnings of martial arts development, various training aids were introduced, including punch bags, wooden dummies, striking posts (makiwara), and other assorted tools for strengthening the grip of the hands, or hardening and desensitizing the skin.

Most of these training implements have survived to the present day to some degree, but you’re likely to see punch bags more often than not, in studios training all combat and sport martial arts, not to mention boxing and kickboxing gyms.

Role of Punch Bags in Martial Arts Training

In general punch bags can be used for a couple of reasons – assuming you are not a martial artist. Firstly, training on the heavy bag is great for improving physical fitness. As well as this advantage, hitting a punching bag is an excellent way of reducing the stresses of everyday life, rather than bottling pent up emotions after a tough day at work. So as long as you don’t overdo it, it’s good for everybody to have access to and use punching bags as a normal part of their workout routines.

Of particular importance to martial artists, kickboxers and western boxers are three separate areas. Punch bags can address all three of these areas, which are physical strength, aerobic fitness and good punching technique.

Types of Punch Bags

There are several different types of punch bags, and all have their own very specific uses.

1. Speed Bags

Speed bags are the small air-filled bags used very commonly by western boxers to improve punching accuracy and hand to eye coordination. They are attached to the ceiling or wall with a rebound platform so that they bounce back into position when punched. Speeds bags – or speed balls – are normally made from a plastic polymer or leather.

2. Heavy Bags

Heavy bags are also commonly associated with western boxing gyms, but are also widely used for martial arts training, where they are used for practising all power techniques including punching, kicking and elbow and knee-strikes. They are larger training aids, usually hanging from the ceiling using a chain, and can be made of leather, synthetic material or canvas. Depending on what kind of training you are doing, these bags can be filled with different materials, such as grain, or rags for a fairly light bag; or filled with sand, which makes the punch bag considerably harder – take care to use wraps or gloves for the harder heavier bags to protect your hands.

3. Variations on the Heavy Punch Bag

The heavy bag has a few cousins. First off, they are are not always hung from the ceiling. Pedestal bags are similar for training purposes but floor-standing, with a heavy weighted base. Then there are upper cut punch bags, designed to be wider at the top for practising upper cuts. Finally, there are the non-cylindrical bags, such as the body opponent bag, which is moulded to look like the head and torso of a person, pedestal-mounted, for practising accuracy and power of strikes to various parts of the opponents anatomy.

So the humble punch bag isn’t just reserved for the western boxer; it has all kinds of uses, and in some cases has been developed especially for the martial artist.

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Are Martial Arts Shoes Necessary?

Posted on September 21, 2009 by

Martial arts shoes are available in most martial arts stores these days, both online and offline. This raises the question, are they really necessary? Almost all traditional Japanese martial arts are practised barefoot, and indeed it is a matter of tradition for shoes to be removed on entering the dojo to train. It is a courtesy carried on over generations, but also serves to prevent dirt and grime from outside being dragged over the training area. There is also the practicality for throwing and grappling arts like judo, jujitsu and aikido – where often the training area has padded mats – to protect the training surface from damage by outside shoes.

ninja-tabi-boots

The shadowy art of ninjutsu is different, and exponents wear boots called tabi – there are also tabi socks, worn with traditional Japanese zori, or rice straw sandals. Tabi boots and socks have the big toe separated from the others. The zori – a bit like flipflops – tend to be worn frequently in the Japanese martial arts because they can be conveniently slipped on and off, when entering and leaving the actual dojo or training area.

The Chinese martial arts are different, and practitioners generally wear martial arts shoes as a matter of course. The styles vary, from the thin cotton kung fu slippers popularized by Bruce Lee, to normal lace-up plimsoles or sneakers. In this respect, as with many other things in the martial arts, the Chinese systems tend to be more pragmatic and less ritualized than the Japanese ones.

Of course, it does depend where training is taking place. Sometimes, you may find yourself practising a Chinese art in a sports center, and assigned to the matted judo room or studio. As a sign of respect, and to prevent damage to the mats, shoes will be removed in these cases.

So apart from all the traditions, is there any advantage in training barefoot, or would martial arts shoes be a good idea instead? Well, there is always the question of hygiene. Students can be protected from each other in cases where any of them have skin or fungal problems, which would otherwise prevent the afflicted student from training, or spreading the infection.

If your class trains in an old hall with either bare concrete floors or damaged wooden boards, then martial arts shoes might be a great deal more comfortable during training. (I have seen some decidedly dodgy training rooms in my time, with raised nails and all sorts!)

Some martial arts shoes are light-weight but incorporate thin padding across the top of the foot, and offer some protection to students during semi-contact sparring. These types of shoes are light enough that proper sparring foot-padding can be used over the top as well.

Finally, and perhaps the most compelling reason in favor of at least some occasional training with martial arts shoes is simply that most (if not all) real self defense situations will take place when you’ve got your shoes on. So it pays to have some experience of sparring, training and fighting while wearing a pair!

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Choosing a Martial Arts Style

Posted on September 16, 2009 by

When you’ve decided to take the leap and start learning a new martial art, it pays to put a little thought into which one will suit your needs best. The choices you get these days are far wider than ever before, and extend past the usual suspects of karate, kung fu and taekwondo. You might decide that you don’t want to (or are too old to!) go through months of strenuous leg stretching exercises, which would be required for energetic high-kicking styles such as taekwondo. In this case you might opt for one of the direct Chinese punching styles, like wing chun, bak mei or xingyi. Or you may opt for an art that doesn’t require you to be able to bench press 200 kilos! Perhaps aikido or taiji would suit.

Whatever your reasons and abilities, there will be a martial art that’ll suit you. The martial arts can be broadly categorized into four groups (five if we include those involving martial arts weapons – I’m only talking about empty hand arts for now though). They are Striking Arts, Kicking Arts, Throwing Arts and Locking Arts. This is a generalization however, and it is worth remembering that very few martial arts rely on a single type of technique. Many are renowned for a single type of technique though, and using taekwondo as an example, it is famous for the multitude of different kicking techniques trained.

So here is a brief breakdown of which martial arts fall into the different categories; some arts fall into multiple groups, and you can pretty much assume that all martial arts contain at least some aspects from all of the groups.

Striking and Punching

The obvious martial arts to include here are karate (many styles of which also contain many kicks in their syllabus) and western boxing. As mentioned in the introduction there are many Chinese martial arts which concentrate to a high degree on punching (with a few, generally low, kicks). For example wing chun and xingyi. The southern styles from China tend to be more hand oriented. Other strikes, other than punching, include the many open hand strikes of baguazhang (eight diagram palm), and the relentless elbow and knee strikes of Muay Thai and Shaolin kung fu.

Kicking Styles

Although previously mentioned karate styles all train for kicking, it is the Korean martial arts which take the art of kicking to an altogether higher level (quite literally!) with taekwondo, hapkido and tang soo do. Taekwondo is renowned for its kicks, hapkido is more rounded and contains strikes, throws, locks and groundwork, and tang soo do also exhibits a variety of different techniques, but has northern Shaolin as part of its make up. And so to the Chinese styles; many styles from the north of China are primarily kicking styles, even to the point of sometimes being referred to as ‘northern leg’. Other notable kicking styles are Muay Thai and kickboxing/Thai boxing and the Brazilian art of capoeira.

Throwing Styles

If you are looking for a martial art that will teach you how to throw people to the ground, then the obvious choice is judo, which is commonly taught all over the world. Many kung fu styles incorporate a whole variety of throwing and sweeping techniques also. You can also use techniques from some of the joint-locking arts in order to take an attacker to ground, so you might consider aikido and jujitsu under the throwing category – but these arts really fit best into the next section.

Joint-Locking Styles

The Korean art hapkido utilizes locking techniques as well as kicking, but perhaps the best known locking arts are Japanese in origin: aikido and jujitsu. The derivative art of Brazilian jujitsu combines a whole range of techniques including locking and grappling as well as throwing, to get the opponent to ground. However, unlike many other arts, Brazilian jujitsu (BJJ) – and similar types of modern fighting arts such as shootfighting and ‘mixed martial arts’ (MMA) – are adept at ground-fighting. In other words, they can stop their opponent from fighting at all once on the ground using a series of locking and choking techniques.

So if you are ready to start in the martial arts, perhaps I’ve just made your decision a whole lot tougher now, as there are probably dozens of different martial arts available in your area. Do your research (watch the video below), find a good teacher, and enjoy the ride!

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