by James - This article may contain affiliate links.
A punching bag (also known as a heavy bag) is an amazing exercise equipment for improving your health and fitness.
Well-known trainers and professionals of all ages use punching bags to exercise.
Heavy-bag workouts provide amazing health benefits to your physical and mental capabilities.
Thus, a punching bag is a great addition to your home or commercial gym.
Ideally, you can include heavy-bag workouts as part of your fitness plan to keep yourself motivated, healthy, and energetic.
Yet, doing the same exercise with a heavy bag will not yield results.
Top Three Best Heavy Bags For Your Workout 🤛
Heavy-Bag Workouts Benefits 😀
1. Improves Aerobic Fitness
Punching workouts are aerobic exercises as they involve various movements as you change your body positions.
This workout improves your physical fitness as it challenges your cardio-respiratory system.
Throwing punches for at least two minutes while sustaining high intensity adds to the aerobic dimension and provides a great workout.
2. Strengthens Core Stability and Coordination
Staying on your toes and carrying your weight from one foot to another while punching the bag helps develop your core stability.
Meanwhile, moving around the bag and throwing punches increases your hand-foot-eye coordination.
Excellent coordination and stability give your body a good posture, grace, and firmness.
Nevertheless, they provide great support to your body and help you avoid injuries from accidental falls.
Related: Injury Prevention Tips
3. Boosts Muscle Power and Strength
Punching heavy bags are excellent activities you can do to boost your muscle power and strength effectively.
You might be wondering what muscles are engaged when doing heavy-bag workouts.
The muscles worked on include; the arms, shoulder, chest, back, and waist.
Also, the legs are involved when generating power in the upper body.
You will notice this when performing hooks and uppercuts, as you are using your arms and backs while punching the bag.
All of these combined efficiently add to your chest and shoulder strength.
Also, try these healthy pre-workout drinks to help you boost your endurance during exercise and nourish your muscles.
4. Increases Stamina and Endurance
Since heavy-bag workouts are considered aerobic exercise, it increases your heart rate and oxygen supply.
This process makes your heart and lungs strong and healthy.
Related: How to Build your Home Boxing Gym
5. Helps Build Upper-Body Strength
Constantly punching the bag develops your upper body strength.
Plus, it allows you to throw and receive quick punches without being hurt.
However, you should always use the right boxing glove to keep your hands safe and protected.
What Are The Top Three Best Boxing Gloves For Punching Bags?
6. Builds Strong Bones and Ligaments
Heavy-bag workouts strengthen your bones and ligaments.
Further, this exercise reduces your chances of getting osteoporosis.
Additionally, resisting the punching bag’s pressure makes your ligaments stronger.
7. Enhances Your Boxing Technique
Heavy-bag workouts are an excellent workout to improve your punches, body movement, and performance.
With these in mind, you are likely to develop boxing skills and techniques as long as proper posture is observed.
In turn, punching bags keep everything tight.
Related: Best Heavy Bags & Punching Bags for Home
8. Decreases stress
Did you know that punching bags is a great way to release your body’s stress and pressure?
Ideally, heavy-bag workouts benefit you mentally since it encompasses stress-countering attributes.
It is physically exhausting, and aggressive exercise allows your mind to concentrate while you strike the bag.
By focusing your mind and body on the workout, you release the toxins (which piled up due to internal stress).
Your body lowers the stress level and improves the immune system.
It also leads to the release of endorphins, the natural chemical that elevates your mood.
9. Builds Self-Esteem and Confidence
Heavy-bag workouts also build your confidence and develop boxing techniques, which you can use when needed the most, i.e., in the boxing ring or self-defense.
10. Develops Your Self-Defense Skills
Some trainers see punching bags as an “opponent;” they need to do what it takes to knock the enemy down.
But the main difference here is that the bag does not hit you back.
Knowing that you have these defense skills can save your life and others in times of trouble.
11. Helps You Lose Weight and Tones the Body
Regular aerobic exercise assists in burning calories; hence you will lose weight as you punch the bag.
For example, training for one hour helps your body burn about 500 calories. As you hit the heavy bag, you encounter resistance from it.
This activity helps in strengthening and toning your body muscles.
Moreover, it improves your overall lean muscle mass and reduces visceral fat.
With a reduced-fat percentage in the body, you are less likely to get health disorders, such as diabetes and heart diseases.
12. Improves Your Body Shape
A heavy-bag cardio workout works on the biceps, shoulders, and back; thus, providing you with a great way of stripping body fat and revealing the underlying muscles.
This, in turn, enhances your physique as it cuts out the excess fat while shaping your body muscles.
13. Saves Your Money
There are several workouts you can do with a heavy bag. Some of them include jab, cross, uppercuts, and hooks.
You can even try combos and upgrade your bag’s resistance level.
With the mentioned activities, you would not need additional equipment to sustain your fitness unless you wanted to build your overall physique and muscles.
Related: 10 Heavy Bag Training Tips – Learn How to Hit a Heavy Bag
14. It Helps You Push Past Your Limits
Punching bags do not hit you back, as opposed to a training partner. This means that you have a clear place to go at it as much as you can, pushing yourself past your limit.
Focusing your every punch, kick, knee blow, and elbow swing as hard as possible would mean an increased strength in these areas and a general increase in your body strength level and limit.
15. It’s a Quick and Easy Workout
Unlike many other workout routines, the punching bag routine is quick and easy to undergo.
First off, you do not need to go running to a local gym center to access a punching bag; you can easily set up one in your garage or any free space in your home.
Also, a punching bag workout routine doesn’t take much time. Spending 15 minutes daily throwing blows and kicks is enough to get you sweating and exhausted.
Again, unlike common exercise workout routines like the reverse crunch, punching a heavy bag doesn’t require any special skill or supervision; all you need to do is throw a punch.
16. Your Heart and Lungs Get Healthier
Throwing punches at a heavy bag has an explosive effect on your body, heart, and lungs.
When you throw a punch or kick at a punching bag, your heartbeat increases and the same goes for your air intake.
This causes your heart and lungs to stress themselves in reaching their peak condition, which ultimately makes them stronger and healthier.
As you continue with this routine, the oxygen circulation around your body would be better and faster, your respiratory organs like your heart and lungs would also work better.
The first sign of this development is that you would notice an increase in your endurance level and stamina.
If you could throw a punch constantly for 15 minutes before getting tired, you would begin to notice that you can now easily go beyond the 15-minute benchmark.
17. It Exercises Your ABS and Legs
One of the reasons most people undergo exercise and several workout routines is to stay fit and get those rock-hard abs.
Combining movements that exercise the muscles around your abdomen and cardiovascular-related exercise is the best way to achieve those rock-hard abs.
Punching a hard bag is one routine that combines both types of exercise.
For instance, when you throw a left or right punch at your punching bag, the area around your lower abdomen is fully active.
With every turn you make, your legs are also active because they have been skipping on the spot, putting further pressure on your abdomen.
At the end of a regular season, you’ll see a huge difference in your abs structure, and you will certainly notice how tanned your legs have become from just punching a hard bag daily.
18. It Gives You Improved Mental Health, Mood, and General Well-Being
When you exercise with a punching bag, you increase your cardiovascular health and tone up your body.
You are also improving your mental health and a general sense of being, which most people do not know about.
Studies have shown that workout routines and any other physically demanding exercise can serve as a treatment for anxiety, depression, and several mental-health-related issues.
This biochemical substance also helps in a change in mind, reducing inflammations that are caused by stress, supporting a new neural growth, and improving overall feeling.
19. It Improves Your Cardiovascular Health
The idea that you have to keep your cardiovascular system in check has been instilled into your mind since you were young, with talks of going running, biking, jogging, or whatever.
The thing about these exercises is that you may get tired or bored.
This is where the idea of punching a bag as a cardiovascular workout comes in. If you enjoy kicking and hitting a punching bag, this is a better alternative to the typical biking or running workout.
The main reason for engaging in cardio exercises is to push your organs like the lungs and hearts to their limit, so they become challenged to improve and be better.
20. Better Hand-Eye Coordination
You may not know the importance of hand-eye coordination and its effect on your health.
Hand-eye coordination performs a huge role in your motor skills.
If you have good hand-eye coordination, you will have a fast reflex and reaction time, giving you a better physical condition.
Having fast reflexes is important to your health and safety, especially as you age and lose balance.
Punching a bag is a good way to improve your hand-eye coordination.
For instance, if you are asked to punch a light speed bag suspended by a disc and bounce at a fast pace with each punch you throw, you would be able to work on your hand-eye coordination.
This is because you can see, react, and hit the target while moving and switching positions.
FAQs 🤷♂️
What Is the Difference Between a Heavy-Bag and Speed-Bag Workout?
The heavy-bag workout develops your strength and allows you to practice punches, combos, and defense skills.
This workout is beneficial to improve your muscles, increase punching power, and boost resistance.
Meanwhile, a speed-bag workout uses a lightweight ball hanging on a special platform. It is useful for improving your eye-hand coordination and speed.
Nevertheless, the heavy-bag and speed-bag cardio routines are excellent workouts to burn calories, release stress, and shape your shoulders.
Final Thoughts 👏
Since we have shown you the many benefits of using a punching bag as a workout routine, why not try your hands on it today?
We are sure you will start noticing positive results in your body and mind soon.
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Last update on 2022-10-13 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Thanks again for another great article.. you never cease to amaze me in how well you explain concepts. Thank you for putting in the time to create useful diagrams too.
Very informative article. One can easily get familiar with the benefits of using punching bags.