!: How to Get a Good Workout From the Punching Bag

When it comes to cardio, literally all that I use is the heavy punching bag. I have found that this is the best way for me to workout (cardio wise), and it is by far the most fun. However, this is only possible if you actually push yourself (rather than slacking). So how do you do this effectively, without hurting yourself? Well, it comes from following a few basic principles and techniques basically.

For starters, you want to constantly be moving, and keep swinging away at the bag. This will keep your heart rate up, and your breathing heavy. This is ideal for cardio strengthening (along with burning fat, if that is your goal). However, do not hit the bag so vigorously that you find yourself literally out of breath, as this will make it pretty much impossible to keep going. You see, with cardio, you want to be able to work out for at least 20-30 minutes or more. But this is only possible if you can continue to breath at a steady rate, without getting yourself winded.

Also, always use the proper caution so that you do not injure yourself. Believe it or not, you can certainly hurt yourself fairly easily just by hitting a punching bag (which I learned the hard way, so trust me on that). As long as you follow a few guidelines you will be fine. For starters, do not punch hard at the bag until you get good at judging you distances; this is a VERY easy way to hurt your elbow and even your wrist, so be careful until you get used to it. Secondly, be sure to wear at least "bag gloves", as this will keep your knuckles from getting torn up. You would be amazed at how fast you can tear the skin right off of your knuckles by hitting a punching bag bare handed.

Another important piece to the puzzle is to punch the bag using the proper technique. This will basically make or break your workout. For example, you will want to twist your whole upper body when you swing your right hand at the bag (assuming that you are right handed, which means that this will apply to your LEFT hand if you are left handed). This will work FAR more muscles than simply just swinging by using your arms & shoulders only. And on top of that, this is the PROPER way to punch.

Again, just use common sense and proper technique, and don't get carried away. If you start off trying to utterly destroy the punching bag, BEFORE you have got your distances down, then you are very likely to hurt your wrist and or elbow. And this will not help your work out any. Instead, just ease into it gradually, and always try to keep a steady pace. If you do this, you will find that it really IS one of the best work outs you could ever do (and one of the more fun ones, too).