Chainless Heavy Bag training

When people see a heavy bag, instinctively they think theres only two ways they can be practical,

• Striking them whilst hung up,
• Using them as a tool to slip, bob and weave when swung,

The actual reality is there many unthought of ways that they can be effective training in martial arts and for anyone wanting to improve there fitness. When the bag is chained up and hanging, all strikes ever thought of can be practised on the bag, but an unchained bag practice is just as vital in my opinion. Throws can be practised. Tie two belts or two pieces of rope to the bag to act as arms and a great variety of throws can be worked. Pickups and suplex type throws can be drilled over and over again (a Heavier bag would be good at this stage). When lying the bag on the floor, groundwork positioning and maneuvering can be worked, by transitioning to different positions, like scarf hold to mount to side control etc. Also strikes from all these positions can be practised with MMA in mind. Doing stomach exercises while lying on the bag to also work balance and surrounding muscles can be done. See this link for more details on this exercise.(http://markschat.blogspot.com/2007/10/six-pack-training-lying-on-heavy-bag.html). Single leg leg presses are excellent if you have a heavy enough bag. Another great leg builder are squats with the bag. Either place the bag on your shoulders, or with the bag on the floor squat down, grasp it and lift it up and down bending nothing but yours knees. I like to work the squat with the bag, with my pick ups. Standing the bag upright, i bend down, bear hug it and using a strong drive of the legs, lift it as high as i can then lower it. I do this as many times i can in 1 minute. The burn is unbearable! Because there are so many sized bags available with varieties of weights, lots of variations of exercises can be done. The best thing is to just experiment. See your bag as more than something to just hang, punch and kick and you will develop a whole lot more use for it. The following demonstrates practising pickups and a little groundwork with the heavy bag and throws with the light bag