Strip Your Fat With These Punch Bag Workouts

The punch bag is a versatile piece of equipment that has been the staple of training routines for great boxers over the years, here are two routines you can use on the bag to start punching away at that fat and burning through those calories.

The Fast and Hard Round

This is a high intensity interval training round you can use on the bag to really get the heart rate going. We are going to choose just two combos for this round, making it suitable for all levels of boxers, whether you are a beginner or a veteran, this is equally suitable. The round is only limited by the number of cycles you can perform, I would recommend at least four cycles and you can then start working on adding more cycles as you see your fitness progress.
We are going to use 15 second intervals for each combination and we will use the following punches..

Combo One:
The 1,2 – also known as the jab, cross.

We will use this combo as fast as possible, so we are not loading up on these punches and trying to hit the bag as hard as possible, we are simply throwing the 1,2 as quick as we can and trying to hit the bag as many times as possible in this 15 seconds.

Combo Two:
Left hook, Right Hook .

For the next 15 seconds we are only throwing left and right hooks. These will be the power punches so now we are switching to the heavy work and hitting the bag harder. You are looking to throw the big punches now so the speed will decrease but the power will increase.

So here is an example of what a round of 2mins would look like.

Cycle One

15 seconds – 1,2 as fast as possible hitting the bag as many times as we can.
15 seconds – left and right hooks, hitting the bag as hard as we can.

Cycle Two

15 seconds – 1,2 as fast as possible hitting the bag as many times as we can.
15 seconds – left and right hooks, hitting the bag as hard as we can.

Cycle Three

15 seconds – 1,2 as fast as possible hitting the bag as many times as we can.
15 seconds – left and right hooks, hitting the bag as hard as we can.

Cycle Four

15 seconds – 1,2 as fast as possible hitting the bag as many times as we can.
15 seconds – left and right hooks, hitting the bag as hard as we can.

End of Round.
This round is great for replicating fight training, there are periods of fast and high intensity followed by periods of setting your feet and throwing harder punches. The high intensity work is great for increasing the metabolic rate and keep it an elevated rate even well after you have finished the training which means you are still burning calories at a higher rate for hours after your workout. You can increase the cycles to make it 3+ minutes once you have improved your fitness but I find 2 minutes is a great starting point. This is also a great way to quickly improve fitness especially for those of you getting ready for a fight, for those of you who aren’t this is still a great way to shift those pounds and get fit!

The Old School Bag Routine to Burn Fat

Here is an old school bag routine used by the boxers of yesteryear. This routine covers all bases, it will improve your stamina and endurance as well as helping your punch power and punch output. The routine is often called the 30-30-30 and is a great addition to your punch bag workout.
You can get versatile with this routine by splitting the 30 second intervals down even further, such as making it 10 seconds x 3 for 30 seconds and repeat again. I will list the routine as both a 30 second split and 10 second split to show how it can be used.

30-30-30 Cycle One

For the first 30 seconds we are going to use freestyle boxing, this means we will use any combination of punching, you can throw any punch you want at the bag but you will be going at about 70-80% of your usual pace so nothing too quick or nothing too hard, just relaxing whilst throwing the punches.

The Next 30 seconds you will be riding the bike whilst moving around the bag. This means knees high(almost like running on the spot but moving around the bag) and punching the bag as fast as you can using 1,2’s(jabs and crosses)

The last 30 seconds you will be loading up your punches and only using the power punches, this means predominantly hooks and uppercuts and some crosses thrown in as well. Here we want to try and throw knockout punches so make sure you are really putting everything into it.

This equals 90 seconds and is a pretty good starting point, if you were to use this and wanted to add another cycle it would equal 3 minutes which is the exact length of a boxing round, this can get really tiring but always makes for a great workout, the first 30 seconds helps to train good habits by using your full arsenal of combinations whilst throwing relaxed, the second 30 seconds has you punching at speed, training the explosive muscles of both and arms and legs and the final 30 seconds is the power punches, which can increase power and also really gets the heart rate up.

We can use this same workout in a 10 second split as shown below:

Cycle One

10 seconds – freestyle boxing, 70-80%
10 seconds – knees high, punching out using 1,2’s as quick as you can(also called riding the bike)
10 seconds – power punches, hitting the bag as hard as you can with powerful strikes

Cycle Two

10 seconds – freestyle boxing, 70-80%
10 seconds – knees high, punching out using 1,2’s as quick as you can(also called riding the bike)
10 seconds – power punches, hitting the bag as hard as you can with powerful strikes

Cycle Three

10 seconds – freestyle boxing, 70-80%
10 seconds – knees high, punching out using 1,2’s as quick as you can(also called riding the bike)
10 seconds – power punches, hitting the bag as hard as you can with powerful strikes

So we have used the same workout but split it into 10 second intervals and used 3 cycles to get a total work time of 90 seconds and once you have reached your desired fitness level you can then add more cycles to the workout.
The next time you are in the gym, give these routines a try!