A speed bag is the smaller and faster counterpart to the the heavy bag and a good addition to your boxing kit. Great for adding variety to your boxing workouts and improving your speed and rhythm
Techniques for using a speed bag
No need to use boxing gloves with the speed bag; you can just use it bare handed or with wraps. The basic technique for using the speed bag involves hitting the bag, letting it hit the back of the board, then hit the front, then hit the back again. So it hits the board three times total then you hit it again as it comes back. When you are starting out with this technique the side of the fist is generally used.
Once you have practiced a bit there are a few more advanced techniques you can try on the bag. You can alternate your hands doing the basic technique with the side of each fist.
Once you’ve got the alternating technique down, you can introduce hitting with the front of your fist. This technique also changes the direction of the bag with each hit. Still using the three hit timing, you can:
- start by hitting with the side of your right fist, moving the bag to right and back diagonally, then
- using the front of your left fist hit the bag back on the same trajectory, next
- use the side of your left fist to intercept the bag and redirect it to the back and left diagonally, finally
- hit the bag with the front of your right fist,
- repeat from step 1
This technique is great for hand-eye coordination and improving your proprioception. It is difficult at first but it is really cool when you get it going. From here on there many other advanced techniques that you can try out.
If you are interested in trying out a speed bag, check out a good value option here. Be aware that you might need to set up a board as well so you can attach the bag. You also check out the other boxing products we have chosen as part of our boxing kit.