Kickboxing Championships Article
There Are Different Types Of Bags To Develop The Different Attributes Of Muay Thai - Learn Them All And Become A Well Rounded Fighter
Kostya Tszyu the world champion boxer says that..."To be a world champion all you need is a bag, and your brain!" This statement applies to muay thai just as much as it does boxing.
What he is talking about here is that if you have the right attitude and mental discipline you can become just as good as someone who has good sparring partners and good pad holders. But only if you train the bags the right way.
First of all you have to act like the bag is your opponent and treat it as such. Keep a good stance and guard whenever you are near the bag. When you are in between rounds move away from it out of kicking reach. This gets you into good habits right from the start and you will begin to "protect yourself at all times".
Next you will want to work on your technique. If you are a beginner you must work on this before endurance and power. You must also get your body used to impact against the bags before hitting them with full strength.
Most muay thai gyms will start a student off with hand techniques first so you want to work on a light bag because there's less pressure on your hands and joints. If you only have a heavy bag then hit it softly at first and build up the power gradually.
As your technique improves start working on your endurance so that your main focus is to last a whole round without stopping. This does not mean that you go 'hell for leather' for the whole round. It depends what you are working on.
If you are training on a heavy bag it is a bag that develops power so you make sure you are focusing on the power of each technique. If you are working the floor to ceiling ball you are training your speed so make sure you focus on the speed of your techniques.
It sounds obvious but it's amazing how many people don't know what they should be focusing on for equipment they are using. They may be hitting the heavy bag as many times as possible or smashing the floor to ceiling ball as hard as they can. At the endurance stage you are trying to last the round but you are also focusing on the skill you want to keep up for the full 3 minutes.
Power comes last in your muay thai development but if you focused on the above attributes first it should be coming naturally. Even though now you are focusing on your power you want to express your power whilst keeping to the skill needed for each bag.
What I mean is that even though you may be punching the floor to ceiling ball (which develops speed) you want to put a bit of snap into it. This may seem contradictory to what I said earlier but I don't mean you are trying to smash it. I mean that you are trying to hit the ball as fast as you can whilst being aware of the power you are generating. What happens is that you hit the ball as fast as you always have but it just travels further away than usual.
If you have done all the different stages of muay thai development like technique, endurance, speed, and power, you can now use the bags to work on any weaknesses. If you have good endurance but your power sucks just work the heavy bag for a month. If your power is good but your speed is ordinary work the floor to ceiling ball and light bags for a while.
There really is a bag for everything and that is why you can become a champion by just working the bags. One of my instructors was a muay thai kickboxing Commonwealth champion during a time when there was no one for him to train with. He took out the Commonwealth title after training only on pads and bags so it definately can be done.
Just b sure to treat the bag your training on as if it is your opponent and watch your muay thai skill improve. Most gyms make you work the bags before trying things out on an opponent so you want to be ready.
