Thai Kickboxing Technique Article
It's Essential For Your Muay Thai Development To Work The Heavy Bag...Find Out How Here
The heavy bag is seen lining the walls of most muay thai gyms and for good reason...it is one of the most effective pieces of equipment used for muay thai practice.
You can practice almost any muay thai technique against the heavy bag and with full power. Some techniques practiced with a partner holding the pads (renowned as the most effective type of muay thai training) have to be pulled back in their power for fear of hurting the pad holder. If you don't have anyone to practice with then heavy bag training is perfect.
Because most heavy bags these days are full length from head to toe they can be kicked with any range kick to all body target areas. Some techniques, like leg kicks, are hard to do against the thai pads with full power. If you were using the kicking shield you could do leg kicks fine but elbows and punches aren't as good.
Against the heavy bag you can do kicks, punches, knees, and elbows. It really is a versatile bag. When I first went out to buy a bag the shop owner tried to convince me to get a smaller bag first and work up to the heavy bag. I knew that to do the techniques I wanted to do I would have to get a heavy bag.
To practice muay thai on the heavy bag you have to treat it like an opponent just like all other pieces of equipment. If you reach out and stop it swinging with your hands you are not training yourself to react like a thai boxer...you are just hitting a bag to get fit.
I see muay thai students, both beginner and advanced, being slack with the way they approach their training on all equipment. I don't mean that they're not putting in enough effort. I mean that they don't keep, their guard up, they look away in between combo's, stop the bag swinging with their hands...stuff like that.
One thing you can do to greatly improve your muay thai technique and fighting spirit is to act like there is an opponent in front of you whenever your working the bags, pads, and in shadow sparring. Act like the bag could hit you back at any minute.
Specifically with the heavy bag you should focus on quality not quantity. It is a power bag so you should focus on power techniques. Hit it hard every time you throw something.
In a lot of Thai gyms you see at least one heavy bag tied to a pole or outside corner of the ring. This is to stop the bag swinging so that you can hit it as hard as you can every time without fear that it will swing away and make you chase it.
I have my heavy bag suspended but tied with rope to the wall so that the swing is minimal. It has a bit of give but does not swing away.
As I said before the heavy bag can be struck with pretty much anything so go out and try everything. If you are a beginner though just stick to the techniques that you have been shown that week and perfect them one at a time.
If you are just starting out in muay thai but want to get serious and don't have a partner to hold the thai pads then a heavy bag is the perfect tool to get good whilst training at home.
