The Famed Speed Bag

Probably the most popular of all sights in boxing training, is the use of the speed bag. Indeed for myself, I remember watching the Rocky films in the early days of my passion growing for boxing, and when the training montages came on, I always got excited to see Rocky hit the speed bag. For a beginner, hitting the speed bag is much more difficult than it’s made to look on TV, but with practice and patience, you can get fairly good at in a reasonable time period.

The majority of great champions, such as Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr., regularly used the speed bag. It improves your timing, hand-eye co-ordination, accuracy and of course, your speed. It also builds some upper arm endurance. These are, no doubt, all traits you want to have in order to gain an advantage over your opponent when you’re inside the ring.

Setting It Up

Before getting started, you may need to adjust the height of the bag so that it sits at about eye level. Stand in a square stance, as opposed to standing on the side like you would in a boxing stance. The most important aim is to get into a stable rhythm, hitting the bag in the same central everywhere otherwise it will go all over the place. In order to do this, you will need to hit the bag slowly at first to get used to it and slowly establish a stable pattern, or rhythm. When you hit the speed ball, it will go back, then forward and back again, and it is at this point when you strike it again. And after it rebounds 3 times again, you hit it again and the cycle continues. Whilst hitting the bag, keep your hands close to the bag, so that you can control your accuracy and the force you use, to avoid making it go all over the place. As you hit the bag, keep the motions of your hands in a small circular motion.

Building Up

Hitting the bag for a long period with one hand is good for building endurance in the arms, and this is what I personally prefer to do. You can switch hands regularly though, as the point is to make sure that  you maintain the best possible speed that you can. When switching, at first, it’s best to hit the bag twice with one hand then switch and do the same. Hitting it one time with each hand consecutively can be quite difficult at first.  I’d recommend maybe even hitting it with just one hand and getting your rhythm first that way. The fancy stuff can come later.

Routines

The speed bag should be preferably used for a minimum of six rounds.

Many fighters like to continuously switch hands, however I’m under the belief that it is much more beneficial from a physical standpoint, it’s better to use the same hand for each minute (or longer if you can), to help build some durability in the one arm.

World light-heavyweight champion Bob Foster of the USA in training for his fight

Final Note – Are They Doing It?

Remember, champions always do more than the opponents, and this same thing applies when hitting the speed bag. Do it as much as you can. Don’t skip out on building your speed and timing. Every great champion was able to utilise these components of their game. Freddie Roach once said to me, if there was one trait he thought most valuable in a fighter it was his speed. While most of it comes naturally, the speed bag is one  tool you can use to build up this aspect of your game.