Speed Bag Training Secrets
Hone Your Speed & Precision
If you have ever tried to train with a speed bag, you know that it’s a lot harder than it looks. Without someone giving you pointers, training with a speed bag can cause hours and hours of frustration. I’m going to be honest, I never could get the hang of it until I saw Scott break it down while I was on the set of this video shoot.
How To Pick Locks. (Who Needs Keys?)
You may find this shocking, but picking open a standard "tumbler" lock, (like the one on your front door), is pretty damn easy when you know how it's done.
And in a "meltdown" survival situation, (once the smash-n-grab crowd has stolen everything not tied-down), the food and water and secure shelter will all be behind locked doors, (which explains why Special Forces are often trained in lock picking... and why they carry a set of lock pics with them).
It's a lot of fun learning this skill, (it doesn't take long)... and kinda nice to help out that buddy locked out of his house after the wife discovered what really happened on that "no money down" real estate seminar in Vegas.
Breaking It Down
To keep the video short and to the point, I had to cut out a clip where he was really going to town on the speed bag. Regardless, I can assure you that he has definitely got some serious skills. As Scott explained in the video, there are a few important things to keep in mind when training with a speed bag:
- You don’t make full punches with a speed bag. That’s what a heavy bag is for. This is not a strength exercise, it’s meant to develop speed, rhythm, and hand-eye coordination. So don’t kill it, just let your fist roll over the bag.
- Deflate the bag a bit when you are just starting out. A fully inflated speed bag comes back at you much faster and will bounce around much more, so don’t make yourself suffer, just let a little air out. Your speed bag skills will improve faster that way.
- Be sure you are striking the speed bag on the lettering.
How Does This Help With Self-Defense?
You may be asking yourself, “What does a speed bag have to do with self-defense?” Well, as your self-defense skills get more and more advanced, you will want to train on a moving target so you can further develop your hand-eye coordination.
Being able to reliably hit vulnerable targets on your opponent’s body is absolutely crucial in self-defense, so if you can’t land your attacks you are at a serious disadvantage.
But there’s another reason I’m sharing this video with you… Okay, let’s face it, being able to work a speed bag is just damn impressive, especially when your buddies try it out and end up frustrated, cursing, and looking like fools.
So, if your gym has a speed bag, try it out the next time you are there, or pick one up from your local sporting goods store.
Great video, brings back a lot of memories from my boxing days, I can tell you from experience he is right, less is more, in fact if you get over zealous, you can get a nasty cut on your hand as I have done on a few occasions.
Keep Up The Good Work,
Joe Breen
I love training in all activity like martial art ,boxing. I can not run run anymore .But I still train.
Good tip,thanks!!!!
thanks for the tip though i won’t use it,as always i appeciate them.
Most people forget or dont know that regular work with the speed bag develops the muscle of the shoulders and if you work the bag as a regular part of your workout your hands will automatically start to stay up higher and longer when you fight and therefore your head is better protected. All good fighters need to know how to use the speed bag and to jump rope, if a fighter doesn’t he will have no footwork and no defense. – RJ
OK. IT IS NECESSARY TO HAVE A TRAINING BEFORE YOU TAKE A FINAL SHOW DOWN. ME NICE INSTRUCTION AND GOOD SUPERVISION IS NEEDED FOR TRAINING. KEEP UP A GOOD WORK SIR.
i love the speed bag tho i don’t use it anymore,brings back memories,when i was 16-17 yrs. i trained for hrs. every day (i am 62 now )
It is a lot off exhilerating fun working the speed bag with or without an audience
74 yrs old and use speed bag every day. for min of 15 minutes. always loved it. great to keep hand/eye sharp for an older working sports TV cameraman.
The speed bag is practically useless to develop fighting skills and only good for showing off. Get a punching bag if you want to develop real hand eye coordination, movement, and speed. You can even kick them for a real challenge! Caution: Punching bags hit back if you don’t counter!!!
uhhh, he left out the key element in hitting the bag. I could never work a speed bag, one day at golds Im watching this dude just tear it up. He looked super mean so I was a little nervous to bother him, but at the end of the day Im a pretty tough dude myself and i just said hey man, you think you can teach me to do that? He looked at me and said I dont know, can you count to two? of course I said yes. So I went over and in less than 3 minutes I was working that speed bag. it was awesome! The key to working a speed bag is simply timing the hits with a two count. in your head or out loud, 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,2. thats it! do it slow at first 1…2 1…2 1…2 and work your way up to 12 12 12 12 12 12 12. try that and you will be doing it in under 5 minutes. That was 15 years ago, and until recently I still trained with that guy. he showed me how to fight, I showed him how to shoot and fight with knives…
I’m glad someone finally broke it down for me. I have never been able to keep a rhythm going on one of those
Looks great for cardio training I will try this at the gym this weekend making sure I get the good rythm correct.
Dude had some serious rhythm tagging that bag. You can tell he was tagging it pretty good just by the sound, when the video gets to the end. I’d hate to be his speedbag.
Always used a heavy bag–think I’ll get a speed bag now. It looks intriguing, and at 61, not many things intrigue me anymore…
I really injoy these tips. Dont have a good signal where im at.
But I watch them when I can. Thanks alot for your unselfish personality.keep it coming.
THANKS FOR THE TIP. ALL I KNOW IS THAT I HAVE TRIED HITTING A SPEED-BAG BEFORE AND CAN’T WORK IT WORTH A SQUAT
Keep sending more videos man I watch everysingle one
I really enjoy your emails !
Scott owns that speed bag no doubt about it.Good solid input from someone who obviously knows what he is talking about.
Thanks for the reminder course. Haven’t done a speed bag in many years but intend to start again and this will help.
Thank you for all your emails. I really appreciate your useful self-defense tips. Keep up the good work.
Not bad but I had someone video my workout on my Speed Bag yesterday and the bag was moving so fast the camera could pick up nothing but a “Blurr” of Black!!! Nice instructional! Keep em coming Bob!
Archangel***
10/16/2014
Good video. Wish I had this years ago.
Thanks for the very informative materials which you have been sharing with us, Bob. Excellent,as always. Kind Regards. rod.
In addition to developing eye-hand coordination, does working with a speed ball also develop the upper arms? What if you have tendonitis in one of your wrists and shoulder, should you use the speed ball gently for physical therapy? Thank you so much, Bob, for these videos. I am d learning quite a lot!
Back when I was a boy about 15, my father was a boxing coach and I became “pretty good” on the speed bag, but that was 66 years ago, now I think I need some practice, LOL !!!!
These are the fighting techniques that I love the most. Thank you for teaching them to me.
Great information to know. Thank you
Good information thank you.
I’m impressed.
Very Cool great exercise for coordination.
I really appreciate the information, now I know
Thank you for the lesson. Very much appreciated!
I read a good comment from Ralph Jaschke. Recently many fighters have dropped speed bag training feeling that it is not relevant to their fight conditioning. Why did Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhhammad Ali, Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Robinson do speed bag training? Why did Eddie Futch, Emmanuel Stewart and Angelo Dundee have their fighters work the speed bag? Let’s examine that.
I had a boxing coach, Mike Lewis, who didn’t think the speed bag was important. However, my first coach, Johnny Broadway, felt it was a staple exercize. I can tell you from experience that there is nothing that gives you shoulder and arm conditioning like ending a hard session of training by spending your last two or three rounds on that speed bag. It makes your shoulders burn. It makes you have to dig deep and muster up some grit.
It definitely improves hand/eye coordination and rhythm. Ray Robinson could basically dance around the speed bag and never loose him rhythm. Ray Leanord was the same, as was Willie Pep, Ali, Joe Frazier and others. Every one of those fighters had great reflexes, perfect rhythm and razor sharp coordination.
I know here at TRS we are seeking to end fights quickly, so what does it matter how coordinated we are, how good our rhythm is, or how much stamina we have in our shoulders? Here is why. A boxer enters the ring knowing why he is there. He and his opponent have agreed to a contest that will be conducted under rules and regulations. They put their bodies in peek conditioning to go for several rounds. But what we DONT understand is that in the hectic, confusing, chaotic moments that a fight unexpectedly breaks out your adrenaline spikes, your heart races..next thing you know its only been a few seconds and you are totally exhausted! The techniques taught by TRS instructors like Paul Vunak, Glen Boodry, Dale Comstock, and others increases your chances greatly at ending a fight, and ending it early. However, the better condition you can put your body in, the more you increase the odds of surviving the physical demands those few seconds of action will put on your body. So, why not take advantage of this valuable lesson and use a training tool that legendary fighters have been using for over a century?
Yours truly,
Will
Very helpful in regards to the air and
the best area to hit the bag and get the rythem!
Thanks for sharing! I enjoy learning new skills.
Yes, I’ve always enjoyed the fact the average braggart can’t do a thing with a speed bag. But it really is great cardio exercise.
Thank you for your video and how to have better control. 3 tours in Iraq but the 3rd I guess was pushing it so a lot of things changed for me. I’m sure you know what I mean. But having control has brought more enjoyment to my life now then frustrating it’s nice to get up and have confendence then just a routine. I encourage any more Marines or service men and women you need a confendence builder you need to watch and do this thank you so much.
Good teaching for rhythm and eye and hand cordination super demo thanks
Nice! Pointers on a subject that probably confuses a lot of us-me for one! I always understood the rythym thing but didn’t know about the air pressure-now back to the bag armed with a little more information! Thank you, guys!!!
Thats a training exercise thanks.
They can be tricky to get used to and Scott does a great job in the video. Some people think they are just for boxers but like you say, they are perfect to improve hand eye co-ordination for any sport or purpose.
I enjoy your article I have a bad back and would like to see articles fighting I could do
I’ve used a few of you’re very effective street moves in the past 2months of receiving you’re articles and video’s dangerous,swift,deadly if executed. Properly,.ty
Cool. It’s go to no especially if you e never tried one. ?
#42 BEST ANSWER! Take it from a world champion! Speed bag training develops your defensive muscles once you are adept enough with it to turn it into an effective workout!
Great, I use a speed bag all the time only once in awhile getting s rthythm going. Thanks for the tips, I’ll start using them tomorrow.
This blog post really speaks to me. Thank you!
Thank you for the lesson ????