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Zach Zinn
Zach Zinn's picture
Discovering the speedbag

So, I have never really spent time with a speed bag. It turns out, I did not even properly know how to hit one. In the past, I have stood directly under the bag and tried to just keep it going, in hindsight, it kind of amazes me that I thought this is how you used one for so many years, but there you go. A little embarassing, but the heavy bag, makiwara and occasional headache bag have been the mainstays of my "hittin stuff" Karate life.

Now that I know the proper method I am -really- enjoying it.

I was curious what people think of the utility of a speedbag for applied Karate training, and whether you have any routines you'd like to share.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Zach Zinn wrote:
I was curious what people think of the utility of a speedbag for applied Karate training, and whether you have any routines you'd like to share.

I had one when I was younger, but I’ve not used one for a long time. I may look to change that though as your post reminded me of how much fun they can be! Fantastic for shoulder conditioning too which helps with punching, trapping and grappling.

I think a speedball can be a useful, and fun, bit of kit for developing shoulder endurance and mental focus. The speedbag can therefore develop useful attributes for the martial artist, but it does not permit the practise of directly applicable skills.

Punch bags, focus mitts, BOBs, Thai-pads, kick-shields, makiwara, etc all permit the direct practise of “as is” technique. The way we hit a speed bag is not how we would hit a person, but that’s not a critique of the kit. It’s just that a speed bag is a attribute development tool like weights, kettlebells, TRX, Chi Ishi, etc.

When it comes to the utility for applied karate training, I would say the speedbag is good for attribute development, but that it develops no directly applicable skill (and that’s fine because it’s not supposed to).

This article has some ideas for speedbag routines:

https://www.livestrong.com/article/287647-speed-bag-workout/

This video covers how to get going with the speedbag:

 

And we call build up to this!

 

All the best,

Iain

Zach Zinn
Zach Zinn's picture

I was experimenting with hitting it with something closer to a Karate punch, and with moving around it, slipping,manipulating it,  throwing different strikes at ceratin intervals before getting it going rhythmically again. You can use a straighter punch with the knuckles if you are willing to compromise a bit on speed (though maybe that defeatst he purpose) Next time i'm going to see if you can utilie a husband and wife hand concept with it. I was able to land a couple elbow strikes, but nothing like that guy!

Now that I know how to hit one, I think it could actually be pretty decent accuracy training, though I agree of course it does not confer directly transferable movement skills or anything like that.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Zach Zinn wrote:
I was experimenting with hitting it with something closer to a Karate punch, and with moving around it …

That sounds really interesting! I feel that, as karateka, we should used kit in a karate way. The speed ball was created by boxers and is most widely used by boxers. If you ever get around to filming how you’re using the speed ball as a karateka, I’d love to see it.

All the best,

Iain

Zach Zinn
Zach Zinn's picture

Ok here's how i've been experimenting:

A couple observations:

1) - It's hard to hit it realistically unless you pause periodically, to keep it going with any kind of rhythm you either have to do the boxing style thing with the bottom of the fist, or do kind of "downwards" seiken like I was here, and of course you will not go that fast, additionally of course I am not good at it yet anyway. I think I am starting to favor using more as a headache abg and simply moving around it more.

2) - The nature of the training - hand eye coordination - makes it easy to build a habit of putting your chin up. It might not be the biggest deal, but I was amazed watching myself that I was doing that, and noticed while doing my routine that I had consciously tell myself to tuck my chin.

Anyway, it's quite fun, and is definitely good for accuracy, beyond that i'm really not sure.

if anyone has suggestions i'm all ears!

 

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Hi Zach,

Thanks for sharing these videos!

Zach Zinn wrote:
1) - It's hard to hit it realistically unless you pause periodically, to keep it going with any kind of rhythm you either have to do the boxing style thing with the bottom of the fist, or do kind of "downwards" seiken like I was here

It’s not unusual for a given piece of kit to favour a certain kind of hitting. Slightly off topic, I’m just back off holiday and the campsite we were on had one of those games where you punch a ball and it tells you how “hard” you hit. It hangs exactly like a speed ball and the trick to impressing spectators is to hit it in the same way i.e. slightly downward. That trick was shared with me decades ago and I guess they’ve never updated the mechanism they use.

Back on track, the pauses you are taking are minimal and it also results in the bounce being not directly controlled to the same degree. This is probably better for true hand-eye coordination because you have to see where it is and hit it; as opposed to making it go where you want and then hitting it.

Zach Zinn wrote:
2) - The nature of the training - hand eye coordination - makes it easy to build a habit of putting your chin up.

Great observation! I’d not considered that issue but that makes perfect sense! They do tend be at a height where we look up at them. I guess there is a case for individuals to ensure they mount them at a useable height that still minimises this issue. If people are using communal speed bags in gyms etc then being mindful of the issue is important too.

Zach Zinn wrote:
Anyway, it's quite fun, and is definitely good for accuracy, beyond that i'm really not sure.

I do like what you are doing there. Your karate background is apparent, and I can see how such practise would be beneficial and enjoyable for karateka. This thread has also inspired me to add one to the home dojo :-)

All the best,

Iain

Zach Zinn
Zach Zinn's picture

Thanks Iain. At this point I definitely feel it's a bit better than a headache bag for accuracy and coordination, it has drawbacks, but man is it fun. Now that I have hit middle age and my middle is really growing, things that are both fun and good cardio stay at the top of my list.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Zach Zinn wrote:
Now that I have hit middle age and my middle is really growing, things that are both fun and good cardio stay at the top of my list.

That’s a good point too! Any form of exercise needs to be fun if it is going to be effective. If it’s fun, then we want to do it. That means we are way more likely to do it and hence get benefits from it.

All the best,

Iain