Is hitting a heavy bag bare knuckle good for conditioning

[thaiboxerken]

I did some research and found that a cleanly healed bone is stronger at the place where it did broke.

 

Concerning the calcium build-up, I found out the same info you did. I certainly don't want athritis at an early age. I'll stick with punching rag and water filled bags.

[delta1]

I just glanced through this thread for the first time, but I'll make a couple of points and hope I don't sound too much like the guy that came in halfway through a conversation.

 

Bones are an organ, they are not just these hard things that give your body shape. For instance, the white cells in your body are produced in your bones. The fastest way to get fluids into a persons system is an intraosceos infusion- through a bone, usually the tibia. Bone density is a medical fact. Talk to your doctor about it. One of the reasons the elderly tend more to fractures is less bone density due to a number of factors. Bone density is improved with diet and exercise. The more you use your bones, and the heavier the use, the stronger they will become.

 

Abuse is a different matter, and bones aren't the only things you have to worry about when striking objects. Nerves and joints can also be effected, as well as any component of the hand or foot. So use common sense and ballance.

 

Whoever said he didn't want arthritus was right on target! I do have arthritus, and it definately can put a crimp in your training regimen. I never got the concept of ballance (some would say common sense either) until later in life. I still train with a heavy bag. But now I use wraps and gloves. My bag is a 50#er, mounted on a pedistal so it can be locked in or swing. Not only a little easier on the joints, but has the advantage of moving in a lot of directions at once, giving a more realistic workout. And I guarantee that when it is swinging and bouncing all over, you are going to hit wrong occasionally! I also just put a chorded headache bag on it so it swings around at you from a different angle and path. Humbling little device! You either have to duck, slip, block, parry, or get hit each time it comes around. And often both bags are returning at once! I just don't think I can safely say I won't land a few wrong, so I protect my hands now.

 

Just a couple of thoughts. Good discussion (don't know how I missed it so long).

[KP]

the surface of the bag will make some differences.

 

Canvas can be pretty unforgiving of errors.

 

Vinyl can be really slippery.

 

Leather is the best.

 

an 80 lb bag is a good one for starters,

 

especially if you are going bare knuckle.

 

You have gotten some good advice, and

 

could alternate between bare knuckle to

 

work on technique and GRADUALLY increase

 

your Power. Then alternate with a nice pair of

 

Bag gloves so you can do full out as well.

 

Remember - the key to any conditioning is

 

moderation. it takes years to condition the body

 

parts. External callouses are not the primary goal;

 

internal strengthening is more important and takes a longer time.

 

good luck and have fun!

Heavy bag work is a must. Use all your techniques. Use a timer to work on stamina.

[Ripper]

The reason I asked why you want to build up bone density, is that I can see no good reason for doing that. What's the use?

 

For karatetraining (even full contact) you usually don't hit your knuckles on hard surfaces.

 

For self defense it also has no use when you put it against the risk you get into a fight. For that slim chance of getting in a fight conditioned knuckles is the least you have to worry about. If you are in a fight every day you might benefit a bit from it, but than you have to ask yourself why you are in a fight everyday.

 

The risks of injuries and other health problems already mentioned earlier are too high for me.

[Sasori_Te]

Karateka were more concerned with building up the weapons that they might actually have to use to defeend themselves and their family or village. Having strong dense bones and a hard (note I didn't say bulky) musculature.

 

No you probably don't need to go to the extremes that the old guys did to do what you want to do with your art. However in a real self-defense situation these measure might make some difference. It is a balance of risk for today's martial artisits. Do I want to train myself like that and possibly cause myself injury or do I want to risk having my techniques be less effective because I didn't train my body for them to be truly effective.

 

That type of training had more to do with the warrior mentality than anything else as well as the necessity of hard body conditioning training because weapons weren't allowed.

 

In short, no, you probably don't need to do that to yourself. Also, if you train CORRECTLY you minimize the chance of developing arthritis and other bone and joint realated disorders.