risks of using a punch bag

[GTF]

are there any risks with using punch bags such as damage to wrists or knuckls and aurthritus in later life or any thing along those lines.

[ninjanurse]

Arthritis in the hands and knuckles can develop if you are not careful. In the good ol days we didn't have a clue and some of us are suffering now!

[Aodhan]

are there any risks with using punch bags such as damage to wrists or knuckls and aurthritus in later life or any thing along those lines.

Arthritis is a hereditary disease. Anything you do won't give you arthritis. If you DO get arthritis, then it can make it worse, but it won't give you arthritis in and of itself.

Risks include dislocating/broken wrist, dislocated/broken fingers or knuckles, broken forearms, calluses/scar tissue buildup on the knuckles.

Most of the above are due to misuse or mishitting the bag, or hitting a hard bag with a lot of force before your body and technique are used to it.

Aodhan

[GTF]

so what should i avoid doing technique wise and should i only use it for a short time at first and break myself in before going all out. also after using it my knuckes are a bit sore but i asume this is normal for the first time that i have used one but i have been told that punch bags are good for conditioning the fists.

[Aodhan]

so what should i avoid doing technique wise and should i only use it for a short time at first and break myself in before going all out. also after using it my knuckes are a bit sore but i asume this is normal for the first time that i have used one but i have been told that punch bags are good for conditioning the fists.

You can use any technique you want on the bag, the only thing I would suggest is that you not use full power when you do, until you know how the bag will feel/react. Once you get used to how it feels, how far it moves, etc. you can increase the power you are using.

And yeah, most heavy bags have pretty rough covers, they will abrade your knuckles until you get the skin built up, either through scar tissue or calluses.

Aodhan

[lapulid2]

from what i remember when i was young and taking golden glove boxing classes at the Y, our instructors would emphasize the fact that bag work was the most taxing and rigorous to your joints and muscles. we would estimate how long a particular fight would last in reality and work out for no longer than that amount of time. for example, if your on the bag for an hour straight , sure it will build up stamina but at what expense. your joints will deteriorate faster, and your life in the ring (if you were a career boxer) would be shortened greatly. so bag work is good but limit yourself and be very careful to avoid uppercutting the lower more packed in portion of the bag, this is where most wrist fractures happen.

[GTF]

from what i remember when i was young and taking golden glove boxing classes at the Y, our instructors would emphasize the fact that bag work was the most taxing and rigorous to your joints and muscles. we would estimate how long a particular fight would last in reality and work out for no longer than that amount of time. for example, if your on the bag for an hour straight , sure it will build up stamina but at what expense. your joints will deteriorate faster, and your life in the ring (if you were a career boxer) would be shortened greatly. so bag work is good but limit yourself and be very careful to avoid uppercutting the lower more packed in portion of the bag, this is where most wrist fractures happen.

are there any ways to strenghten your wrists first before doing alot of bag work to reduce the risks, i think that there are some joint strenghtening techniques in Kung-fu which is what i study so maybe i should talk to my instructer about it. also are you saying that using a punch bag will inevitably cause damage or just if over or incorrectly done.

p.s you mentioned that when you did boxing you only used a bag for the length of a realistic fight so how long is that in boxing.

p.p.s i have no intention of having a career of doing tourniments and things while i am young, i want a skill i can keep up with for pretty much the rest of my life like many people do for example my instructors instructor who is 78.

p.p.p.s i am talking about a free standing back not a hanging one(wave master XXL) if thats of any use.

[lapulid2]

i was only 12 when boxing so i would not use me at that age as an example as my lack of punching power at that age protected me in a certain way. we did mostly 20 rep sets of jabs with each arm, then crosses with each arm. the hanging bag was a great way to learn how to move around your opponent but i dont doubt you can do the same with a standing bag. our coach would then let us throw haymakers at the bag (again taking into account that we could not generate enough arm speed to hurt ourselves) at the end of the session just for fun. now, for adults i would estimate bag time to be around half an hour if you consider the average fight is 10 rounds at 3 minutes a piece. to be honest i dont feel you should be that worried about the long term effects on your joints unless youre pounding hard all day and ignore your pain or fatigue, remember pain is your bodys way of telling you it needs to rest.

p.s. to strengthen your wrists try forearm curls, with medium to light weight use a weight lifting bench to place your forearm parallel to the ground, let your hand hang off the edge with the palm facing up, let the dumbell rest on your fingers and roll it toward you at the same time bending your wrist up. remember your palm is facing up and the dumbell is parallel to the ground. this is a conditioning excersize more so than strength building so be careful no to go too heavy. we did this for baseball in highschool and it helped us generate more bat speed. good luck!

[ninjanurse]

Arthritis is a hereditary disease. Anything you do won't give you arthritis. If you DO get arthritis, then it can make it worse, but it won't give you arthritis in and of itself.

Aodhan

Injury induced arthritis is a direct result of what you do to your joints. It is not hereditary. Improper technique, repetitive motion, and acute injury can all cause minute or large scale cartilidge damage which results in cartilidge loss and bone on bone contact.

Inflammatory arthirits (rhuematoid) can be hereditary and/or brought on by infection or other medical condition. The inflammation causes cartilidge death and deformity which results in bone on bone contact and/or deformed joints.

[White Warlock]

yeppers, the nurse is correct.