Master the Art of Speed Bag Training For Boxing

If you’ve ever tried speed bag training and were unsuccessful, then you already know how difficult it can be. As far as boxing training techniques go, this one might be the hardest to get used to. But by consistently providing yourself a speed bag workout and learning how to approach your training in the right way, you’ll be able to make substantial progress very quickly.

The first step in the process is accepting that you have to begin slowly. You can’t walk up to a one of these bags, start wailing away at it and expect to see results. As far as boxing training drills goes, this one has an extended learning curve and you must start all the way at the beginning.

In a somewhat relaxed boxing stance standing under the bag, hit it once with the outside edge of your fist. Now watch how the speed bag moves after being hit, a key component so successful speed bag training is learning the rhythm and motion of the bag itself.

After you hit it, the bag should hit off the back wall, bounce forward and hit off the front wall and bounce back again. That three bounce period is where you’re going to begin your speed bag workout. It amounts to how much time you have to line up your next strike and get down your own rhythm that matches the bag’s.

Your boxing training techniques for this speed bag workout are therefore to hit the bag once with one of your hands, to let it bounce three times, and then to hit it again with your other hand, repeating the process continually.

Once again, it’s important to stress that you have to start slowly- slower than even feels natural. But humor me in this process, and build up to a faster pace or else you won’t learn. As you gradually progress up in pace and can maintain a consistent cadence, you’re ready to move to the next step.

As with all boxing training drills you have to pick up the pace and intensity. The three-bounce cadence is nothing but a learning tool. Now your objective is to hit the speed bag after just one bounce. That means you strike the bag with one hand, the bag bounces off the back wall and you strike the bag with your other hand.

Of course you can hit the bag with the same hand two, three or more times in a row, but the point is you’re hitting the bag after only one bounce. Once you can maintain a fast pace with the one-bounce rhythm you’ve been successful at speed bag training, and you can begin working in more difficult techniques.