Heavy Punching Bag

 

Old photo with my punching bag on the left

I think I invented a new kind of pain. After work I decided to spend a few minutes on the punching bag. I not only punch but also kick and I woke up sometime after three this morning with weird pain and muscle twitching on the inside of my right leg just above the knee. I rubbed it out but it was difficult to get back to sleep.

On the other hand I've made a lot of progress since I assembled the bag. I usually hit the bag a few times a day in passing but every week or two I take time to get out the boxing gloves (12 ounce training gloves), stretch, and then really attack it with both punches and kicks, full force. I find I can really get a loud pop out of the bag. So far it's holding together.

When I was young I lacked power but I weigh more now and I lift. I've also figured out boxing technique, as opposed to the precise but restricted punching style of traditional martial arts that I learned as a child. You can generate a lot of power rolling the shoulders and rotating the torso.

Kicking was especially difficult, resuming as I did in middle age, due to lack of flexibility. I've also been working on that for the last couple of years. It's apparent that I will never regain the flexibility that I had when I was young, but I can now deliver pretty powerful kicks up to chest height. I can knock the bag over if I really put my weight behind a kick.

It's a super high intensity workout. You start sweating immediately and if you go for fifteen minutes or more you will be absolutely drenched and breathing hard so it's also cardio.