Heavy bag training good for cardio?

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daedae171
daedae171 Posts: 247 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
On most cardio days, for me, I tend to head outside and put in boxing/kickboxing rounds on my freestanding heavy bag. The way I do it is I start off with simple stretching(who wouldn't stretch before any workout?), followed by five 2 minute rounds of warming up my arms and legs(1 round = 1 limb to warm up + last round doing half speed combinations to get your range going), and then five 5 minute rounds of going to war on the bag, full force punches and kicks and combinations with 1:00 to 1:30 rests in between rounds. After that, I finish it off with 10 burpees and 7 back and forth 15-20 yard sprints. How beneficial is all of that to my cardio?

Replies

  • LazSommer
    LazSommer Posts: 1,851 Member
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    try it for a few weeks and go for a run, see how you do.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    LazSommer wrote: »
    try it for a few weeks and go for a run, see how you do.

    OP needs to go for a run today as well, for comparison!
  • mnbcxtghh
    mnbcxtghh Posts: 9 Member
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    Kickboxing is great for cardio. Try doing burpees, planks, sit-ups or pushup on the rest periods between rounds.instead of after.
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,209 Member
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    What is your purpose of doing cardio? For general conditioning, boxing is great, but if you're trying to develop endurance for a long-distance activity.. like a half marathon, for example.. boxing probably won't be enough. For fat reduction, zero cardio is needed.
    daedae171 wrote: »
    The way I do it is I start off with simple stretching(who wouldn't stretch before any workout?)

    Dynamic stretching (moving) is good, but i'd avoid static stretches (holding), because it relaxes muscles and stretches connective tissue - not usually a good idea before exercise. :+1:
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,619 Member
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    Most people who try boxing, will gas out if they went 3 minutes straight, so your endurance and fitness increase quickly if you consistently box. Even more so if you kickbox. But endurance is different for each sport/activity. A runner may not be that good at rowing and a boxer may not be that good at running.
    That said, I have lots of clients box with me for 20 minutes on average and they are gassed by that time. Many tell me their cardio fitness has improved.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • sarahearra
    sarahearra Posts: 27 Member
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    For context, running is not my thing. I average about a 12 minute mile with walk/run intervals. My heart rate levels and calories burned are pretty much the same for my one hour boxing class or if I go on a 1 hour run. So if you can keep your heart rate up, it can be very good cardio. One common boxing warm-up that is great for cardio is jump rope, usually done in a few short intervals.
  • daedae171
    daedae171 Posts: 247 Member
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    Cherimoose wrote: »
    What is your purpose of doing cardio? For general conditioning, boxing is great, but if you're trying to develop endurance for a long-distance activity.. like a half marathon, for example.. boxing probably won't be enough. For fat reduction, zero cardio is needed.
    daedae171 wrote: »
    The way I do it is I start off with simple stretching(who wouldn't stretch before any workout?)

    Dynamic stretching (moving) is good, but i'd avoid static stretches (holding), because it relaxes muscles and stretches connective tissue - not usually a good idea before exercise. :+1:

    My overall purpose for cardio is to give myself as much endurance as possible, because I might want to go into some kind of competition someday that requires me to be in the best shape, cardio-wise.
  • daedae171
    daedae171 Posts: 247 Member
    edited August 2016
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    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Most people who try boxing, will gas out if they went 3 minutes straight, so your endurance and fitness increase quickly if you consistently box. Even more so if you kickbox. But endurance is different for each sport/activity. A runner may not be that good at rowing and a boxer may not be that good at running.
    That said, I have lots of clients box with me for 20 minutes on average and they are gassed by that time. Many tell me their cardio fitness has improved.

    The thing is, the more I've done this same routine, the longer I could keep going through the workout, even with the sprints, every time I come back to it. So my endurance is vastly improving. I try to replicate the workout like how an MMA fight would go down(Any fighter would admit that training for a 5 round fight is difficult.). But I don't train ground n pound enough and I probably should more often to push myself even harder.
  • daedae171
    daedae171 Posts: 247 Member
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    Oops, accidentally quoted myself. Haha I'm still trying to figure this app out.

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