Double end bags are really underrated and I have even witnessed that people, who train boxing, haven’t even touched a double end bag in their life. And I have seen it in couple of countries. With that double end bag benefits us in so many ways and definitely this training should be done more. Let’s start with one of the most important benefits.
1. Punching Technique
Punching technique is simply vital for boxing. With that you may not always find a partner who will practice focus mitts or spar with you. So how will you improve your punching technique and do jabs, cross, hooks, uppercuts? Sure you can do shadow boxing but it won’t give you any resistance. There is only one place which you can accomplish this task and it is the double end bag training. Doing these with boxing gloves and hand wraps will also give you a serious advantage. It is the perfect environment to get ready for sparring and you will also improve your technique with your regular equipment.
There are boxing gloves that are excellent for double end bags and these have ALL safety features and incredible cover materials. If you are interested in doing this training then check out these amazing gloves and their features. You can even do punching bag training or pad work with these.
2. Precision, Timing and Rhythm
I don’t know whether you have seen video of Manny Pacquiao hitting double end bag or not but this level of control definitely needs lots of practice. If you are a beginner make the ropes of the bag tight. So it won’t have much freedom and you can control it easier. With that you also need to predict where the bag goes and hit it accordingly. Just imagine that you try punching sparring partner who moves constantly. For punching them you need to have timing and accuracy at the same time. And double end bag is an incredible tool that can make you ready for this.
Double end bags are also used for keeping the rhythm which is essential for boxing. Boxers tend to do spend speed bag for keeping hands up all the time and double end bags are also used for the same purpose.
3. Hand Eye Coordination
In order to hit the double end bag properly you need a good form and you should also have hand eye coordination. At first mediocre eye hand coordination will be enough however once you get better with controlling the bag you will loosen these ropes. Then you will simply need to have very good hand eye coordination. If you don’t have it, you may not even land a second punch properly or you can even miss the punch. With that if you move forward step by step (loosen the ropes little by little as you get better at it) you won’t have any issues with hitting the bag and your hand and eye will work in harmony.
4. Footwork
When we hit the speed bag We have little space. Even if you have very advanced punching skills and can punch the tiniest speed bag in triplet rhythm you can do little footwork. You can also get lazy and forget doing footwork in punching bag session. It happened to me and I also know that it happened lots of people who train with it. And I am sure it happened many of you. These two bags simply don’t provide much about footwork. With that double end bag seriously offers a lot. When you punch the double end bag it can move in many directions especially if the ropes are loose. So you will need to get to a position for punching properly. And this is an incredible opportunity for you to improve your footwork.
5. Physical Benefits
When you punch, you use all the muscles in your body. The punch starts with your foot and ends with your hand. In the process you also rotate your hips to achieve maximum power. You use all your muscles in every training type which include punching. So you will use them in double training as well. With that I could not find any decent researches about how many calories you can burn during the training. However I found out that boxing forum members and people, who contributed in calorie forums (caloriecount), burn around 300 calories per 30 minutes session. Double end bag won’t give too much resistance however calories burned during the training is quite high and the reason is that you do lots of footwork.
6. Improve Defense
You hit speed bag and it does not hit you bag. You punch heavy bag and it also does not hit you back however double end bags will. After you punch it can come at you and you should dodge or block it with your boxing gloves. And this will happen really fast. It can hit your face before you know it. With that when you do it over and over again it will surely improve your defense skills and reflexes.
7. Focus
When something possibly can hit your face you will surely be more careful and more focused. Well at least I know I do 😉
Conclusive Thoughts
In my opinion this training type is really underrated. It has amazing benefits including sharpening your boxing skills and improving reflexes. You can even practice punching techniques against resistance. These make a double end bag truly an amazing tool. Also you can do defense, dodge and block the bag. You can do the footwork and it is really challenging while you try punching it. With that, it has also physical benefits. Obviously this training type is amazing so why is it underrated and why don’t some boxing gyms even have it? First of all these bags don’t have any good advertisement. Secondly, we always see in movies which boxers train with heavy bag or speed bag but I rarely see double end bag training. Of course I can’t say that movies don’t have it so people don’t do it. However if people see it more and know its benefits, certainly it will be more popular.
Double end bag benefits us in so many ways and I seriously think that more people should do it. If you think of getting a double end bag and get these amazing benefits then definitely check out these best double end bags and their features. These quality bags have better durability and have amazing feedback from forums. I also had trained with one of these and I am pretty satisfied with my both defense and attack improvement. I hope you enjoyed reading and if I missed any benefits of it or if you have anything to share please leave a comment below.
Hey, some great advice here Furkan. I hope that with this post that it will give double end bags some much needed exposure. They sound like a great product that a boxer can use.
I had never heard of this type of training. So it was very much appreciated. You have given great tips here on how to get the most from them.
Will you be putting up a review of some of these bags soon.
These are truly great for boxing training even these are used widely used, double end bags are not used as much as speed and heavy bags. However these bags definitely should be used more.
I just wrote a reviews of best double end bags. You can check from that link. I will also put a link on this post in these following days.
I learn more and more about boxing when I visit this site. I respect the sport more now. I learned how much more there is to training. Like using this bag is so beneficial but also there is a science to this game.
Man double end bag is really underrated and I am really glad that you learnt something 😉
I’ve really been interested in getting into boxing, but I’m just a beginner and have no experience. Would you recommend a double end bag for beginner’s? Thanks!
Everyone can benefit from a double end bag. Beginners can have a really hard time in the beginning but it is a place that you can pretty much practice anything including defensive, head movements as well. So yeah you should definitely include it in your training routine.