The Double End Bag is Your Friend
April 15, 2009 by nopstar
Do you guys remember in Star Wars when Luke is training with the Jedi Training Remote? (did it just get geeky in here or what?) the small sphere that buzzes around and kicks his ass?
Well this is a double end bag and it’s kind like that. I’m still doing a lot of boxing; I still find it incredibly challenging and fun. It’s a nice way to supplement my MuayThai routine. I was talking to some of the guys I train MuayThai with, and one of the concerns they had about boxing was picking up boxing reflexes that would get you killed in MuayThai… You’re certainly not going to want to duck under a punch in MuayThai.
Those are all valid concerns, and to be honest when I’m at boxing, I’m boxing. I forget MuayThai and I move, I duck and weave. I find if you’re trying to hold on to your MuayThai it’ll make you a very unsuccessful boxer.
That being said, I think any Nak Muay would benefit from cleaning up one’s hands. To us our hands are just 25% of the equation, I don’t know about you but I tend to neglect them a little.
One of the first things my boxing trainer had me work on was my timing an accuracy of my hands. If you think you’ve got pretty good hands and timing, go and hit a double end bag. It’s a humbling experience to say the least. I found working the double end bag has helped my hand eye coordination and timing more then anything else.
If you have access to one, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If you gym doesn’t have one, make the case for one. Yeah it’s nice to work focus mitts, but when your on your own this tool is just simple invaluable.
Check out these guys working the bag, granted we aren’t going to slip as much as these guys, but the timing, and coordination required to strike the bags like this is something we could all benefit from. It may not look impressive… but trust me it’s quite difficult.
Actually i think it’s perfectly ok to bob and weave in Muay Thai provided you can move fast enough and also not do it too oftenly.
Bobbing and weaving, to a varying extent, have a place in Muay Thai, in my opinion. Weaving especially, since its lateral movement can be very useful. Bobbing can be a problem since you going down and a knee coming up usually equates to something you’d want to avoid. That said, I have seen it done in training by experienced people. On the other hand, I’ve also plnted my knee in someone’s face as he did it, which is a less than pleasant outcome. So bobbing is a double-edged sword, in my view. Ofcourse, the most common move from people, providing they can pull it off in terms of reading the opponent and reacting quickly enough, is the slip. Learning how and when to use them and tightening up your hands really improves your game, in my opinion.
On that note, I have recently ordered a few DVD’s on the Crazy Monkey Defense program, and was wondering if any of you were familiar with it and what your thoughts on it are. For those of you wondering what it is, they have a bunch of clips on Youtube, right here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CrazyMonkeyDefense
A lot of boxing tips and insights there, and the CM 1 hand defense was what got me into this. It looks very useful to me, so maybe you guys can use it to your advantage. I like the idea of building your game from a solid defense. Would have probably saved me a whole lot of punches to the gob when I started years ago. Anyway, I’d like to hear your opinions on this.
It looks HARD, and diffucult, but also looks Worth the Effort, Dang my gym does not have one of those bags.
oh neat, church street – we’ve fought there before.
Nop, i’m glad you mentioned your ability to separate your muay thai and your boxing. too often have I been chastised for training boxing movement while my thai boxing training picks up. harumpf, some people DO have that on/off switch between styles!
i just started working the double end bag last weekend and it definetly makes things more interesting for my workout. it has also hit me in the face almost as much as my sparring partners have.
I love the double-ended bag. If you get bored, you can start working elbows in to your combos too.
You know, a double-double-ended bag would be pretty cool, with an upper and lower bag for head and body shots. Might be necessary to have the connection between the two bags be rigid to avoid complicated elastic physics screwing everything up.
I agree, the double end is great for punches, elbows and a good teep to the face!
Ever tried working teeps on a speed bag? hilarity.
To answer svenjamin’s post, there is such a thing as a double-double-ended bag. I used to train at a boxing gym which had one. It looks a little like a snowman with the two ends connected and the body end being larger than the head end. It helps for the hook-body, hook-head as well as jab-body, jab-head combo’s. Doesn’t move as quickly as the regular double-ended bag so it’s easier to learn on.
Thanks MTDoc, after you confirmed their existence I found one pretty quickly on the internets: http://www.ringside.com/DETAIL.ASPX?ID=24687
A Muay Thai practitioner could probably work knees on the double double as well, kicks might be a bit too much.
Actually svenjain, the double-double ended bag which I used was more like the Mexican double-ended bag on the link you provided rather than the direct link on your post.