531 - (FREE TO READ) Mailbox / Videos: Bare knuckle / Heavy bag work

D from Serbia shares his heavy bag work sessions and progression since last year.

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Many thanks to D, a reader from Serbia, who is currently a full time student and also trains at when he can at Srba Cvijetic’s “SAMAS” gym over there.

Here are some excerpts from email exchanges that we’ve had about a few aspects of bag work and the resulting ideas that flow from it.

D’s interest is mainly boxing, and MMA, to complement his kickboxing, whereas my only input is based purely around self defence ideas, so it’s always interesting to share info suggestions that can have some carry over use.

The oldest emails between us and video are posted first in order of receipt and writing, with D’s later video showing his progression as well as his training session content and thoughts.

Video shared by Email:

D - “Jeth, I haven't opportunity to record a long video, when I record i will
send you, to see if there is some improvement 😁”

(Jeth - чет, 26. дец 2024. у 16:06 <info@forcenecessary.co.uk> је написао/ла:

Hi D,
I hope this email finds you and the family well?

We have some holiday time here for Christmas, so no coaching etc, I have
some time to catch up on a few things. One was to look at your bagwork
video again from a perspective of how we train here as opposed to
sport/martial arts etc - just self defence.

This is really nice work Djordje, especially as you're not wearing
gloves/wraps which allows a lot of bad habits to be hidden and smoothed
out when punching, this means your strikes are structurally good.
The bag is not swinging around which means that the punches are
penetrating the bag as they should too.
Your speed is excellent as you have a nice relaxed/ loose posture.

Maybe a couple of things to try:
a) In boxing, being mobile on the toes is essential. In self defence
being on the toes can be very risky if the surface is uneven or slippery
(water, oily substances, even blood). Try occasionally repeating the combinations and footwork, with a deliberate flat footed step to keep the centre of gravity a bit lower and to have the ability to avoid slips.
Any boxing coach will be horrified by this advice but it is for the
outside of the ring specifically, and this is seldom considered.

b) The 1,1/1,2/1,2,1 combination to head and body with closing footwork
is good. Can you see/feel that your punches drop down after they hit the
bag? This potentially costs you some speed as the hand punches, then
drops down and then returns back up to be thrown again.
Play around with throwing the punch and returning it straight back
without dropping, so it is ready to be thrown again and shave a
millisecond off you next strike, thus making your punching combinations
faster.
Having a low, loose guard enables you to be mobile but this is a trade
off for protection of the head and body. Playing with having the other
hand covering the head while punching allows more defence potential
while striking. Again not allowing the punch to drop before being thrown
again will help also with potential defence.

Thanks for sending me this video - really good work!

All the best, J)

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“26/12/2024 16:18

Hello my friend, thanks for watching video from other perspective.

I'm mostly grounded on my left (front) foot and i have some problems when its come to sparring with boxers, because they are so quick and light on their feet. When it comes to spar with mma fighters or kickboxers, i have problem with toughness.I'm working on pendulum step (ussr boxing) to be lighter when i need to be, but also i'm trying to train 1-2 times a week my grounding (horse stance, bag work with no movement and hard punches).

My defence is not good, but im trying to feel the space and distance. Srba is perfect example of man who totally understand the distance. He often changes level of guard, stance, angles. But he is master, I’m just a beginner in world of fight and martial arts :D

I will send you more videos when i record it, now i have good phone for recording. D”

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19/02/25

“Jeth,

I just recorded an end of training on bag.

Heavy bag is not good for hands, especially for bare hands, but i was curious how it will look without gloves.

Before that i do:

3x3min rope jumping(1min rest)

Warm up

3x3min shadow boxing

7-10x3min heavy bag with 16oz gloves

This type of training helped me a lot in terms of movement and understanding distance and rhythm 😀

Best regards my dear friend!”

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Thanks D,

this is looking great - you’re punches are on point, still nice and relaxed but disciplined, sharp and the trajectory is really efficient now. Your footwork with hooks is also good. Footwork in general is great too.

If you don’t mind D, I’ll add some general thoughts for other readers here , especially those newer to training:

This is a good conservative application of bareknuckle for a gloved trainee, as we really need to balance conditioning but also preserve our hands at all costs, we have only so many years of blank cheques at the injury bank until, all of a sudden, our line of credit gets cut - ha!

D protects his hands with gloved work (it’s also a rather important part of boxing/kick boxing training after all!) and then assigns a later portion of a session to bare knuckle for conditioning.

This is how all people should be training if they want to use their sport discipline in the outside world as self defence with a reduced risk of hand injury.

If this is neglected, you are indoctrinating the body to throw punches in what effectively is a “giving a thumbs up” configuration with your fists. This is mitigated by using MMA gloves or use old school bag gloves (or even work gloves) that still protect at a lesser level but allow the thumb to reinforce the fist structure better.

There are many variables at play here, not just types of people, but also the fact that no two heavy bags are alike either - some can be like sandbags, so be cautious with your hand health - it is your main self defence weapon!

D’s program is advanced and is good for his higher level of experience as he’s an experienced kick boxer, if you’re new to bag work and reading this, please start slowly! Hit at well below full power and limit session length to no more than 10 mins before gradually building up, and that’s for GLOVED TRAINING.

Many advocate that gloved training on the bag should be spaced, say, 3 times throughout the week maximum, and that’s for more advanced trainees like D, beginners should do less to start with, and ramp it up based on feel. No two people are ever the same in terms of recuperation and various other attributes. The level of demand from program design should also be considered.

It’s also often advised to allow monthly time off from heavy bag work for recuperation of soft, connective tissue and bone. Some say a week or so, maybe more if you feel you need it.

There are many other ways of conditioning the hands, such as partner punching (not just beating them ha! but rather controlled use of impactive drills and training) as well as padwork, shadow boxing and of course, specialised hand and forearm conditioning work.

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D, thanks so much for sharing this info with me and the other “One In One Journal” readers, really great progress - Hvala Brate!

Jeth