Speed Bag Areas
The speed bag can be hit from anywhere around it, but it is easiest to view this by dividing the board into four separate areas. The front, the left side, the right side and the back. ( picture below). These four areas will become increasing important as you learn more techniques and new combinations. On most speed bags, each “bag area” will include two panels of the speed bag.
Angles of Fist Entry & Rebound Angles
Since techniques can come from all areas around the bag, the angles of your fists entering the contact zone, and the angle the bag will take in reaction to your punches, are one of the secrets to bag control. You want your fist to enter the hitting zone in the proper direction to contact the bag when it is in the correct point of the rebound. You will have to do this by timing and the sound of the bag! You can’t really see the actual point of contact. You have to trust that the bag and your fist are on the correct angle. Regardless of the direction of your punch, you want to contact the bag just after it hits the board and is tilted away from your fist. (picture below) Slight variations in your punches can alter the bags rebound.
When we talk about speed bag “contact and angle of rebound” it is easy to think of this as “one punch” and “one rebound” But the truth is Speed Bag Punching is Repetitive Punching, and each punch has a contact point and creates an angle of rebound. The key is being repetitively consistent with punch force, fist speed and contact point on the bag. Slight alterations in any of those will affect the others. In truth we are always “self adjusting” when repetitive punching, correcting slight alterations in force and contact point. In time this will happen automatically. If you are new to speed bag this may sound really confusing, however with practice you will quickly understand and learn how to adjust for slight miss-hits or the occasional wierd rebound angle. The picture below highlights that different areas and rebound angles, using a Side Single Punch (SSP). This punch hits from the Side of the bag, but the “side area” normally covers two speed bag panels and if you hit in the “center” of the side area, you will notice a different rebound angle than if you hit toward the edge of that first forward side panel or rear edge of the back side panel. Notice the blue arrows indicate the rebound angle if hit at those points. Similarly the red arrows show the different rebound angles when you hit the various margins of the “front area of the bag.”
But fear not. When you are consistently and repetitively punching correctly, the next punch will normally set the bag going in the correct angle, and it will not matter what the last rebound angle was. In fact, with some speed you will see the bag going in all kinds of angles and images, and you will still be in full control.
From here it is recommended to go to the next page: Speed Bag Rhythms