Wouldn't hitting a heavy bag be shock training?

Wouldn't hitting a heavy bag be shock training for the upper body?

I tried to search google to answer that question but didn't really find any supporting information.

I don't see why it wouldn't be.

What do you mean by shock training? It is reactive training for the shoulders and arms, and certainly impact conditioning for the hands and wrists.

Like depth drops.

It seems similar. I use it to teach people to continue accelerating their strike when they make contact with whatever they are hitting similar to how a deck squat jump teaches you to continue accelerating your legs.

By the way, if you are looking for a depth drop for the arms you could put your hands on two chairs and jump off of them with your hands.

Be careful if you do that, don't use a super hard surface. A thick and dense exercise mat would be good, but you don't want to do that on concrete. It's easy to fracture your wristbones. If you are very careful and build up impact slowly you can do some crazy stuff, but it isn't necessary.

PHILIP said:

By the way, if you are looking for a depth drop for the arms you could put your hands on two chairs and jump off of them with your hands.

I'm not really looking to do a depth drop for the arms (at the moment), just wondering if the heavy bag would be in same category.

Good call Slizzardman! I can't remember the exact definition of shock training. I am not huge on names but I feel like I should remember this as I just read about it this week. I think it had something to do with eccentrics in definition. Like I said, you could call it twinkies for me. If it works it is what it is.

Hitting the heavy bag with full power does increase strength in specific movement, but for every shock method the gravity is the key. You dont have that kind of movement with full gravity in vertical direction when you hit a bag in the horizontal position. Only if you kick bag after you free fall from the top to the ground is maybe similar, but this will be weird move, with risk of injuries. Stick with classics well known methods if you want shock training.

Wouldn't hitting a heavy bag be shock training for the upper body?

Yes.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

Wouldn't hitting a heavy bag be shock training for the upper body?

Yes.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Depends on direction we want to classified the termin "shock" !

The direction of force is irrelevant. The essential nature of the stimulus is the joint being required to absorb rapidly accelerating force. Of course bag work is several orders of magnitude less intense bodyweight plyo work. But that is a distinction of scale rather than definition.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Very true! Besides, no matter what direction you are punching, if you're hitting with the knuckles (obviously a backfist does not count here) the wrist and hand are going to be absorbing the force in more or less the same way so that part really is irrelevant.

The gravity isn't important in this instance, the primary direction of deceleration is important. We aren't trying to fall on a bag, we are talking about literally punching or kicking a hanging bag. For the bodyweight stuff gravity is absolutely everything because that's what you have to decelerate against upon landing.

Coach Sommer said:

The direction of force is irrelevant. The essential nature of the stimulus is the joint being required to absorb rapidly accelerating force. Of course bag work is several orders of magnitude less intense bodyweight plyo work. But that is a distinction of scale rather than definition.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I am not talking about direction of force, i am talking about term "shock" for joints and muscles, sorry not express my self correct, it is true there is a force for joints to absorb. Similiarity ends here. Working on the bag have more different primary purposes, then working only to shock the joints. Working on the bag and depth drops are not the same tools in a term of shock method, but depth drops is.

slizzardman wrote

We aren't trying to fall on a bag, we are talking about literally punching or kicking a hanging bag. For the bodyweight stuff gravity is absolutely everything because that's what you have to decelerate against upon landing.

Exactly