How to Hit Punchbag Without Hurting Your Hands

Exercise is an integral part of a healthy life, but it can be hard to maintain if you’re not comfortable with what you’re doing. One of the many benefits of boxing is that it’s a fun cardio workout that isn’t weight-bearing and hard on your knees like running. But what if your hands hurt while you’re training with the punchbag?

Punchbags shouldn’t hurt your hands while you’re training, so if this is the case for you, then something’s going wrong. So what do you need to change to hit a punchbag without hurting your hands? Let’s have a look.

Types of Punching Bags

There are several different types of punching bags, each designed to improve a different element of your boxing performance. For example:

• Speed bags are great for increasing shot speed
• Hanging punchbags are great for utilising punching power
• Body bags are ideal for improving shot accuracy
• Free-standing bags can be great for kicking and punching combinations

Each kind of punching bag is made with a leather or synthetic leather outer material, or skin, and filled with either cloth rags, sand or water to add weight and density to absorb the shock from your strike, although rag-filled punchbags tend to be the cheapest and most comfortable for people to hit.

Are Punchbags Worth It?

When you weigh up the price of a punchbag and the mental and physical health benefits you get from it, buying a punchbag is definitely worth it! Most decent punching bags are no more than £100, so considering that the average monthly gym membership cost in the UK is £45, it won’t take more than 3 months to see a saving. Plus, a 10 to 15-minute workout each day on a punching bag is a great cardio workout.

Cardiovascular exercise is great for your heart health as well as oxygenating your muscles and organs to feel more energised and burning calories to help you stay active and lose weight. If getting in shape is your goal, a punchbag is one of your best friends.

Finding the Right Punching Bag for Children

Punching bags make for great exercise for children as much as adults, and can teach them the importance of resilience, self-defence and incorporating exercise into daily life, so getting a kid’s punching bag is a great idea.

Free-standing bags may be the best option as kids can practise their punching technique as well as let off steam on the bags. Plus, they don’t have to be attached to the walls like a hanging bag. When choosing your kid’s punching bag, make sure it doesn’t weigh more than half their body weight so they can train comfortably as often as they like.

How to Hit a Punching Bag

Hitting a punchbag may not be as easy as you first imagine, as there is a proper technique you should adhere to to ensure you don’t hurt yourself.

Since boxing is a great cardio workout, you’ll be engaging your whole body, so when taking a fighting stance, you need to think about the position of your feet, hips, core, shoulders and arms. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart to ensure you have a stable base, with your knees slightly bent to make it easier to move more quickly.

For right-handed people, your right foot and right shoulder should be slightly behind your left, so you can gain more power in your punch when striking with your right hand. For left-handers, bring your left foot and left shoulder slightly back. This stance is known as southpaw.

In your fighting stance, make a fist with each hand and bring your fists up to cover each side of your face below the cheekbone. Twist your rear hip and shoulder (right side for right-handers and left side for left-handers) forward, rotating on the ball of your rear foot, straightening the leg slightly as you move your fist forward to strike.

The flat part of your fist between your knuckles and the next joint in your finger should be the part of your fist making contact with the bag to allow your wrist to remain stable and prevent injury. However, each punch will involve a slightly different arm movement.

Types of Punches

There are three punches in boxing:

• Jab
• Hook
• Uppercut

You should practise each strike repeatedly shadowboxing and ensure you’re happy with your movements before starting to use a punchbag to make sure you don’t hurt your hands or wrists by using the incorrect technique.

For jabs, punch directly forward, straightening your arm out to your fist is roughly in line with your shoulder. For hooks, hook your arm around in a smooth, slight semi-circular motion as if you were going to hit your opponent’s side. For uppercuts, your palm should face you as you move your fist up as if striking your opponent’s chin.

As you get more confident with your technique, you can increase the power behind each strike and try each punch in a different combination.

How to Hit Punchbag Without Hurting Your Hands

Shadowboxing is the first step when learning to box to ensure you don’t hurt yourself on the punching bag by striking it powerfully with an incorrect technique. However, the next safety precaution you should always adhere to is wearing boxing gloves every time you strike a punchbag.

Boxing gloves are designed to keep your hand in the shape of a fist, tucking in the thumb to prevent it from getting caught and injured, and wrapping tightly around your wrist to ensure it doesn’t twist uncomfortably. MMA gloves have the thumb in a different position to allow for grappling moves that you can practise on a grappling dummy, but these shouldn’t be used on punchbags. Like MMA gloves, Muay Thai gloves also differ from boxing gloves as there is less padding on the glove as a whole, but especially over the knuckles.

Boxing gloves for punching bags have a thick layer of padding across the knuckle to absorb the shock from your punch rather than sending a shockwave through your arm, hurting your joints. However, boxing gloves come in different sizes, so if your hands still hurt when wearing boxing gloves, you may need a different pair.

Hand Still Hurting in Boxing Gloves?

If your hands are still hurting when hitting a punchbag, there are a few possible reasons. If you’re a beginner and you’re not used to training hard, train more gently as you may simply be overexerting yourself and your hands need to get used to the impact. It’s normal to get carried away and use your full force, especially if you’re trying to get out negative energy, but start gently and build up power so your body gets used to your train and it becomes easier.

You should also make sure that you’re wearing hand wraps under your gloves. Hand wraps keep the small bones and tissue in place in your hand so nothing distorts when you strike the bag, preventing injuries.

If your hands still hurt, even with the right technique, hand wraps and boxing gloves, then you need a heavier pair of gloves.

How to Know What Size Boxing Gloves You Need

When choosing a pair of boxing gloves for training, your first consideration should be your weight. As your power is generated in your feet and moves through your body, your weight can greatly influence the might of your punch, so heavier people will need heavier boxing gloves. The weight of the glove is determined by the amount of padding it contains; the more padding, the more protection.

Use the following size guide to choose the right boxing gloves for you:

• 6-8 oz for people under 45 kg
• 10 – 12 oz for people weighing 46 – 68 kg
• 14 oz for people weighing 69 – 80 kg
• 16 – 18 oz gloves for people over 80 kg

If you’re in good physical health, have been boxing for a while, or your hands hurt in the lighter gloves, choose a heavier glove for your punching bag training.

Buy the Best Punchbags from Maxx Pro Boxing

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