My weekly progess thread.

[tjgonz]

Through with week one, man I love hitting the bag.
I'm gaining more stamina in everything I do now it seems.
Thought I'd keep track of my progression through weekly videos.
WEEK 1
Also want to review some products soon & show a cheap setup can be upgraded easily & still be affordable for beginners.
My current setup:
$50 - cheap Everlast frame & platform [with two 20 pound weights on top]
$20 - cagesideMMA heavy duty swivel [made by TITLE Boxing]
$19 - cagesideMMA leather 5x8 X-small speed bag [all sizes available]

[Speedbag]

Through with week one, man I love hitting the bag.
I'm gaining more stamina in everything I do now it seems.
Thought I'd keep track of my progression through weekly videos.
WEEK 1

Also want to review some products soon & show a cheap setup can be upgraded easily & still be affordable for beginners.
My current setup:
$50 - cheap Everlast frame & platform [with two 20 pound weights on top]
$20 - cagesideMMA heavy duty swivel [made by TITLE Boxing]
$19 - cagesideMMA leather 5x8 X-small speed bag [all sizes available]

Very nice Video for one week. Perhaps I can offer a few insights. To make it easier for you (and others) I will put the video link in this post. As a true beginner it will be helpful for you and others to follow. Please do not take any comments or criticisms negatively. I will comment as if I were there in the room with you and have made some pictures for you from frame captures.

First, I see you are doing several techniques: Front Circle Punch (FCP) Front Straight Punch (FSP) Reverse Fist Rolling (R-Roll) Front Double Punch (FDP) Outward-Single Elbow Strike (O-SES) and the Downward-Single Elbow Strike (D-SES). Also an attempted "spin" move.

Swing motion: Your swinging/punching motion appears to be dominated by shoulder movements. Notice sequence: :42 - :52 and watch your up/down arm pumping motions. Often your fist drops down out of the screen. I suggest this is not necessary. You can do all of those with a circling from the elbow mostly, and very little shoulder movement. I think it is much more efficient to let the shoulder hold the upper arm "up" and stead, but let most of the actual punching motions come from the elbow. This will also make linking much easier as noted below.

Holding the shoulders steady will also help eliminate another potential problem I see, which is "reaching behind the bag". I see on most of your attempts to go behind the bag you drop your hand down and "reach behind" the bag. The frame capture below to the left with 4 pictures, illustrate this:

In all 4 pictures with the right arm, the white arrow under the "T" and the pink dot on the wire are constant and always stay in the same area, making them great reference points. Now notice your shoulder and especially your elbow (yellow dot) in relation to them. In pic 1 your fist contact point is a bit late in the rebound for the bag is angled a bit toward you at contact, but the elbow position is OK. At this point you should be able to simply extent your fist straight out "thru the bag" with very little change in arm position, but look at your elbow and shoulder in Frame 3 & 4. The "reaching" is really accentuated when you compare your elbow (yellow dot) to the wall wire (pink dot) in Frame 4. In Pic 1 they are clearly separated and in Frame 4 they are almost aligned.
Also notice the White arrow in Frame 1 is aligned with your elbow and in Frame 4 it is aligned with your shoulder. That is in result to your leaning/reaching behind, and you do that fairly consistently.

The second Picture below (middle with 2 pics) shows the same reaching with the left arm. Notice the relations between the elbow and the reference points on the wall. Particularly the yellow dot on the point of your right elbow, and how far it has gone past the pink dot on the wire to make contact.

I would suggest trying to keep the elbow and shoulder positions relatively constant position during linking. This will make it more efficient and help with your bag contact.

Bag Contact Your bag contact is very consistent with a true beginner, hitting all over the bag. Sometimes above the center line, sometimes below. From the front you are hitting mostly "downward" sometimes glazing the fist down the front surface, sometimes making a bit stronger contact but the result is a bag speed that is a bit inconsistent, causing you to hit late or early in the next rebound and your contact point is all over as a result. It is hard to link "thru" the bag if your hand is above the belly, and that could be causing you to "drop it down and under" to change sides.
You hit a bit late on the RSP most of the time, and I think this is due to the arm dropping down and reaching behind the bag, which take too much time (milliseconds) but still makes it late. Note in Pic 3 (far right), how high your hand is above the bag, also notice the bag angle. Your hand should already be making contact at this point, and when it hits a bit later the bag is straight under the swivel. Of course that will work, but it is really a bit late in the rebound and over time will slow you down. You really want to hit the bag when it is a lot closer to the board.

If I was there, I would have you get in the ready position, extend your arm through the bag (straight) and do a practice exercise starting from the Reverse Punch Position. Do 5 RSP, link to front for ONE FCP, then back to 5 RSP. It looks like this:

RSPx5 ' ' FCP ' ' RSPx5...etc. Change arms.

You "lean" just a bit toward the arm that is behind the bag. But just a bit, and the leaning should not change your elbow position.

The reason for this is to get you more comfortable with punching from the reverse position. I have found it easier for people to get comfortable with reverse punching and linking when starting from behind. It is always easier linking from Reverse to Front, then Front to Behind, and doing a lot of Reverse single punching can help. It also helps you get comfortable with the body and arm positions needed for hitting behind the bag. Most people hit a LOT from the front and only occasionally, or rarely from the back, and they never really get comfortable with it. I would nip that in the bud now if you plan on doing a lot of the stuff you see others doing from all around the bag, and it will also help when you start focusing on the side punching movements, (which are similiar to reverse).

I would also have you start trying Reverse Double Punching (RDP) and Reverse Fist Rolling (R-Roll). Do them without the bag first, and also notice that the Reverse Fist Rolling position has the fists rolling more "next" to each other rather than directly over each other.

For the Elbows, I would suggest looking at your set-up position for each. Your fist appears to up too high for the outward elbow strike. I like it down closer to the ear, not raised up as you are doing. Again that is very often seen in beginners who swing mostly from the shoulder. Also allow the fist of each arm to extend a bit and let the bag hit it on the next rebound, making it a "double elbow" or elbow-fist technique. I think you did it accidently a time or two in this clip so I think you can do it pretty quickly.

Good work,Tgonz. Keep working! I hope the above helps you. It is often hard to see what may need correcting while you're doing it.

[tjgonz]

First off thanks so much Alan, that lesson was probably the most useful gift I'll receive this holiday, thanks for taking the time
"Your swinging/punching motion appears to be dominated by shoulder movements."
I had a feeling I was making plenty more work for myself, that really hit it on the head..I seriously would have hated to continue progressing this way lol.
"You hit a bit late on the RSP most of the time, and I think this is due to the arm dropping down and reaching behind the bag"
That is also something I just wasn't sure what my problem was.
"Your fist appears to up too high for the outward elbow strike."
Again making more work for myself!

I'm so grateful for the private lesson Alan, I'm the first of my family & friends that is in love with baggin..so it's nice to have support here!
I'm gonna use everything here and come back to it all this week, hopefully have many improvements on the next video. Maybe one day members here might learn a move or two from me, hopefully not a "spin" attempt though lol..
Thanks,
TJ Gonz

[novaspeedbagger]

Bag on!

Great Job TJ! keep on baggin and welcome to the forum!

[tjgonz]

Great Job TJ! keep on baggin and welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the love Nova, glad to be here!

[tjgonz]

I was a little unrealistic making this a weekly video thread..think this will be MONTHLY PROGRESS lol. Here's my first month of speedbaggin progress. I still have a problem with excessive shoulder movement for some reason..I can stop it for a little but once I get further into a session it goes out the window. I think I moved to a small bag way too soon and am having more success with a large bag right now while I work on my accuracy. All and all I'm happy with my progress and I am still in love with the bag! Thanks to everyone for the love : ]]

[southtexaskevin]

Nice man, me being new to this also, can't give you any tips, but the vets have that covered. But I can learn from you, it seems some of the videos of people ripping the bag are hard for me to pick up on caus they're going so fast, keep it up man

[tjgonz]

Nice man, me being new to this also, can't give you any tips, but the vets have that covered. But I can learn from you, it seems some of the videos of people ripping the bag are hard for me to pick up on caus they're going so fast, keep it up man

I'm glad Kev! It's funny like that, I learned allot the first weeks from everyone but the slow style videos I could pick apart & see what moves they were doing. Now after almost a month and some weeks I can name moves and rewind videos of the advanced guys & TRY to mimic them. JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I REACHED MY POTENTIAL WITH THE LAST VIDEO SOMETHING CLICKED, LITERALLY THE NEXT DAY I WAS HITTING ON ANOTHER LEVEL THAN THE DAY BEFORE. SO STICK WITH IT YOU'RE GONNA HAVE MASS AMOUNTS OF FUN VERY SOON. I'LL HAVE THE NEW VIDEO UP TODAY & YOU CAN SEE FOR YOURSELF : ]]

left a comment on u-tube anyway keep at it the more time you put in the bigger the smile ;-)...ralph btw i need to put more time on the bag...

Ventanakaz THANKS FOR THE LOVE, IM HAVING SO MUCH FUN ALREADY..BAGGER FOR LIFE NOW : ]]

[tjgonz]

Here's my latest..last video on the cheap everlast platform

[southtexaskevin]

Nice man, makes me.want to hit my bag haha.... I don't know the exsct terms, guess "bible style" would be it, but looks real technical to me, I've been on more of a boxing style, just straight front punches trying to rip the bag. I want to, and have tried some more technical punching.... I miss my bag

[tjgonz]

Thanks Kev! Yeah I thought I just wanted to rip into the bag my first couple times but you'll get interested in 'tricks and moves' over time I promise.
I'm sorry for your loss, I wanted to send you the vinyl everlast in my vids but I just found out it has a slow leak and is gonna have to be pumped up every morning now
Definitely check craigslist I see bags for $10 every now and then..maybe ask around here in the classifieds, I know the locals would love to help a fellow speedbagger. Take care bro!

[tjgonz]

Got the new setup up and running.
Ordered from walmart.com & received a free flat spot and nice chip in my board.

[chip towards back of board..the rubber stripping was hanging off also.]
I cant help but think jim carrey is now working for fedex

Im not complaining, very please with the improvement in board bounce..I didnt care for the swivel it came with, it was heavy duty but seemed a little too loose and clunky. I threw my cagesidemma deluxe swivel [made by title] back on and am in love again.