How can I improve my backside punches?

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  • anzurobert
    Speed Bag Trainee
    • Jun 2022
    • 1

    How can I improve my backside punches?

    I'm looking for advice/tips on how to hit the bag better from the back. Backside strikes are where I make the most mistakes. In particular, reverse double. Do I only need to practice my backside for a month? I now prefer to attack from the front because I make fewer mistakes there. Thank you for your suggestions!
  • dad
    Speed Bag Guru
    • Dec 2018
    • 476

    #2
    There are very few who have achieved any level of success in any endeavor without Practice, Practice, and when you've done all that then all you have to do is Practice.
    This was the most help for me. Speed Bag Lessons with Speedy Tommy T - YouTube

    Comment

    • KLunker18
      Member
      • Feb 2021
      • 37

      #3
      Check out the Chapter on Echo Patterns in the SpeedBag Bible. Try and make the same sounds on the back as you do on the front! Keep alternating the doubles until you get it. The Tommy T vid is legit too!!

      Comment

      • JordonC2
        Member
        • Jul 2021
        • 42

        #4
        Short of practice.
        Step in closer to the bag.

        Comment

        • Speedbag
          Author of the Speed Bag Bible, founder of speedbagcentral.com

          • Feb 2006
          • 7109

          #5
          Originally posted by anzurobert View Post
          I'm looking for advice/tips on how to hit the bag better from the back. Backside strikes are where I make the most mistakes. In particular, reverse double. Do I only need to practice my backside for a month? I now prefer to attack from the front because I make fewer mistakes there. Thank you for your suggestions!
          Hey Anzurobert.

          Welcome to the forum. As a first post, you picked a great topic, because reverse punching (hitting the back side of the bag) is almost always difficult for beginners. The obvious reason is because you are pretty much "blind" to the contact point. We hit and control the speed bag with our ears (by sound) but the eyes do help from the front of the bag in at least seeing the front area and giving cues on where to put the fist (or elbow). Not so from behind. As with most things with the speed bag there is a much deeper reason for why and how certain things work, or don't work. The obvious answer is "you can't see the back of the bag" and the obvious fix is "just practice more..." Both are helpful suggestions but it won't help if you don't understand a few things, and you continually practice "the wrong thing" because of it. That can take more time to "unlearn" and then get it right. So I'll try to explain "the rest of the story".

          Several things happen when you hit "the back of the bag", positionally, for your hand to get behind the bag the forearm is "slightly" extend - but this position can change depending on "how the fist go there and how it says there." By that I mean if you "pass it though the bag" front to back, the elbow is usually up, especially IF you only hit behind the bag once, the return to the front. But IF you keep hitting repetitively from behind the bag in triplet rhythm, that can often let the elbow or arm drop a bit, changing the height of the fist and possible the angle of your swing into the bag. So if your problem is mostly "hitting repetitively from the back" I suggest you start with your (1) arm position and (2) swinging angle. When reverse punching with a single fist Are you standing directly in front of the bag with fist hitting directly (and straight) into the center of the "reverse area" of the bag,... OR are you leaning a bit t o the side hitting the rear area. ?? Those usually create two different contact points on the reverse area, and the will directly change the rebound angle. I show that in the picture below.

          Click image for larger version  Name:	Bagarea_Rear & Side Color.jpg Views:	1 Size:	64.8 KB ID:	128719


          Notice the RED arrows. These show five (5) potential contact points for a Reverse Single Punch. Each creates a different rebound angle. AND it is also difficult to see exactly where your fist is hitting on bag (on the belly? slightly above or below the belly).. this can also effect rebound angle. For beginners I find they are normally inconsistent on the exact angle of contact (red arrow) and fist position on the bag. Both tend to "Wander around" and it takes a while (practice) to find YOUR sweet spot consistently. Consistently contacting the SAME angle and bag area helps make it "Normal". (* Notice the blue arrows added to the SIDE area of the bag. the same hold true for that. And finally notice how close a Reverse Single Punch (RSP)-RED, can hit to the Side panel of the bag, and within a half inch or so it becomes more of a Side Single Punch (SSP).

          So for your single fist Reverse Single Punching, practice "consistency" of body and arm position, as well as strive for a consistent rebound Angle. At that point, try purposely moving you hand to the different arrow points and notice how it feels, and the bag angle. do this with consistent force and you can start moving your fist easily around that back area and feel comfortable from any angle. Do that with both hands.

          Now for the Reverse Double Punch and Reverse First Roll, you will probably find it easier to keep a body-front position. to keep the arms/fists close together extended behind the bag. I find the easiest way to help people learn Double Punching (ANY double punch) is make ONE motion into the bag, rather than two separate fist movements. There just isn't enough time between the beats (1 rebound) to make two separate movements. SO.. if you are going to make only ONE movement to both fists into the bag the secret is finding the correct distance to hold the fists apart. The hard part of this is that distance changes "slightly" depending on the speed of your punching and bag size. (Remember: large bags are slower than smaller bags, and the fists naturally move faster on smaller faster bags, and the distance between both fists slightly changes. The key to making that work is "timing", which to me actually means keep the repetitive force and speed equal. For Reverse Double Punching (RDP) I suggest doing them repetitive behind the bag, alternating the lead, So the fist order is: L-R ' ' ' R-L ' ' ' ... repeat. You might start this by doing Three (3) Reverse Single Punches with (say) the Left fist and then start with a L-R double punch... looking like L ' ' ' L ' ' ' L ' ' ' L-R ' ' ' R-L ' ' ' L-R.... The single punches help establish the bag movement and speed to get the timing right. It is very difficult for a beginner to step up a non-moving bag and start doing multi-part techniques. I find it much easier to get the bag going first, and then do the new move.

          For a RDP after passing both first through from front-to-back, be sure to maintain the same distance between the fists behind the bag. To get better at that, I also suggest reversing the order, do a few RDP fist, then pass to the Front, So RDP ' ' FDP.

          I'll end (finally...) by telling you that EVERY fist combination you can do IN FRONT of the bag, you can also do from behind. I hope this helps understand the rear area a bit more and put some purpose to your practice. When you get a chance - possibly post a video so we can see you doing this.
          Last edited by Speedbag; 09-14-2022, 11:38 PM.
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          • KLunker18
            Member
            • Feb 2021
            • 37

            #6
            ...what Alan said!!! lol.

            Also on reverse double the second hand is usually a tad higher coming back towards you than the lead fist.
            Alan mentions this on his DVD!!

            Lets see a video of your reverse doubles!

            Comment

            • Speedbag
              Author of the Speed Bag Bible, founder of speedbagcentral.com

              • Feb 2006
              • 7109

              #7
              Originally posted by KLunker18 View Post
              ...what Alan said!!! lol.

              Also on reverse double the second hand is usually a tad higher coming back towards you than the lead fist.
              Alan mentions this on his DVD!!
              Thanks! Can't belive I forgot that part. #Kahnfused.
              Speed Bag

              Put a little Rhythm in YOUR workout!
              *attendee: Every SB gathering so far!
              The Quest Continues...
              Hoping for another Gathering...


              sigpic

              The Art of the Bag

              Comment

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