Air Training vs Bag Training

[JowGaWolf]

This is one issue for the bag training. Sometime people may over commit and always assume the target is there. I don't like to depend on my feedback from the heavy bag. What if I miss my kick in sparring?

What if my kick gets jammed or interrupted in sparring
Punching bag = 100% success in hitting target. And it's done without any interference.

 

[PhotonGuy]

This is one issue for the bag training. Sometime people may over commit and always assume the target is there. I don't like to depend on my feedback from the heavy bag. What if I miss my kick in sparring?

Exactly, that's why I think its important to do some training where you're just hitting air in addition to doing bag work. Shadow boxing is really good and also, you have to know what its like to throw a technique without hitting a solid target, otherwise if you miss you can be caught off balance.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Shadow boxing is really good and also, you have to know what its like to throw a technique without hitting a solid target, otherwise if you miss you can be caught off balance

Never thought of it that way but makes sense and would probably explain why I don't go off balance when I miss.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I'd be okay with training students with very little "air-only" practice. I wouldn't be okay with training students with very little "more than air" practice. I've seen people who trained almost exclusively with air and makiwara (the hand-held ones, which cannot be struck hard without potentially injuring the holder). Many of the students didn't really seem to understand how to deliver power and impact. They struck from too far away in application, because they weren't accustomed to targeting with distance for realistic power.

I prefer a good balance of the two. Moderated practice without resistance is useful for examining form, checking that the student is holding balance (rather than expecting the target to rebalance them), and to prepare for when you miss. Most of the practice should be done with some sort of resistance: the clapper, makiwara, focus mitts, padded shield, heavy bag, BOB, or a human partner.

 

[JR 137]

What if my kick gets jammed or interrupted in sparring
Punching bag = 100% success in hitting target. And it's done without any interference.

One would think so, but don't count on it...

 

[Flatfish]

You need to work on your stances more. You aren't rooting your kick. If you spinning kick is one that leaves the ground then you'll always be unrooted meaning your opponent will always be able to knock you of balance. If you do a spinning kick then you have to do it at the right moment when your opponent can't take advantage of you being in the air.

LOL, I need to work on everything more, but point taken. Just to clarify, i don't do any kind of jumping kicks (I'm too old and crotchety for that) and yes timing is always an issue. At least with the bag swinging I get to work on timing a little bit (with the caveat of it being way more predictable than an actual opponent). I wish I would spar more often but there's that whole work/family/freetime balance thing.

This is one issue for the bag training. Sometime people may over commit and always assume the target is there. I don't like to depend on my feedback from the heavy bag. What if I miss my kick in sparring?

Nobody said anything about depending on the bag feedback alone. I said it helps me and if I am training by myself I prefer the bag over air. It's just one of the tools. We use air, pads and other people during class. In the absence of other people (i.e. training alone) I find that the bag offers me more options than air. I can train for speed or power, I have a reference of how high I am actually kicking and if I don't have my foot aligned right (or my wrist when punching) then I get immediate feedback because it hurts like hell. Plus I can work on timing within the constraints mentioned above. Not having unlimited amounts of time for training, this works for me right now.

 

[Flatfish]

What if my kick gets jammed or interrupted in sparring
Punching bag = 100% success in hitting target. And it's done without any interference.

Yes, I would like to spar way more than I currently do because of all that. The bag helps but of course does alone not make one a great sparrer.

 

[GiYu - Todd]

I prefer a good mixture. Different people have different weaknesses, so a mix will help everyone improve some aspect.
Punching air to work on form and refine details...but only at partial power to prevent joint injury.
Heavy bags to learn to deliver power and gain wrist confidence. Only done at partial power for newbies until they can build up to hitting hard.
Then partners to put it all together with a non-stationary target.