# Practicing knees on a punching bag help



## Knives (Sep 2, 2009)

Hey all,

I've been practicing Muay Thai on my own for about a week now.  Pretty much I've been watching instructional videos then practicing on my punching bag for about 2 hours a day. 

I've been watching videos because I'm going to be moving soon and don't want to join a gym I can't stay at.  

Anyways, I've been trying to practice knees on my 100lb punching bag, but every time I throw one into the bag I feel my knee cap explode into pain.  Either I'm throwing them wrong, throwing them too hard, or my knees need to toughen up.

Whats yours all advice?


----------



## jks9199 (Sep 2, 2009)

Find a class and get a real teacher.  You need direct and personal correction and assessment.


----------



## Akira (Sep 3, 2009)

+1 on the advice above.  You can only learn so much from videos.

What kind of knees are you talking about? Step up knees or ones in the clinch?


----------



## Knives (Sep 3, 2009)

Thank you for the advice, I'll just work on my other moves for now until I make the move.

Akira- in the clinch.


----------



## bradtash (Sep 3, 2009)

hey mate,

as the others have said joining a class is the best as you may think you are doing it all right but you may miss one little thing that could be the difference between a good knee and a crap knee. i know you are moving soon, but maybe try and go to a lesson or two before you do move and get some basics and practice them. videos are not too bad but there is nothing like a real life lesson.

that said,
i am unsure as to why you are experiencing problems, where are you connecting with your knee on the bag? are you pivoting enough? i haven't had much troubles with pains to the knee so cant offer too much advice. but if technique is correct and you are spending 2 hours a day you may be going through the conditioning stage at the moment.


----------



## Akira (Sep 4, 2009)

So you want to hold the bag with both arms around it like you're hugging it with your arms about shoulder level. The important thing for now as a beginner is to get that circular motion with your hips going. A lot of beginners make the mistake of just bringing their knee straight up and driving it in. While you can get good power doing this, you'll get more using the correct technique.

To start with, get used to holding the bag like I said and making wide circles with your hips. When you feel comfortable with that, try throwing some slow easy knees. If you watch the thais throw knees in the clinch, they bring their knee back a bit first, and really drive their hip into it using that circular motion I explained.

Finally, make sure you keep your toes pointed towards the ground when you're using your knee.  That will ensure you hit with the correct part of your knee plus it makes it sharper and hurts your opponent more.

If you have the correct technique down and it's still hurting, you just need to condition your knees.  Regularly practicing your knees on the bag will do this, and when you get better at them, try ending your bag sessions with 1 set of 50 knees on the heavy bag.

I hope that makes sense, don't go too hard until you've got the technique down first.  Don't be too impatient, you'll benefit more and get better quicker if you go slowly and really feel what you're doing.


----------



## Wagonmancer (Sep 4, 2009)

I find slowing it down to help a lot.  Breakdown each step and movement your taking and make sure its correct, don't move on until you feel comfortable with what you've already done. Then slowly put it together. If your "assuming" anything such as how far away from the target you are, how far your stepping, etc. it can totally throw off what your doing.


----------



## TheWellWisher (Sep 6, 2009)

Not trying to sound patronising as I'm only a beginner myself but I seriously wouldn't advise learning off videos, I've looked at a few over the internet and some of them were completely wrong.


----------



## mariaclara (Sep 10, 2009)

Agree. videos won't do. I tried that too. But videos can't  show you what you're doing right/wrong.

When you're self-learning, you don't really see if you're doing it right/wrong.

Only a qualified, experienced teacher/instructor, watching you, can.

He can show you how to do it.  

While you're doing the knees, he can see what is right/wrong. 
he can then tell/show you what you're doing right/wrong.

Like jks9199 said, get a real teacher.


> Find a class and get a real teacher.  You need direct and personal correction and assessment.





TheWellWisher said:


> Not trying to sound patronising as I'm only a beginner myself but I seriously wouldn't advise learning off videos, I've looked at a few over the internet and some of them were completely wrong.


----------



## Knives (Sep 11, 2009)

Thank you Akira for that in depth walkthrough  and thank you everyone else for your help.

My friend took me to his old gym so I could get a days lesson in.  It definitely helped having a master there with me.  And yes I am damn well in the conditioning phase.  Allllll bruised up and it feels so good :boing2:


----------



## TheWellWisher (Sep 17, 2009)

Knives said:


> Thank you Akira for that in depth walkthrough  and thank you everyone else for your help.
> 
> My friend took me to his old gym so I could get a days lesson in. It definitely helped having a master there with me. And yes I am damn well in the conditioning phase. Allllll bruised up and it feels so good :boing2:


 
Good man


----------

