# Wall bag advice



## Domino (May 27, 2009)

Recently bought a double wall bag, filled and hung up on the wall.

Any advice with regards conditioning, techniques or simply what you fill yours with.

Im asking as mine split in 2 places after a few weeks of light/medium/heavy punching, was a canvas material, triple stitched, but i possibly over filled it with play sand. My bad.


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## bully (May 27, 2009)

Hello,

My wall bag is one of these:

http://www.woodendummies.co.uk/p-28-wing-chun-wall-bag.aspx

It seems pretty tough, a well stitched material. 3 compartments which zip up. I filled each with carrier bags filled with chickpeas, to avoid mess inside the compartments. The makers suggest maple peas, which are the little brown buggers I used to use in my pea shooter. Couldnt get any here so chose chick peas instead. 

Technique wise? God knows, I just hit it and try to plant my punch.

One thing Kevin chan told me is not to use it too much or you will hurt yourself and knacker your hands (he didnt use the word knacker ;-))
He recommended twice a week at the most, and not for too long.

HTH

Bully


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## Domino (May 27, 2009)

Really appreciate your reply and advice, thank you.


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## mook jong man (May 27, 2009)

I would take the sand out of it , sand gets compacted and goes hard as a rock . I've got mung beans in mine , they're cheap and you can get them from any indian grocery store. 

They have a good feel when you hit it , its quite firm but still have enough give in them to absorb the shock . I think almost any type of grain , peas , seeds etc would work just as well . I heard that Wong Shun Leung had ball bearings in his one.

 I think the greatest benefit of the wall bag is for your stance , as for the conditioning of the knuckles it seems to wear off on me in about two weeks .

 Meaning if I use it a couple of times a week I can punch it 400 times each hand without any abrasions , but if I don't touch it for a while my hands start to soften up and next time I use it the knuckles will start to bleed after a short time.

 I think you will mainly want to train your short range power on it , practice hitting it with palm strikes and punches with your arm in the optimum angle ( bent elbow position) with your loose fist a couple of inches from the wall bag .

 After a few of those on each hand , halve the distance the fist is held from your body , move in closer and make sure the fist is still only 1 or 2 inch from the wall bag. After some reps on each hand now bring your fist back till it is one fist distance from your chest , move in close to the wall bag , fist still 1 or 2 inches from the wall bag and practice your strike from there . 

Follow this protocol with your palm strikes as well . It might sound strange , but initially don't try to put any power in the strikes just relax as much as you can and focus on punching through and beyond the wallbag  , try to just firm the wrist on impact not tense the whole arm up . 

Any tension will provide a conduit for the force from your strike to travel back into your body which means force is wasted and not penetrating the target properly. Pay particular attention to the thighs and the shoulders being relaxed and staying sunk down in your stance .

 After you finished the close range stuff you could just finish off with a couple of hundred chain punches at medium pace with good form , concentrating on relaxing your shoulders and mentally driving those elbows forward . 

To add in a bit of speed work to it I like to do a flurry of about 3 to 5 punches on every 10th punch or so to get the heart rate up a bit.

 Oh and don't practice elbow strikes on a wall bag the force going back into your body can cause injury to your brain by shaking the brain stem.


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## Domino (May 27, 2009)

Wow, thank you, I appreciate your time and sore fingers, its all in your name. 
I have some equipment in mind and new bags on the way.
Nice sig by the way.


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## mook jong man (May 27, 2009)

Domino said:


> Wow, thank you, I appreciate your time and sore fingers, its all in your name.
> I have some equipment in mind and new bags on the way.
> Nice sig by the way.


 
Not a problem mate.


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## Tensei85 (May 29, 2009)

In mine we generally use 3 different types.

The first bag is filled with Sand
The 2nd with Mung beans
The 3rd is steal shots.

These work great! Of course as suggested sand makes a mess.

Generally as far as technique goes.

We start with palms, back of palms.

Then Fist vertical- horizontal

Then fingers (Fu Jiao)

Then wrists Ou Sau (Diu Sau)

Then horizontal chops (ngan jeung)

Elbows

And forearms.

Then we generally use Da Saam Sing with an partner to condition the calfs, forearms- inner/outer.

Thats pretty much it.


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## geezer (May 29, 2009)

Tensei85 said:


> In mine we generally use 3 different types.
> 
> The first bag is filled with Sand
> The 2nd with Mung beans
> ...



Boy that's pretty "hard-style" for WC/WT. Reminds me more of iron palm training. I tried a bit of that stuff way back around '79. To be honest, I'm glad I didn't continue. I think it can lead to trouble over the long run. Also, did you catch Mook's comment on using elbows an a hard wall bag? Be careful with that. Nowadays, I fill my bag with rice or beans. Not only does it save the joints, but if the economy gets any worse, all I need are some tortillas and I'm set.


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## Tensei85 (May 29, 2009)

Geezer,
yea thanks for the comment i just now read Mook's idea on elbow strikes. I never thought of it that way actually I'll have to take that in to great consideration. I was practicing Shaolin Iron Palm training.

I agree with the comment on rice and beans, nothing like a ghetto burrito in hard times lol.  Hopefully I'll still be able to afford hot sauce.


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## profesormental (May 30, 2009)

Greetings.

The bag I use is similar canvas material, yet on the front part it has a layer of leather (synthetic...). Before, I had one with vinyl. That way, you can condition the density of the bones and the techniques of delivering strikes without abrasions to the skin.

I have several and I fill them with rice, sand, beans or bb's. The ones that have no layer are interesting in that if you hit them wrong, you get skin bitten off. Not really worth it for me. The ones that have no leather layer I use for palms and handswords and other strikes. I don't condition them more than twice or 3 times a week.

The wall bag punches, I do a variety for a count of 1000. This was increased steadily for a while. Started with 100.

The focus is on trying to hit the wall, at a variety of stances, through the bag. My bag is pretty thick, so obviously, I don't get there. Yet the isometric pressure builds quite a nice explosive force at the end of your punches!

Nice thing, bag training is!

There is a lot more on that, though.

Hope that helps. Enjoy!

Juan M. Mercado


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## mook jong man (May 30, 2009)

You get brain shake from doing elbow strikes on the wall bag because your striking weapon is closer to your body which means there are less joints for the force to go through.

 Unlike punching or palm striking where you have the wrist , elbow , then shoulder . With an elbow strike the force goes straight up your arm , through your shoulder and up into your head . Which is exactly why it is such a devastating weapon because there are less stages for power to be lost.

I think I read it a long time ago in a Yip Chun book that it can damage your brain , because I used to do it sometimes , then I read that and I stopped it because I need every brain cell I've got .

 There would be nothing wrong with just going through the motion and just placing it there really softly. But if you are going to practice it full power I think focus mitts , Thai pads and those rectangular kick shields are the go. 

I do a few on the heavy bag every now and again , but have to be careful not to do too many or I end up with a headache because the bag is pretty heavy.


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## Domino (Jun 2, 2009)

Big thanks again for your posts, didnt realise more replies, waiting on a hanging bag and a couple of wall bags being returned.
Mook Jong dummy next


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## Domino (Jun 2, 2009)

geezer said:


> ... but if the economy gets any worse, all I need are some tortillas and I'm set.


hahaha my favourite.


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