Do you want to develop power and strength? Do you want to have a knock out punch
? Then you'll want to work on the heavy bag.
When you enter a MMA gym you'll notice a mat and lots of heavy bags. You'll spend a good amount of time here.
The Heavy Bag
Your going to experience a lot of cardio work on the heavy bag. The bag helps develop your fitness and of course that cardiovascular system. It is unique in that you can work on technique and fitness.
Those that develop the ability to 'hammer away' on the bag, which means they penetrate deeply into the core of the bag and not just to its surface, will find their endurance increases dramatically. This will not happen overnight as those new to heavy bag workouts will tire within a relatively short period of time of performing such an exercise. But, repeated use of the heavy bag in this manner will aid in developing endurance to a great degree.
Power
Develop your power by doing daily drills on the bag. You will practice kicking and punching through the bag as you do on a board. It is hard to do this on a partner, as you'll soon lose your training partner.
Aerobic
You are going to get aerobic benefits from the power punching, but also from finesse. You can set up techniques and use a lighter touch to get a good solid cardio workout in.
Reaction Time
There are also scores of reaction drills that can be performed on heavy bags. For those not familiar with reaction drills, they are designed to develop the skill of immediately hitting an opening when such an opening presents itself.
Then, when the trainer blows a whistle, those working the bag would perform a six second burst. This process could be repeated throughout a three minute round.
Best Brands
There are the stand by bags such as Everlast, but there are also some new bags. UFC and Century are good high quality bags.