It looks easy enough.
For years, before every major match-up we’ve seen boxers strike the speed bag with utter ease. It’s either one hand over and over again or a smooth rotation back and forth between left and right jabs. It can’t be that hard, can it?
The bag is of adequate size and doesn’t have that much room to go very far. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find a rhythm and keep that little red bag moving with authority. Well, at least that’s kind of what I thought.
Truth be told, I’ve never boxed in my life. Would you risk getting this money maker messed up with a right hook? I didn’t think so. But again, it didn’t seem like it would take too long to figure it out. Sure, I didn’t expect to whap that thing around like a champ, but I was pretty sure after a little tutorial I could get it going pretty good.
Paul Gaffney, the head trainer at the recently opened Title Boxing Club, was the lucky one who got to teach me.
Now Gaffney may put off a tough guy look with all his tattoos, but he’s one cool dude – unless you’re someone who signs up to be across from him in the octagon – and in that case I’d run, hide or play dead.
We talked about the height of the bag, which you want equal to your opponent’s head, and the best place to stand. He hit it a few times, gave me a couple tips and it was time to see what my boxing skills were made of. Just like I thought – not much.
The good news is that I hit it; the not so good news is that the consistency just wasn’t there. It was more like hit it once, reset and hit it again and just with my right. When I tried to introduce the left, it was usually a punch that in all likelihood would have missed its mark.
After a little time, I got pretty decent with my right and started to hit the bag with some power, but there was no way I could use it for what it was meant – speed.
Let’s just say these hands are better equipped for typing fast on a keyboard than hitting a little red bag on a swivel.
