Opinions on Reflex bags

[PaddyO'malley]

Hello my #esteemed coaching and combatant friends!

I wanted to see what your opinions on reflex bags are. I'm 100% a hobbyist these days and train at home, but I've always been curious as to where they would fall in the training routines of professional fighters, as well as if coaches have come up with clever uses to practice certain skills that would benefit in-ring performance.

I'd love to know where it falls in your routine, or if you don't use it at all. Tell me what you love about them, what you hate about them, if you like putting wigs on them and hanging out on Friday nights, and any other thoughts you have about them.

And as a disclaimer, I'm not referring to the ones with the spring at the bottom, as shown here:

This style is simply too slow IMO and doesn't have much benefit outside of maybe warming up or for a beginner learning how to keep their balance while throwing a punch.



Rather, I'm referring to those with the spring in the middle, AKA "Cobra Bag":

Here's a few things I've noticed:
-More emphasis on defense during training, as opposed to a heavy bag which doesn't force you to move out of the way or keep your hands up
-Great way to add difficulty to the "Tile Exercise" and practice proper weight transfer while striking.
-Moving around the reflex bag changes the timing, forcing you to time your shots properly.
-You quickly learn the disadvantages of being off balance and get to experience the awkwardness of throwing a lead hook at the air and standing there defenseless
-Bag hit back

I've also noticed that using a bag with a stronger spring can help you work on throwing more powerful shots, while a weaker spring can be used to help with things like endurance.


Personally, I like that it has a small footprint, doesn't require much setup, and is fairly cheap to make one yourself ($60-80). Lately it's been my favorite piece of training equipment and has helped reinvigorate my stale routine.


So anyway, reflex bag, you liiike? Or is no good?

 

[DoctorTaco]

I like them. They help to build in good habits after punching- hands come back highs
, move your head, move your feet, etc. if you’ve got 12 rounds of heavy bag work planned then I’d instead do 2 on the cobra, 8 on the heavy bag and then 2 more on the cobra to finish up.

 

[Rigg9]

I love the reflex bag, my go to when I'm beat up and on the edge of being over trained. Great cardio while working technique and hand eye coordination, would spend hours on mine when I had fractured feet or injured knees and couldn't get my road work in or as a late night second training session. My heavy bag was in the basement n shook the house so the reflex bag or jogging was always my late night release.

 

[4daLuLZ]

Helps in timing. After a few days on it, I used to notice my accuracy in sparring go up and sometimes (rarely) even achieve the holy grail of punching…….the Evander Holyfield ’Turn his head into a bobble’ with a 3-4 punch combo.

but its a very subtle effect.

 

[PaddyO'malley]

I like them. They help to build in good habits after punching- hands come back highs
, move your head, move your feet, etc. if you’ve got 12 rounds of heavy bag work planned then I’d instead do 2 on the cobra, 8 on the heavy bag and then 2 more on the cobra to finish up.

Started structuring my sessions like this. Coming back to the cobra after hitting the heavy bag helped expose some bad habits that pop up when fatigued. A few love taps to the side of the head definitely keeps you honest. Thank you for taking the time, #esteemed Coach Doctor Taco!

I love the reflex bag, my go to when I'm beat up and on the edge of being over trained. Great cardio while working technique and hand eye coordination, would spend hours on mine when I had fractured feet or injured knees and couldn't get my road work in or as a late night second training session. My heavy bag was in the basement n shook the house so the reflex bag or jogging was always my late night release.

The house shaking is exactly the reason I started training on the reflex bag to begin with lol. Didn't know it was happening until I asked my wife one day "hey can you hear when I hit the heavy bag in the garage?" and she just looked at me like I was an idiot seeking female validation for my Earth-shattering punches. Reflex bag is definitely much quieter, even after adding some springs to the heavy bag setup to dampen the vibrations. Thanks for taking the time, bud! Appreciate the input.

Helps in timing. After a few days on it, I used to notice my accuracy in sparring go up and sometimes (rarely) even achieve the holy grail of punching…….the Evander Holyfield ’Turn his head into a bobble’ with a 3-4 punch combo.

but its a very subtle effect.

haha, haven't gotten the luxury of sparring after adding the reflex bag to my home gym, but that sounds about right. When I was training at a gym, I remember the double end bag unlocking this capability as well #feelsgoodman

Very subtle effect as you mentioned (as with any training tool), but gets you to focus less on trying to blast the target with full power and more on how to simply land shots (that's not to say throwing with bad intent isn't important, of course). Comparing it with the double-end bag, seems like they're quite similar but the double end bag allows for faster combinations, whereas the Cobra bag seems better at forcing the user to move their feet and head to avoid getting whacked. Thank you for commenting, good sir!



As a general comment, I recommend anyone with a home gym and a few extra bucks to make one. I've made most of this guy's variants and settled on my own made from a threaded galvanized steel pipe, a floor flange, a 44lb Power Twister, an inflatable ball from the dollar store, scrap particle board/MDF, a crap load of electrical tape, and a pool noodle to cover the exposed metal. Cost me under $50.



Pro-tip: WD-40 makes it quiet and smooooooth.


Again, thanks for taking the time to respond, guys! Much appreciated.

 

[Kohelet]

nice toy but I would rather to waste my time on speed bag

 

[JohnPJones]

Honestly I think a double end bag does everything a reflex does but better.

 

[Sinister]

As you saw in my thread, my Son likes the one at our gym. I especially like it for kids Morse than adults. And we also did this:

 

[Koya]

Honestly I think a double end bag does everything a reflex does but better.

why so ? seems like the bag has slightly more range of motion with the cobra but I could be mistaken

 

[JohnPJones]

why so ? seems like the bag has slightly more range of motion with the cobra but I could be mistaken

Don’t really see the motion they do as being that useful. A double end overall has a larger range of motion.