punch bag or treadmill?

half_life_man

im trying to burn fat and give myself a toned look. i have a punch bag in my room and want to use it. jsut wondering which is better to burn fat a treadmill or punch bag?

HammerHeadGym

Punch bag, all the way. It can give you a much more varied workout.

Apart from that I pretty much hate treadmills. They wreck your kneesw in the long term and are only half as useful as running as they drag your feet back as you 'run' along meaning you only get half the workout.

Punchbag and a speed (type of skipping) rope (less than a tenner, available just about anywhere) and you'll be in fantastic shape in no time.

monosharp

man i live in a small apartment and would love to get a punchbag, what kind ? where do u hang it up ? My place is very small now mind you

JMCD

Punchbag all the way Half-life.......but wouldnt discourage running aswell...why not combine both?

Monosharp.....bags dont really take up much room as the hang vertically you will obviously need space to move around....so maybe you could get a standard bag from somewhere like argos?

Or maybe try somewhere like like this link mate

http://store.titleboxing.com/titleboxing-everlast-semi-pro-25lb-double-end-heavybag.html

Hope this helps mate.

HammerHeadGym

You could maybe hang one from the ceiling joists? Better on a concrete wall though. Have you access to an exterior wall?

Also, half life, I wouldn't say no to running but a big no to a treadmill

Try these along with the punchbags: http://www.basrutten.tv/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=B&Product_Code=WCDVD&Category_Code=DV

monosharp

Live in a large apaertment building, the walls wouldn't be the thickest. You think the noise would be ok ?

Clive

To be honest, unless you have an idea what you're doing with it a punch bag will be as boring as watching paint dry after a week, and cause more injuries than a treadmill, IMO.

celestial

monosharp, I wouldn't rush into buying a punchbag. see if you can go to a gym or somewhere and try one out there. you may not even enjoy using it and then you're left with a big piece of equipment just hanging there. Think about it first I'd say - in my opinion if you were doing martial arts/boxing training it would be a good buy but just buying it in preference to a treadmill, or when you don't do martial arts/boxing is prob not the best move. Keep up the gym, maybe try some martial arts, and then see. But tis your call of course!

pwd

if you're trying to lose weight a punchbag wouldn't be the best option imo because you need a long time to recover from impact training and so you wouldn't be able to do as much exercise from a bag alone as other ofrms of exercise and hence burn fewer calories. From a fitness perspective punchbags are useful for strengthening bones and connective tissue, which takes longer to repair and grow than muscular tissue etc.

rubadub

im trying to burn fat and give myself a toned look.

Get a set of weights and lift heavy.

FootWork

Would have to agree with Clive. Unless you know what you're doing with punchbag....it can be boring. And I've seen so many people in gyms working the bag and they are an injury waiting to happen.

Could I ask why you are limiting yourself to just a punchbag or treadmil. Do you do other forms of excercise and just want to add something new to your workout or are you just trying to burn fat from either punching or using a treadmil?

--amadeus--

Bags are not a great idea in modern flats, they're too damn heavy! Unless you are guaranteed to get a solid ceiling joist or an exterior wall it'll come down. Likewise your downstairs neighbour won't thabk you for the noise of you bouncing round teh dam thing.

A bag is a waste of time for cardio work, IMO. When I boxed the bags were for technique and the cardio work was all rope and road so if you want to burn fat those are your options. Treadies are just awful so I wouldn't bother with those either.

estebancambias

Do a kickboxing class..truly the most rewarding thing I have ever done. What they do is like a circuit, and it really benifited me.

I had a bag outside and I found it not too great to be honest, much better joining a class in my opinion. .

TheThing!

They are both good, you could also throw in some rowing machine (erg) work and even some endurance weights

cowzerp

--amadeus-- wrote: »

A bag is a waste of time for cardio work, IMO. When I boxed the bags were for technique and the cardio work was all rope and road so if you want to burn fat those are your options.

Bags are better cardio than skipping or road work!Skipping for me is only a warm up as it does not raise my heart rate past 140, bags can push it up to 170-180 also shadow boxing is for cardio and technique, bags are intense and burn lots of calories and get you fit and toned, But as said before-Bagwork done by un trained people is crap and can lead to injuries..

--amadeus--

You're obviusly way fitter than I ever was then! I hated skipping but loved working the bags, maybe it was pschcological

Most of the time I was on there I was being tutored in technique so it was practicing form (and to a lesser extent power) rather than speed but a lot of teh more experienced lads used to really hammer at the bags. Thinking about it it was probably a bit like an interval session for your arms. As you say though flailing away at a heavy bag 90 to the dozen without good form would probably wreak your hands

Irrespective of all that the best way of burning fat is to find an excercise type that you like and will stick to.

Boru.

Bag or treadmill - whatever you enjoy most is the best option. Just remember that no matter how much you train the bag, or on the treadmill if your diet - that which represents 90% of your time - isn't sorted or and at a deficit your weight loss gains will be minimal.