The Airshields, The Pads and The Bag

Most martial arts schools are (unsurprisingly) filled with things to hit.  It’s what we do.  We hit stuff.  So it follows logically that the kids should hit stuff too, right?  Right.

Like anything we teach, we want to make sure we convey it with quality.  Of course we want kids to hit the punching bags but we want them to hit the punching bags well.  Foremost, this means delivering a strong strike without injuring themselves.

Wait… you can get hurt hitting a punching bag?  Sure enough.  If you’ve never thrown a punch in your life and you huck a hard right at the bag, chances are pretty good you’ll tweak your wrist on impact.  Throw a few dozen more and you might scuff up your knuckles pretty good or tweak out your shoulder if you’re really unlucky.

The point of all this is that if there are going to be heavy bags hanging around then the kids (by nature of being curious) will hit them.  It is in my best interest as a teacher to show them how to deliver power safely.  That was the lesson of the day.  Happy (safe and powerful) hitting.

Also, keep your hands up.