Stress Relief: Go Punch Something!

Have you ever been sitting in a meeting and thought, "Man, that guy needs a good punch in the head!" Well, obviously following up with that thought during the meeting would change the mood of the meeting, probably defeating the meetings overall purpose, whatever that might be.

Most of the people that go to the gym begin doing their new fitness routines for esthetic reasons. They either want to lose weight, add some muscle or both. But right away they begin to realize that after they go to the gym they just feel better. This is partly because self-esteem is improved immediately upon working out, according to studies. But the primary reason is working out is great stress relief.

A classic example of my clients and stress relief is one woman, we'll call her Lisa, that was finding a hard time fitting in her workouts because the amount of work she was doing. Lisa told me that she was going to have to take a break from our training sessions because she needed to focus on work for a while. She said there was too much for her to do. I said OK. So she focused on work.

About three weeks went by before I saw Lisa again. She had quite a story to tell me. It seems after working and not working out, she became exceedingly stressed out. She went and saw her psychiatrist and they discussed what was going on. After a few sessions with the psychiatrist, they both realized that she was without her primary stress outlet: fitness. Her psychiatrist recommended she get back to the gym. Now she began her training sessions anew, focusing now not just on the esthetics but taking care of all her stress relief at the same time.

Not everyone is able to go through the eye-opening experience that Lisa had, but everyone should know that fitness and working out is amazing for stress relief. I have found even further stress relief can be found by making some of a fitness routine into a striking workout.

Striking workouts involve the use of the heavy bag, or stationary water-bag, and either punching routines, kicking routines or both. Before starting a striking routine some basics in both punching and kicking are a good idea. For the sake of this article I am going to stick with punching routines.

Basic Points to Remember for Punching Routine:

1. All punches should start from the side of the head. This is correct posture for fighting as well as these drills.

2. Do not roll the wrist. When punching, your wrist and elbow should make a straight line and contact should be made with the flat part of the fist. Rolling the wrist occurs when the strike is higher up on the hand, and the whole fist rolls towards the body, spraining the wrist. Keep your wrist tight on point of contact and focus on each punch.

3. Breath. You ever hear boxers when they are punching? Each punch they make a strong exhalation. This is not only to add some power to the punch (which it does) but it also reminds them to breath. Trust me, new punchers forget to breath all the time, they get light headed, etc. Not fun. So, remember to breath.

4. Put a face on the bag. OK, this one isn't really about correct form. I've just found that most of my clients enjoy focusing a face of the person that is a causing them stress. Who was conducting that meeting? Your boss? Put his/her face on the bag. Not exactly politically correct but, for the purposes of stress relief, the practice of putting a face on the bag is great.

Punching Drills

1. Power-speed-freestyle combo:
This drill typically is done as a 3-5 minute round, but 3-5 minutes is a LIFETIME if you are new to punching for stress relief. So, begin with a minute, minute and a half round. This drill works best if you have someone else to help you and call out, keeping time for you. It can work just fine by yourself.

The drill consists of either doing power punches, speed punches, or simply freestyle. Power punches are just punch the bag as hard as possible. These are just a jab and a cross, 1-2 combos. All power. Speed consists of punching as fast as possible, also 1-2 combo format. Just 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, as fast as possible. Freestyle is any combination that the puncher wants. Double jab, just cross, 1-2, 1-2-3, elbows (watch the scrapes on the elbows!), whatever the puncher wants to do. Freestyle is preparatory or recovery usually. Cycle between freestyle, power and speed doing each part for roughly 30 seconds (time varies according to your rounds). If you have someone helping you, then they would just call out, "POWER!" and you punch as hard as possible for 30 seconds, till they tell you to switch. If you are doing it on your own, just cycle between speed, power and freestyle as you see fit for the entire round.

2. Dirty boxing:
From a boxing stand point, this drill aids in producing as much power as possible in a very short distance. From a stress relief perspective, it's hard to beat. Also done in a 3-5 minute time span, varying according to skill level. This drill is very simple: keep your head as close to the bag as possible. If the bag is stationary or swinging, watch out for abrasions on your forehead. If the bag is swinging, try not to let it swing back and hit you in the head. But with your head as close to the bag as possible, work your punches. Punch low to the body, high to the head, but start all punches close to the bag. Work any combo you like, only occasionally leaning back to land a more powerful blow from slightly farther away.

Punching for stress relief is a great way to burn calories, get in shape and relief stress. These are just a couple of drills to get you started. Now perhaps those stressful meetings won't be quite as much of a hassle if you know you are going to punch on the bag later. Go punch something!