I’ve heard that hitting the heavy bag everyday is bad for you, but have also heard that it could be beneficial. Currently I do every other day, but should I switch to everyday?
Before working on a heavy bag, you need to stretch well and work with gloves of 10 or more ounces. stretch your wrists and neck well . If you do not stretch your neck well the reverse inertia of the impact will be absorbed by your head this is a microshock of the brain. it is also better to work on a heavy bag in the middle of the day
The stretching is a given but why does the stretching of the neck stop the brain from being moved? Likewise why better in the middle of the day?
In the morning, our body is less elastic and the load on the joints from blows will be much greater. So with the neck the better you warm up the neck vertebrae the less vibration from the impact will get your brain
Im skeptical The impact absorption of joints is a given, as is the obvious benefits of avoiding damage to tissues themselves by stretching and warming them up. But in the morning? Do you mean after waking up (and being stiff)? In which case a stretch and warm up will suffice. How long that takes you depends on your age and other factors. Protecting the brain, though? I highly doubt that anything short of excessive and / or sudden movement of the head (such as being punched) will overload the brains natural, evolved, protection systems. Even if you ignore these protection systems and use just the measurement of force at impact compared to the energy that would have to be dissipated, every other piece of tissue along the length of the arm as well as those around it would be up to the job. The muscles, fat, blood, everything would absorb part of the energy. You'd have more impact energy from walking, definitely from running. If you have a science paper or something with evidence to the contrary please post it and i will gladly consider myself educated.
Successful athletes always take care of their joints and ligaments . Everything has wear and tear. But of course it's everyone's business how to train.
This is my opinion. Its totally personal based on your physiology. The body responds to the demands and stress you place upon it. You have to find the balance between doing enough "work" to place demands on your body for it to change but not too much in order to damage it. By learning to recognise what your body is telling you before you do damage to yourself is key to staying injury free. For example: i have a slightly damaged pinkie knuckle on my left hand. I stop if it starts to ache, not when it starts to hurt. If i stick to that principle, it tends to hold up. Now this might be after an hour or 10 minutes, but i stop. Dont forget though that other factors, such as equipment and proper technique (both in plan and execution) are important
