This is the best impact/free-standing bag workout I’ve found on video. The first time I used a bag during a workout class was with some FIRM instructors at the LifeQuest gym in Charleston, SC. I already loved kickboxing but the bag brought in a whole new dimension and multiplied my enjoyment by tons!

I’d tried doing some bag workouts on my own to some workout music that I bought and that works fine. But I didn’t come up with the punching combinations that Ilaria did for this video.

The workout is a tape of an Impact class at a New York City club. Most of the participants share a free-standing bag so that there are 2 people per bag.

The production is pretty bad but not as bad as the Kicks Only tape. There’s not as much of a need to watch the TV because you concentrate on looking at your bag most of the time. Also, the sound didn’t pick up very well on the recording so even though Ilaria cues well, you can’t always hear her cues especially over the pounding of your own bag. You don’t have the problem of mirroring or not mirroring the class during the workout because you only need to follow Ilaria’s cues. Most of the participants are facing each other anyway because they’re facing the bag and they’re on opposite sides of it.

There are some kicks in this workout but the majority of the time you do combinations of punches. I’d say about 70% of the bag work is punching.

I feel this workout the most in my shoulders, biceps, and lats (back). The workout for the upper body is so good that I count this video as an upper body workout. I won’t do upper body lifting the day before or the day after doing Impact.

This video is incredible. I love the energy of working out in a live class atmosphere and I love the feeling of working out with the bag.

Production Quality Grade: C-
Workout Grade: A

Sharon Muha