How many calories you can burn if you punch a punching bag

There are three things to watch forever: fire burning, water flowing, and Captain America bludgeoning a punching bag. Superheroes have powerful powers, or else they wouldn’t be the frontmen of several giant movie franchises. But even some of them are no strangers to classic types of exertion, and otherwise how to perform feats and fight evil?

Together with a professional fighter we took apart the training of Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) and found out how many calories can be burned in this way.

professional fighter of the “Our Cause” league

Captain America’s technique can hardly be called professional, as it has absolutely no defense.

Let’s evaluate Captain America’s series of punches

Thanks to his abilities, Steve Rogers can throw his opponent several meters with one punch, but this will be interesting, perhaps, only for fans of superhero movies. We’ll try to find out if Captain America has the right punch.

Still from “The First Avenger”, age limit 16 plus

Damil Sharafutdinov: Without defense, it looks more like a street fight, not professional boxing. The fact is that first of all all martial arts were created to defend themselves.

If there are no questions about Rogers’ technique, there are questions about his defense. Maybe, of course, he doesn’t need it at all, but where are the dodges, where is the block? Without it in martial arts you can’t get anywhere, because while you’re trying to break through a series of punches, you’ll be knocked down. To be able to dodge punches in time in a fight, you need to work out everything thoroughly in training.

How many calories can you burn with 30 minutes of punching bag work?

From the outside it may seem that a series of punches on the pear is worthless, but it is extremely tiring, and even half an hour of such training will withstand only the most enduring. We calculated how many calories can be burned during 30 minutes of punching the bag, and asked how reasonable it is to conduct such workouts at all.

Damil Sharafutdinov: I think that if a person has a task to learn how to hit a punch or a series of punches, then there is a sense in this training. If you work at this pace for half an hour, you can burn 500 to 1000 calories. Captain America chose a high pace, so it is certainly tiring, not everyone will be able to handle it.

Not only is Captain America very tough, you can see that from his workout, but he also has the kind of strength that can pull a pear off the hooks. We asked the expert if this is possible in real life or if it’s all a cinematic marvel.

Damil Sharafutdinov: I think that no professional fighter can hit the punching bag so hard, unless he is the Hulk or does not star in kung fu movies.

Why do fighters tape their hands?

Bandages on fighters’ arms are not just for fun and certainly not for beauty, although they look very aesthetically pleasing. Tape performs a very specific and simple function.

Damil Sharafutdinov: Boxers need bandages on their hands in order not to traumatize their fists. When you tape your hands, they are fixed and it is much more difficult to hurt them. Also, if you work without bandages, your knuckles will constantly bunch up and hurt a lot. So it will be impossible to train.