Does anyone know if using a heavy bag would affect muscle recovery from weight lifting?

I've been running a while and recently switched over to HIIT using an elliptical machine and I would like to add my heavy bag into my cardio workout (~20 min. HIIT on elliptical machine / ~20 min. Heavy Bag). I lift 3 days a week (mon,wed,fri) and cardio every day. Would the heavy bag affect my muscle recovery on my non-lifting days, even if i'm still a little sore a couple days later from lifting? I don't know if it matters much but currently I'm losing weight before I start bulking so cardio currently plays a big role in my workout.

Any ideas?

I'm assuming you're talking about a heavy punching bag- I don't know of any other kind.

My experience with heavy bags is that they work your arms pretty well, depending how hard you go at them. Since you have one, I'm sure you know never to do them unless you have wrist wraps and gloves (for anyone else considering this).

My best guess would be that it does prolong recovery time. Perhaps shadow boxing would be better for a cardio workout (or a speed bag).

All educated guesses, so take them as you will :confused:

Cardio is cardio, so treat kickboxing as you sprinting for instance. General rules apply:

- separated by 8 hours from any other workout
- supplemented just like every other workout
- 20 minutes at a time at the most
- take advantage of the 3-hour window afterwards

Thanks for the advice everyone. I split up my routine this morning using the HIIT method for running & heavy bag. I worked my legs last night so my arms were only a little sore from my tricep/shoulder/chest workout a few days ago. I think I'll only hit the bag 2-3 times a week and probably less when I start bulking.

Mahdimael: That's good advice for anyone beginning with a heavy bag, wraps, and proper gloves are a must for proper safety. Nothing worse than screwing up your routine from some stupid injury that could easily be avoided.

d!abolic: Could you clue me in to what you mean by "take advantage of the 3-hour window afterwards"

Thanks! :tu:

three hours after you train is the most important time to get in the proper nutrients for building your muscle.

this is the time where the most amount of nurtients will flow into your muscle.

directly after you workout you want to spike you insulin with dextrose because glycogen is near depleted and you need to replenish that because insulin is a transporter. once you've done that you hammer down some whey isolate.. this all gets devoured in 30min. you have a 30-45 min win after the first shake when your blood glucose starts to go down again, you want to capitalize on this by consuming a solid meal such as brown rice with lean chicken breast..

2hrs later you want to do this again, a solid meal