Thread: Heavy Bag: Dangling versus Grounded

I know most heavy bags dangle from chains from the ceiling. This seems to be the most common type which I see. What I'm wondering is, does anyone have any experience with the kind that rest on the ground?

The reason is I saw one being sold in a sports shop. You fill the base with water to give it stability so it doesn't fall over and stuff, and it bends when you hit it and stuff. It's not one of those air-inflated things that kids use or that they sell under the Bally line or anything light like that, it looks to be pretty tough. When I was pushing on it in the store and then going back and forth between it and the heavy bags they were selling it seems to be sort of comparable.

I'm thinking of getting that for home use, because when I asked about the heavy bags he said they're really noisy because of how they pull on the rafters you hang them from and if you hit them hard (which I want to) they rattle the whole house. I live in an attached home, and I live with family who this will probably upset, so I want to try and keep noise to a minimum. So I'm basically thinking that if I have something that's resting on the concrete basement floor rather than dangling from the steel rafters that it'd be less noisy.

It also seems like it'd be less of a hassle to set up. I do want to train with heavy bags eventually, but I figure having a variety of different kinds of stuff to hit would be better.

Plus I'm thinking of joining a health club and they have a heavy bag in the aerobics room so I could go use that probably. It'd be good incentive to join and use a gym I think, and it'd be good variation between training alone, and training with other people around.

It may seem like less hassle but the swinging of the hanging heavybag makes you use your footwork.

I was looking to get a ground based one too cuz i have nowhere to hang a real one, but it looks like the base gets in the way of your feet. Thoughts??

Originally Posted by wesrman

I was looking to get a ground based one too cuz i have nowhere to hang a real one, but it looks like the base gets in the way of your feet. Thoughts??

I think it is important to first know why you want a bag. A hanging bag, and a decent and heavier one will always be best, but not always practical. For example if you are a person just looking to get in shape and space is minimal then maybe a floor bag is okay for you.

If you plan on taking boxing seriously, then a hanging one anchored from a ceiling is really a must. As mentioned in here though...It will rock your house as in my case as it is screwed to the ceiling supports in my basement...and the whole house shakes when I hit it. But I have plenty of room to move around it and try just to not use it if others are watching tv or something upstairs.

Weight is important for the hanging bags. Not sure why they even sell these 60 lbs bags. Because people will buy them I suppose...but they fly all over the place and pretty much defeat the purpose of a heavy bag workout.

Id think about digging a small square hole and pouring a concrete block into the ground out in the back yard with a metal sleeve set into it ,all just a few inches below ground level so you can pull up the top fitting and move it at any time. 2 large Bags of dry but pre mixed concrete is about 15 bucks tops (just add water when its in the hole) and a galvanized metal sleeve for a pole about $6. Get a long pole that fits into the sleeve and sticks out the ground above your head on a 45% angle ,hang a chain and a hook off the top and you lift the bag in and out every fine day and hang it on it... (thats extra power training right there). Also swinging a heavy bag off a real long rope gets you into some intersting footwork and you can evade and then chase the bag or avoid it and go on angles etc.

Originally Posted by Andre

Id think about digging a small square hole and pouring a concrete block into the ground out in the back yard with a metal sleeve set into it ,all just a few inches below ground level so you can pull up the top fitting and move it at any time. 2 large Bags of dry but pre mixed concrete is about 15 bucks tops (just add water when its in the hole) and a galvanized metal sleeve for a pole about $6. Get a long pole that fits into the sleeve and sticks out the ground above your head on a 45% angle ,hang a chain and a hook off the top and you lift the bag in and out every fine day and hang it on it... (thats extra power training right there). Also swinging a heavy bag off a real long rope gets you into some intersting footwork and you can evade and then chase the bag or avoid it and go on angles etc.

Brilliant!! I moved out 2 months ago and didn't bring my heavy bag because the only place to hang it extremely high, and I didn't think it would work... But that has given me a reason to drive home and grab it now...

i have and have used a wavemaster style heavy bag, and my comments are as follows, better than nothing, but still noisy as hell, that would stand true for any bag.my parents had a house with an i beam not wood that went along the bottom floor as a support. this you could use as something to hook the bag too and it won't shake the house(probably) a floor standing bag will also travel across the floor as you hit it, this becomes anoying. for working footwork, not so good unless you want to chase it. also it may leak, and it could leak a lot...i dumped one on the floor deliberately, and it made it rain one floor below me...don't ask why, just trust me i am not always patient with bullies or fools.all in all not a badproduct, but still loud, and a bit limited as compared to a hanging bag.

Be patient and Shadowbox more.

You'll get far better results from applied shadowboxing than knocking lumps out of some stationery pillar.

he he if your refering to me, i was a little tweaked at someone and figured rain would be good...glad i never got the bill for that.