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I've decided to get a decent punch bag for my house to save me going to the boxing gym for basic bag workouts. Not sure whether to go for just a basic tube trainer (bag) or one of those "punchmen". Can anyone comment on which is best to go for and why?
I'd have to say the bag is 100 times better than those punchmen.
Initially the punch man offers no movement, it is a stationary target. This is detrimental in two ways,
1) it is hard to set your punches and get in the correct position.
2)Your own movement will become neglected.
I feel the bag is also a better tool as you can pick thge area you want to hit on and you will get a specific reaction from each puch you throw.
thats fantastic m8, thanks for taking the time to reply. im workin with a budget of upto about £180 as xmas is coming and i need to keep money very tight. i've read a few reviews and im lead to believe that the reebok kombat trainer is one of the best bags in this price range. does anyone have any other recommendations?
Agreed with Donny
We use an Everlast with a bit of the stuffing removed
I bought a one with a stand and double end bag attachment. never used it once.
It was a pointless purchase really as I was already a member of an MMA gym and I had just joined a boxing gym.
CC man, welcome to the forum by the way.Quote:
Originally Posted by djtonyn
As regards bags, 180 should easily cover the price of a good bag.
Londsdale do a number of bags well in that bracket, but i wouldn't advise ordering a bag you can't see/touch.
Yes the Everlast bags (the Skinny ones at least) tend to be hard. I hate hard punching bags. That make sno sense for them to be so hard, I mean thats only going to mess up your hands and adds nothing to the training experience other than that. The soft fill bags are excellent and feel so good on your hand. You can punch as hard as you wish and the feeling of your fist sinking into the bag is one of the greatest feelings in life.
Yeah just pull some stuffing out,and flip it upside down when you arent using itQuote:
Originally Posted by ThomasTabin
The good side of them,is they are really well made so you arent being forced to wrap duct tape around the sweet spots
When my current bag goes, I'm going for the neighbor's daughter. Oops, wrong bag. ;D
When my current bag goes, I think I'll try a water bag. Upperut bags and wrecking balls are nice too.
I'm in the Philippines right now 100 miles away from any boxing gym. One thing that I'm glad is that I brought most of my boxing gear along with an empty canvas punching bag. I was able to find a great filler that's better than rags or sawdust, it's soft enough to allow you to hit as hard as you can, and it doesn't clump up and become hard. :)
With most of the punching bags that are being sold these days I think that it's best just to buy an empty punching bag, or find a 100 lbs bag on sale and get rid of the stuffing.
I think that the perfect heavy bag is 150-200 lbs, soft filled and hung high enough to allow for movement. That way the bag feels more like an opponent when you hit it, it's better for practicing good leverage yet it's movement is enough to keep you moving on your feet.
I'm completely in agreement on the hard bag issue. The gym has acquired a bag which really is impossible to hit at full power even with large gloves on as the knuckles tend to give way!!!
Ali had a bag made before the foreman fight....it was 200lb Everlast and wide, it had a hard core but it had two inches of foam at the outside so Ali wouldn damage his hands, yet the foam didn feel too light as the innercore was heavy...
My biggest issue with our Everlast is I keep swooping in as a trainer to show things without letting my knuckles heal
I hurt them months ago,but if I want to make my point,I want to make it now while its still fresh,so I keep re-injuring the damn things
Ok thats probably not really an issue with the bag
I remember reading that Larry Holmes hurt his hands on the heavy bag, it was probably a combination of too hard and too heavy. I also remember Andre mention Ron Lipton, a fighter know for his knockout power would train on a smaller bag.Quote:
Originally Posted by hitmandonny
I can't argue with that, but I think that different bags give you a different experience. A 200 lbs heavy bag is more like an opponent. When it swings back toward you it smothers your punches, and it doesn't fly across the room when you hit it with a hard punch. I think that the heavier heavy bags, as long as they are soft enough will allow you to put more leverage into your punches. On another note it feels better than if someone was holding the bag.
I have heard a few different philosophies when it comes to working the heavy bag. One is to have the bag swing more as to allow you to work on an assortment of punches and techniques, with a lot of emphasis on footwork. The other side that I've heard is that the heavy bag should not swing much as the fighter should focus more on getting set for their punches. Personally I like my bag to swing. Does anyone have their own thoughts on this?
Firstly an overdue CC Chris.
And i find the same problem.
Ihat a bag to be too light and be "swingable" when you punch it, i like the bag to offer enough resistance so as to create a wahck but move slightly...and i detest bags that are too hard and greatly prefer leather over any other material.
CC Chris,a heavier bag will move like your opponenet more then a stationary oneQuote:
Originally Posted by Chris N.
If I used wraps and bag gloves more I wouldnt run in to my issues,I just want to rush in and show what I want done immediatly while its still fresh
The swinging is good I think but just not to the point that it is flying around with every hard punch. If you have a good heavy punch and you know what you are doing then a 70 lb bag is going to be bouncing around like crazy. At this point you lose some realism since no punch you will ever throw on an opponent will make him react like that. 150-200 I enjoy because it is a realistic weight for a human being. That is, how many 70 pound fighters do you expect to be hitting? In addition, the 150-200 pound bags forces you to drive your punches into their targets because it wont react to you unless you do. On a 70 pound bag the slightest hits send it on its way. On a 150-200 you better know what you're doing because the light stuff wont affect it. If you punch hard it will swing for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris N.
At that weight the filling has to be soft.
And also personally i tend not to like skinny and long bags. They react strangely when you punch them. They kind of shake around from top to bottom and do little in terms of swinging. They're no good to me. I like the bags fat gives you a good solid thing to sink into.
I think that any skill related training that a boxer does should simulate the kinds of things that one would experience in a boxing match. Just like what we've been talking about, let's you're sparring and you hit your opponent with a good body punch they're not going to fly backwards unless you're boxing on the moon. If the bag is too light or responsive then it's not going to add to your abilities as a puncher more than likely it might teach you bad form for the reasons that's been said already.
That being said I don't think that the punching targets that look like manaquins are practical for a boxer because they don't move and respond like an opponent would when you hit it. Some people like it because they can see the targets clearly since it resembles a person, but besides looks it doesn't offer much else.
Alternatively it's a good idea to mark your heavybag with tape making x's where all the targets corresponding to the vulnerable spots on an opponent's body. This is one of the valueble tips I got from Thomas and Grey. This way you're more deliberate when it comes to hitting as you're placing your shots where they count. Building on this in regards to actual sparring you can plan the different combinations and punches that you'll throw, and more importantly on how you would go about setting it up. This is a great area to work at because you can get the logistics down, and it corresponds to the different kinds of things that you'd experience in a fight. If you notice anything while you're watching sparring matches, or any recorded fights you can certainly incorporate that into your training as well. That you can keep improving, as there's so much things to draw from. :)
X's on the heavy bag sounds like an interesting and effective idea.
Lennox lewis when trainig for the Mason fight applied an x on the headgear of all sparring partners as Mason had just had surgery on his eye.
Suggestions have been good so far......
Make sure you get wraps and decent gloves.... Do not even bother laying in the the bag one single time without wearing wraps...
Also try to find a bag that has the foam padding around the inside... They do cost a little more i've found, but it's a night and day difference when your training. I traded out my old one for a foam padded one and I can train a lot harder now for longer,,, and my wrists are thanking me for it!! I wish I could get back all those years I pounded away on "the rock" I now call it....