what punching bag do you prefer?

[goodcatjack]

a general equipment question ...

I used to have one of those "nevatear" everlast bags (it did tear) and before that, one of those old angelo dundee canvas bags; I've also tried one of the earlier Wave water filled bags (it leaked).

now I have one of those century B.O.B. torso punching mannequins that I got on a whim, but while I like it fine for some things, I always feel kinda nervous about breaking the base, what with all the rocking back and forth it does. my background is in tkd and kickboxing and boxing, generally, so I'm kinda strike oriented. I do try to be a bit more well rounded than that, but this is primarily a bag question. so:

what do you guys use for what sort of workouts and how do you like them?

[stinger]

my older brother always found that i made a good punching bag as a kid

[ACP230]

I have been using a canvas TKO for about the past two years. It has held up well to boxing and some work with a stick. I find that after 20 minutes or so of boxing, a few minutes with the stick bumps the heart rate pretty well.

[Hemicuda]

I prefer to use my third degree blackbelt cousin...

I have never had a minute of formal training in hand to hand combat, and yet, he RARELY lands a punch, and NEVER gets in a "stunner"...

when we spar, he'll last 4 or 5 minutes, and then he is sore, and will be black and blue...

I once took on his 5th degree Grand Master... he made a few count, but I put him on the mat too, in the end...

Blackbelts make the BEST punchingbags!

[boris_01]

Century, Everlast and the mannequin are all cheap equipment for the novice or typical dojo rat. I'm believe that you can tell the type of training you will get from a dojo by the type of gear they use. Century gear is cheap. Check out www.ringside.com They have serious gear for serious fighters. I prefer the Banana bag(Thai long bag) . It generally is 6ft and made of leather. A bit pricey. But very valuable piece of equipment. Also I use the Thai pads, belly pad and focus mitts.

[krept]

I have a small garage and limited income so I chose a 100lb canvas Everlast bag. It's size lends it well to both forehead level strikes on a tall guy or thigh kicks on a shorty without adjustment. Plus, with the extra weight I can really lay into it with kicks, elbows and knees and it doesn't go as wild as a pinner bag would.

I like the canvas better than faux leather because of the rough texture. WOrks really well to develop power in things like left hook to liver, elbow to jaw, knee to diaphragm, etc.

[ATeaM]

I agree with Boris, invest in some quality equipment.

The best floor length "Thai" bags are made by Perma Bilt. If you can find one, get it. Oh, and get it unfilled, a lot cheaper. Stuff it with foam and old fabric.

[foghornl]

Hmmmmmm
about 1976, the bad guys face as I sat on his chest and flailed away.....

[Kirk Keller]

Chuck Schumer

[foghornl]

And for the ladies, we offer the D. Fineswine model........

[krept]

Why do you guys think that Everlast is so ghetto? I dig their canvas bag and have gone to town on it and it's holding up fine. The stuffing is sort of sinking to the bottom, but doesn't that happen to even the good bags?

[reprobate]

There's nothing at all wrong with Everlast. I fought in golden gloves in Chicago for three years, and the only heavy bags that I ever saw were made by Everlast. Come to think of it, all of the gloves and speed bags that I ever used were Everlast also. I'm 40 now, and maybe things have changed since I used to box, but Everlast used to be the bee's knees.

[boris_01]

The Everlast equipment that you get at your local Sports Authority or Kmart, is cheaper affordable stuff. And it shows. But even thier more professional equipment does not compare to Ringside quality.

[rage]

Never had any problems with the Everlast leather 100 lb. bag. In fact, after break-in, it offers a nice in-the-pocket feel, like striking a human. Canvass bags can hurt your shoulders, arms and wrists. Vinyl bags are too soft. If there is a better brand...let it be leather!

[RobRPM2222]

I have a Ringside Leather 70pd'er hanging heavy bag. It is the ****.

Ringside makes the best stuff for the average person to pretty serious boxer. If you do a ton of striking training and share your bag with a lot of heavy hitters, then maybe you should get something like Cleto Reyes. But for the average joe and boxing/striking gym, Ringside is the best.

All the Everlast products I have seen are basically cheap. They do their job, but they don't last. Same with Century, and a lot of the other cheap bags.

The great thing about leather bags is that you can do some light/medium bare-knuckled punches on it to toughen your hands a little without tearing your hands to bits ( don't be a dummy and punch it full force... use proper form when doing bare-knuckled stuff )

Thai Banana bags are nice. But the thing is, a lot of Thai gyms in Thailand don't have more than a few of them, and some don't have any at all. The reason is that for beginners, kicking higher ( like to a boxing bag ) helps you to learn the proper form for a round kick ( at least, this what I have read Thai coaches saying, and observed in pictures of Thai gyms. )

I regularly beat the **** out of my bag with punches, knees, elbows, kicks, and sometime sticks, and it's still good.

Everlast puts very, very little research and development into equipment. Basically, if you took a Everlast bag that was the same model as the one reprobate used to do Golden Gloves back in the day, and you compared it to the same model today, you would see very little difference.

Ringside invests a ton of their money into research and development. And they come up with consistently good products because of it. They switch to new materials and new techniques whenever they come up with something.

if you couldn't tell, I like Ringside. no, they're not paying me for this.

[RobRPM2222]

oops, didn't know I couldn't curse.

[ATeaM]

"Thai Banana bags are nice. But the thing is, a lot of Thai gyms in Thailand don't have more than a few of them, and some don't have any at all. The reason is that for beginners, kicking higher ( like to a boxing bag ) helps you to learn the proper form for a round kick ( at least, this what I have read Thai coaches saying, and observed in pictures of Thai gyms. )"

They just say that because your average 120 lbs Thai fighter can't get them swinging like a farung .

Most of the bags at well known Thai camps are going to be full length. The half length bags are usually weighed down with sand and used for elbow/shin conditioning. Just my experience.

[Any Cal.]

I used to use the Everlast canvas bag. Was extremely solid. firm. Kind of like hitting a wall. Made you use your form. Mostly boxing, some elbows, kicks. Ringside bags are real nice. A lot softer.

[Lofland]

goodcatjack, a good-quality water-filled bag won't leak on you, and it will protect your wrists a lot better than any other bag. It's softer, so it takes a bit of getting used to, but your wrists will be better off in the long run. I second all the good comments on Ringside. I hope you get one of their water-filled bags. but if you don't, at least get their boxing gloves or bag gloves. I've used their 18 oz. glove for years, it's held up extremely well.

[Gomez]

GoodCatJack:

One more nomination for Ringside. Top quality people, and you get to listen to Judge Mills Lane on their automated answer thingy!

As to the B.O.B., the base is clunky and funky. I much prefer the Spar-Pro training dummy [B.O.B. is a knockoff with a cooler name!] from www.prolinetraining.com. Ringside also carries the Spar-Pros.

The Spar-Pros have a different base and mount. It's not water proof, you have to use dry media for the weight. I fill the base with sand [about 175 pounds or so] then add a Heavy Rock Anchor from Ringside, of course [filled with about 150 pounds or so of sand] to give it a nice solid weight.