Lots of absolute noobs don’t have any idea how vast the universe of the punching bag is. There’re different types of punching bags and they, in turn, have a few different categories, usually.
Among all of these, it’s very much difficult to understand what each one of them does, what’s the primary purpose of it. And most importantly recognizing them, which one is which.
With all of these in their mind, it’s only normal that people lose track of themselves. And they feel the urge to know and get acquainted with the types of punching bags. Above all, they seek a guide rather a buying guide for them to show a path for choosing the type of punching bag.
So, let’s get on with it. See and know the different types of punching bags and what each of them is for. At the end of all these, you’ll be able to choose the type of punching bag for yourself by yourself.
Types of Punching Bags
Over time manufacturers are changing the shape, size, design, style and giving or taking a few aspects from a particular product. All of these is just to create a custom feel and facilitating the accomplishment of the purpose of consumers.
This gave rise to the following categories of punching bags, let’s talk about them.
1. Heavy Punching Bags
Heavy punching bags have been around for ages. Allows the user to practice their low and high punches also kick in the meantime. Since the height of heavy punching bags ranges from 4 – 6 ft, all this can be done at ease.
100 to 150 lbs, that’s how much the weight of heavy punching bags vary. And hence the name heavy punching bags.
You’ll need a strong mounting hook in your ceiling or have to buy some sort of mounting equipment to get it to hang.
There’re a few categories to this cylindrical bag too, they’re the banana, the freestanding and obviously the regular ones.
Banana Heavy Punching Bag
These are extremely long, that’s what it looks like to a regular guy. These bags might even stretch to be long enough as 7 foot.
In case you haven’t figured out why it looks like how it looks, it’s for kickboxing and Muay Thai. That’s why it’s extremely popular in the regions of Thailand and its surrounding.
This is the perfect punching bag for training or any martial arts where you’ll be needing to change levels all the time. But if you’re into boxing, it’s a deal breaker since it won’t give much of a swing.
Angled Heavy Bag
These are more or less a regular everyday heavy punching bag if you don’t take the humongous bulge on the top portion.
The bulge makes it good for punches like hooks and uppercuts. So, it basically does the same thing as that of an uppercut bag. But it gives the swing that many want and need to practice boxing and many other sorts of training.
Teardrop Heavy Bag
As the name says, teardrop. These can come in multiple sizes depending on the width of the thing. The wider the larger and the heavier. And as always, the swing decreases as the weight increases.
This bag was designed and manufactured to give users a light overall bag that’s solid and dense. Which can also be used to practice a numerous number of punches like uppercuts and jabs. You can even kick this bad boy.
These are usually only a few feet in height.
Speed Bags
These are relatively miniature bags compared to the rest of the types of punching bags out there. Speed bags are air-filled bags of synthetic leather, PU based leather or leather.
As the name says it’s fast and hence teaches the trainee to have improved rhythm, hand speed, hand to eye coordination, stamina. And another thing that it improves on is the trainee’s footwork and balance, it goes unnoticed and unknown by many.
These are hooked to a speed bag platform which gives it the snappy rebound it dearly needs to be fast.
2. Free Standing Punching Bag
Freestanding punching bags are what the name suggests. It’ll keep on standing no matter how you hit it.
Most of the time you get this feature of adjustable height with this bag which is very handy. And more importantly, you won’t be having the trouble of hanging this. Base, that’s what makes this possible. It can be filled with water, sand or rocks. This makes it heavy enough to keep this thing standing.
These are on high demand on the market because of their portability. You can roll ‘em around in your gym moving it around from one place to another without breaking a sweat.
Body Opponent Bag i.e. BOB
What made it popular is the real-life portrayal of a humongous monstrous human and not even close to being grotesque.
The smug face makin’ it looks like one of those Russian mafias from the movies makes you want to keep on sparring with it non-stop. On a serious note, this gives the exact feel of hitting a human flesh just like the looks.
You can practice your head punches and kicks, rib punches and everything you’d want to do. All BOBs come with height adjustment facility. So, you can always set it to being yay high like one of those NBA players from a midget in an instant.
Free Standing Heavy Bag
There’s a heavy punching bag fixed to the base, that’s how simple it looks like. And that’s how simple it’s to use it.
You can practice your kicks, your punches, and everything. This a great deal for anybody who’s into MMA i.e. Mixed Martial Arts.
3. Double End Punching Bags
Double end punching bags have two ends and obviously, they’re for attaching or hanging. Attaching both ends make the bag swing and it feels like you’re fighting a real person. These also have names like swerving balls and floor to ceiling bags.
Some folks even consider it to be a category of speed bags that’s how fast this bad boy is.
Even these are of two types, the Mexican ones and the traditional one.
Traditional Double End Bags
These things have only one ball to them. These, in turn, have two different shapes one’s spherical i.e. shaped like a basketball and the other one’s pear-shaped or lookin’ like a football.
These are lighter than the Mexican one and is primarily designed to improve the agility of the user. It serves the purpose without any lapse. It moves like the Flash comes bag with the strength of Superman.
It serves multiple purposes same as that of a regular speed bag. It significantly increases the hand to eye co-ordination od the trainee and forces them into being in balance 24/7.
Mexican Double End Bags
The traditional one has just one bladder whereas the Mexican ones have two of ‘em. This gives the Mexican it’s “8” or dumbbell shape. Two balls of this thing imitate a real fighter, who’s under constant motion.
What brought this product its vast global market is its simulation of a real-life fighter. You can be using your hooks, uppercuts and every trick under you’re sleeve to get a hold of how it would feel like with a real fighter.
The reason that I said it somewhat simulates a real-life fighter is that it’s under constant motion. And its motion is also unpredictable even for a fighter or boxer who’s in an intermediary stage.
So, the factor’s that you’ll improve on is reflex, rhythm, footwork, predictability and last but not the least reliance on your guts.
Yeah, you’ll improve your speed too but if you want that, its traditional double end bag’s strong suit.
4. Water Punching Bags
Water punching bags are popular and sought after because of their amazing shock absorption. Exterior thick rubber layer is what keeps the water inside and holds the water.
You can even adjust the shock absorption of these bags by just reducing or increasing the water. The lesser the water the greater the shock absorption.
It’s all good except for the fact that you can’t practice your kicks with this.
Water punching bags generally come into different shapes, the regular water droplet’s shape and the human’s upper body shaped. Both of them are good and serves the more or less same purpose, technically speaking. But some are a fan of getting a feel of hitting a real person, and hence the human’ upper body shape one.
5. Uppercut Punching Bags
Uppercut bags aka angle bags are less known to the masses and heavily popular among the pros and intermediate boxer. These bags lets you do uppercuts with the solid punch and the feel man it is amazing.
Uppercuts in boxing feel like scoring a 3 in basketball. It does the most damage to an opponent. More, importantly it’s not only for uppercuts but also for all sorts of combination of punches including hooks, jabs, and everything.
This bag also has a flat portion that’s designed to practice any of your straight punches and jabs. This portion of the bag is what makes it THE bag for all punches.
It is basically designed for beginners, this way they can start by hitting at the waist level and move up gradually with ease.
Women like pink pink, so they may like to read about the best pink punching bags.
Conclusion
Knowing all the types of a punching bag is a pain in the bum and a sweat breaking task. Besides manufacturers nowadays have started a trend of doing some changes to a pre-existing type of punching bag and calling it a new type of punching bag.
So, I’ve discussed the different types of punching bags that are basically there. And not bring up a grotesque punching bag with some minor changes for a pre-existing type and calling it a new type of punching bag.
I’ve even gone to the length of pulling out the advantages and disadvantages that you’d face while using a particular type of punching bag. And more importantly the primary and basic purpose they serve.
With all of these in your mind you can easily figure the type of punching bag that suits you, your training your martial arts and more importantly your set of conditions.
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