Heavy Bag Drama

[lifetime]

Right, so I finally bought a heavy bag.

Got a 110cm Everlast heavy bag, with accompanying heavy bag stand because my apartment won't permit me to drill holes in the ceiling.

Now the heavy bag is great. Consistent, no large lumps, just the right amount of "give", won't cut hands if you hit bare knuckle.

The heavy bag stand though, is a engineering nightmare.

It's really poorly balanced. I can't anchor the bag to the stand with rope or chains because when the bag sways, it takes the rest of the stand along with the ride, making it horribly dangerous and unstable. When left free-hanging off the hook, the stand presents more problems. A few of the nuts and bolts are really hard to tighten, meaning I have to get another wrench in order to tighten both sides, so that the pole doesn't rattle from side to side when I roundhouse it.

When doing push kicks, or when the bag sways forward or back, it tips the stand along with it; it's pretty terrifying. I tried to weigh it down with anything heavy I could find, but to no avail. I finally came up with the idea of placing corrugated cardboard slates under the front end of the feet of the stand, so that the forward swing is balanced out. So far so good, but the cardboard has a nasty habit of shifting. When I kick particularly hard, the stand even occasionally tips sideways, although this is on the whole a smaller problem.

With all this done, all that's left is to buy another wrench and tighten the pole so that the pole is tight enough that it doesn't swing or rattle along with the bag. Any ideas/experience with these contraptions are most welcome, including things I might need to know to use the stand safely and upkeep it. Plus, does anyone think that weighing down the ends of the stand with something heavy will help much?

Will post more accounts on the bag later.

I'm pretty excited.

[Jekyll]

If you've got free weights, put the plates on the base of the stand.

[j416to]

You might want to consider getting yourself a heavy bag spring. I have a freestanding heavy bag stand, and the spring really helps. I bought a spring that works in compression. A really heavy spring with two long U hooks that extend out from both ends, and acts to compress the spring as its loaded. I liked that better than the cheaper extension ones, the kind that are really dangerous when they fatigue and break.

[SamHarber]

I'm currently using bungie cord to absorb the shock (couldn't find a decent spring).

It works well enough when doubled up a few times, but has a tendency to slip through the cable ties, so extends with time. I need to work on a more permenant soultion.
This will probably involve a lot of timber to make a new frame.

[Ming Loyalist]

ringside sells springs, they also sell big vinyl "donuts" you can fill with sand to anchor the stand. i use 2 of them and freeweights to keep my stand in place.

[j416to]

Here's a picture of the kind of spring that I have:

I bought mine at a store in Toronto, but I found this website where you can order them from:

http://www.pacillo.com/detail.asp?product=304


NOTE: I have no idea if this website is good or bad, to order things from.

[Meex]

life: post a pic of the stand you have.

Q; was it rated for a bag over 100#?
I've used a few different designs in my time, and the "fixes" are different for different ones.
The spring idea is great, as are the weight plates, and sand doughnut.
As far as tightening the bolts, try adding spacers, and a second nut on top to lock it on
luck

`~/

[JR]

In our dojo the bags are secured to the floor with a rubber 'o' ring, the kind you can find at bunnings easily enough and is used by plumbers for gibbo joints(et al..). the reflex is not as consistent as a spring, as the bag tends to fly until the ring takes the slack, and then the rubber gives a nice elastic rebound.
It might not be as good as a spring, but it's an option.

[lifetime]

http://edge2.hotshed.com/images/700/700714_1_111_2.jpg

So I bought a second wrench and tightened all the bolts properly. The stand no longer sways dangerously whenever the bag swings, now the frame just jerks and rattles when hit, which i find a lot more reassuring because I'm pretty sure it's not going to collapse and put a hole in my wall or injure me.

I'm currently weighing down the rear leg of the stand with weights. There's cardboard under parts of the stand to counter the unevenness of the stand (poor construction or poor workmanship, I don't know). To help the sway out I also anchored the bottom of the bag with free-weights which I attach to the bag with rope. I've found if I anchor the bag to the stand with rope it worsens the swaying problem, so I decided to weigh it down with free weights.

[Yrkoon9]

Holy jesus that bag stand looks like broken toes and cut feet that does nothing for your footwork.

Seriously...you cannot move around that thing at all. Those 2 huge arms sticking way out makes you stand directly in front of it. And those 2 plate anchor spikes look like they could possibly be the most painful thing to step on accidentally.

I would scrap the whole thing and stick to heavy bag workouts at the gym.

[Meex]

life: Yeah, that's not the stand I was thinking of, but you're on the right track. It becomes second nature as soon as you're comfortable with the set up.

yrk9: It's made to stand directly in front, and not for kicks, either. It is what it is.
At least you got some nice bags set up at your gym! (I liked that really huge one -*lol)

`~/

[lifetime]

To be honest I haven't found much problems with kicking and such as long as I don't try to get too ambitious. I've found it to be a LOT better than a floor-stand bag because the big sand-filled base tends to get in my way when I try to kick. Plus those fucking things move when you hit them no matter how much sand you pour into the base, so I thought this was the better, more inexpensive option. When I move out I can still reuse the bag and hang it up properly, so I'm not too worried.

Working out on the bag:

Works fine so far. It's really a lot bigger than it looks. I assumed my head would be somewhere around the upper portion of the bag, but it's really not; it's about the middle. I understand I'm a short asian, but the stand from top to bottom is about 2.3m tall, and the base is wide enough to permit 45-degree movement. I can even pull off a lot of fancy TKD spinning kicks with this thing (360 roundhouse, for starters, and jumping back kicks) without too much trouble, because the legs don't really get in the way as much as you'd think. I'm pretty light on my feet so I should be fine.

[Meex]

If the height can't be adjusted, maybe you can lengthen the chains? Or,
do you rather use it that way to account for most being taller than you?

I understand that you have lost of room to move around, and that kicking is fine for you.
My reference about kicking was in relation to the stand itself, and the cant of the frame
not being set up to receive kicks in any direction, without the bag overswinging, and it
may tip over from hard kicks in certain directions.

Properly weighted, it should be fine for you.if you only come up to halfway.
Good Luck!

`~/