Are Punch Bag Good for Kids?
Punching bags have so many benefits for our physical and mental health and can be a great tool for children to use to relieve stress and improve their fitness. Although levels of childhood obesity are showing signs of decreasing, still almost 23% of children aged 10 and 11 in the UK are obese.
Many factors such as location and family wealth can affect children’s diet and relationship with sports, as well as their mental health. 18% of 7 to 16-year-olds in the UK have a probable mental health disorder such as depression and anxiety, but getting children into sports is a great way of helping them stay mentally and physically well.
Boxing is a fantastic sport for providing many mental and physical benefits to children and adults, so getting your kid a punching bag will surely maintain good levels of mental wellness and fitness and improve those in others.
Let’s take a look at the main benefits of punching bags for kids and what type of punching bags are best for your home.
Benefits of Punching Bags for Kids
Punching bags aren’t just useful for boxers to train and become the best in the sport like Mike Tyson; they have numerous benefits for weight loss, improving cardiovascular health, coordination and stamina, and releasing so-called happy hormones that make us feel better in ourselves. These benefits are not limited to adults either, punching bags can provide kids with the same mental and physical benefits, including:
- Increasing confidence
- Improving fitness levels
- Improving their mood
- Providing them with a healthy relationship with sports early on in life
Let’s look at how each benefit is gained in more detail.
Increase Confidence
Boxing is a great way to increase your confidence for several reasons. Firstly, as you begin to lose weight, gain muscle or simply improve your mental wellness, you start to see yourself differently. Accepting, appreciating and loving our bodies is a great step towards excellent levels of self-confidence, and can be particularly important for children whose bodies are constantly changing as they grow.
Secondly, the skills and strength you gain from punching a punch bag and other boxing training can prove to yourself that you’re capable of learning new skills, determined, resilient and capable. Forcing ourselves to overcome difficulties as small as completing a puzzle or doing 15 minutes of punching bag training can make us feel accomplished and greatly improve confidence. What’s more, gaining physical and fighting capabilities is great for women’s and children’s confidence in particular as they can feel safer in the knowledge that they can fight back if they find themselves in any dangerous situations.
Improve Fitness Levels
Striking a punching bag is great cardio; engaging your whole body in continuous aerobic exercise raises your heart rate, pumping oxygen-rich blood around your body to supply your muscles and organs, improving your overall health. If you want to improve your or your child’s fitness levels, a good punching bag is well worth the investment.
When starting to use a punching bag, you don’t need to try to train like a pro straight away, just 5 to 10-minute rounds are a good start for beginners. As you get fitter, you’ll see that you’re able to train for longer and can start to use the punching bag for longer, reaching the ideal time of around 20 to 30 minutes on the bag 3 to 4 times a week to maintain a healthy body weight.
Improve Mood
Physical exercise releases dopamine in the brain which makes us feel happier and satisfied, improving our overall mood and increasing our will to exercise further. When our mood is low, we feel like we have little energy, but exercising, despite burning calories, can make us feel more energetic and help us pick ourselves up to participate in our daily activities as normal.
Punching a punch bag releases the same endorphins that make us feel better, as well as releasing negative energy by utilising aggression to strike the bag as hard as we can. Punching bags don’t make you punch harder, you need strength training activities for this, but they can help you harness and utilise your power for better punches. Children can feel stress just as much as adults with pressure from school, family and friends, so punching a punching bag a few times a week can help relieve this stress immensely.
Start a Healthy Relationship with Sports
Habits can be very hard to form, but if they’re started from an early age and maintained, then it becomes much easier as we get older. Giving kids a good basis for exercise while they’re young, can help them maintain a healthy and active life as adults. Obesity rates across the world are growing rapidly, and we realise more clearly than ever the huge mental and physical problems that come from being inactive and obese, from cancer to heart disease and depression; tackling obesity should be a high priority.
Getting your kids into boxing by getting them a punching bag is a great way to teach them that sports can be enormous fun and make you feel better about yourself as well as physically capable. Help your kids get a better start in life by introducing them to sports from a young age.
Which Punching Bags are Best for Kids?
The best two punching bags to have in your home for beginners and professionals alike are heavy hanging punching bags and freestanding bags. Heavy bags are great for learning to harness your power, but they need to be installed into the walls and ceiling of your home. Freestanding bags are more beneficial, particularly for children, as they can be put away when not in use, adjusted to the height of the individual, and teach several important skills used in boxing.
You can use a freestanding punching bag to practise your speed, accuracy, reaction times and footwork to perfect your punching technique before using your power. As your punches get more accurate, you can start to utilise your strength on a heavy bag. Freestanding punching bags can also be cheaper than heavy bags, making them a better option for beginners and those trying to keep their costs low.
If you want to diversify your training, you can also benefit from a grappling dummy. These are more human-like in their form due to the mixture of weighty and padded fillings, which makes them great for wrestlers and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters to grapple with on the floor.
How to Train Safely with a Punching Bag
Although you might want to get fit and healthy straight away when you buy a punching bag, there are two important things to bear in mind to make sure your risk of injury is as low as possible.
- Always wear gloves when striking a punching bag
- Make sure your punching technique is right before using your full power
Wearing boxing gloves is crucial for your safety, as they have padding over the knuckles and support around the wrists to ensure maximum protection of your hands when striking the bag. Even if you don’t think you’re that strong yet, you can still twist your hands and wrists in unnatural positions if you don’t use boxing gloves which can cause painful injuries and stop you from using your punching bag for several weeks. To train safely, always wear boxing gloves with hand wraps underneath to keep your hands in the proper position for striking the bag.
The second most important thing to consider when training is learning the proper punching techniques before utilising your full strength. You don’t need huge biceps to have a strong punch as you generate power in your feet and extend your arms, releasing the power from your hands. By learning the right punching technique, you can keep your body in the right position to reduce the risk of injury.
Buy the Best Punching Bags from Maxx Pro Boxing
At Maxx Pro Boxing, we have a huge range of boxing equipment for adults and kids, so the whole family can start getting fit and improving their mood through boxing from the comfort of their own home. Browse our range of punching bags today so you can enjoy the benefits of boxing safely and comfortably.
