How Much Is a Punching Bag?

Punching bags are an integral part of boxing training and a great way to stay fit, so they can be an excellent investment. However, when you’re shopping around, you might find that punching bags can vary significantly in price. Type, size, materials and brand reputation can all affect the price of a punching bag, making it difficult to know which to choose and whether you’re making a sound investment.

Our guide will look at the different types of punching bags, their benefits and how much they cost, so you can be well-informed before purchasing your own punching bag.

Types of Punching Bags

If you’ve ever stepped foot in a boxing gym, you’ll know that there are many types of punching bags, all differing by shape, size and weight. The shape of the punching bag is the main factor which changes how you train with it, as each bag helps to perfect a different boxing technique, from your jabs, hooks and uppercuts to your footwork, speed and accuracy.

The main types of punching bags used for boxing are:

• Body Bags
• Wrecking Bags
• Speedballs, also known as Speed Bags
• Freestanding Bags
• Heavy Bags, also known as Straight Bags

Body bags most resemble the shape of a person, so they are useful for improving shot accuracy, while wrecking bags are shorter and swing more, forcing the boxer to improve their footwork to move around the bag. Speed bags are also useful for the more technical side of boxing, helping the boxer improve their speed and hand-eye coordination as the bag moves very quickly, bouncing after each strike.

Freestanding bags and heavy bags, on the other hand, are great for overall fitness and endurance as well as power. Their size and weight mean you need to use a great deal of strength to strike the bag, tiring out the boxer and forcing them to utilise all their power.

Is a Grappling Dummy a Kind of Punching Bag?

Grappling dummies are different from punching bags as boxers do not use them, but rather MMA fighters who practise manoeuvres on the ground. They’re human-like in their form to help coaches demonstrate and fighters train, practising different holds and wrestling moves.

They’re made from similar materials to punching bags, however, with synthetic leather skin, or outer material, and usually filled with cloth rags to make them comfortable to train with and provide the right weight to replicate grappling with a real opponent.

Benefits of Punching Bags

Since each type of punching bag helps a person focus on a different aspect of boxing, they each have their own benefits. However, overall most punching bags have the following benefits:

• Train a particular boxing skill
• Great for cardio
• Great for weight loss
• Great for muscle toning
• Relieve stress and improve mood

Even standing up can burn up to 50% more calories than sitting down, so it should come as no surprise that most activities will aid with weight loss when paired with a healthy, balanced diet. But hitting a punching bag for just 15 minutes, 5 days a week is a great way of staying active with cardiovascular exercise, staying in shape and relieving stress in the process.

Hitting a punching bag for that long when you haven’t exercised in a while or you’re a beginner with boxing can be hard though, so aim for 5 to 10-minute rounds each day or mix up a few 2 to 5-minute rounds with strength training activities to help you get fitter and stronger more easily.

Punching bags don’t build muscle, despite what you may think when you see the size of professional boxers’ arms. To build muscle and punch harder, you need to increase muscle strength with strength training exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, squats and crunches, or lift weights, increasing the weight as you start to feel comfortable in that movement.

As you get stronger, you’ll also notice you begin to strike the punching bag harder, and your endurance improves with more practice. So are punching bags worth it? Absolutely!

Which Punching Bag is Best?

If you’re wondering what punching bag to buy for your home gym, price shouldn’t be your number one concern. Finding the best punching bag for you is about thinking about what type of training you’ll be doing, and what aspect of your boxing technique you want to improve.

The best punching bag for most people, including beginners and pros, is the heavy punching bag. At around 5 to 7 feet long and between 30 and 60 kg for adults, these bags almost replicate a real opponent, so you can practise where to land your strikes while you utilise your strength and endurance. As heavy bags are so good for cardio, they’re even a great training tool for those just interested in Boxfit or other boxing fitness activities. You don’t need to learn all of the fighting techniques, but incorporate some striking and moving into your home training to get some necessary cardio in to help you lose weight or tone your muscles.

The problem with heavy bags is that they need to be fitted in your house permanently via a ceiling or wall mount and bracket. You can hang them from trees outside with the right equipment, but they may lose their durability against the elements. That’s where free-standing bags come in.

Free-standing punching bags are heavy, durable and useful in almost all of the same ways as heavy bags, but they have a floor stand so you can put them in the middle of any room, as long as you have enough space to strike the bag without knocking over any of your ornaments or breaking the TV. You can then put them in storage when you’re not using them to save you space and make home boxing easier if you’re in a rented property.

How Much Is a Punching Bag?

So since there are several types of punching bags on the market, ranging from 30 cm to 200 cm, there can be quite a difference in the prices of punching bags. As the smallest, speedballs are usually the cheapest, starting at around £20, although they can cost up to £100 if the stand and ceiling mount are included.

Body bags and wrecking bags can cost anywhere from £80 to £100 as they’re much larger and weightier than speedbags, but not as long as heavy bags. While free-standing bags can cost from £50 to £100 as the bag itself is smaller, it requires a long metal stand to be fitted.

As our most recommended punching bag for use at home, you want an affordable yet high-quality and durable heavy bag. A decent heavy bag can cost from £50 to £100, depending on the size and including the wall mount. Although the more expensive options usually also include boxing gloves.

You can sometimes buy empty punching bags for you to fill yourself at home with water, sand or rags, which will cut down on transportation costs if you’re buying it online. However, this can be difficult to manage, especially finding rags to match the texture and weight of professionally made punching bags, so you may wish to purchase a ready-made bag instead.

Why You Should Always Train with Boxing Gloves

Most punching bags may be filled with rags, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be comfortable to strike bare-fisted. Boxing gloves are designed to help you keep a fist when you strike a bag or opponent, reducing the risk of hand and thumb injuries. You should make sure you’re wearing the right type of boxing gloves for the training you’re doing to ensure your hands are well protected.

Even Mike Tyson wore boxing gloves when hitting the bags – and no one’s tougher than Iron Mike.

You also shouldn’t box in Muay Thai gloves as there isn’t sufficient padding across the knuckles to protect them when boxing. In Muay Thai gloves, the padding is evenly spread across the palm to effectively protect against strikes and kicks.

Buy the Best Punching Bags – Maxx Pro Boxing

At Maxx Pro Boxing, we know the importance of having affordable and high-quality boxing equipment, which is why we only manufacture the best. Browse our range of professional-standard punching bags today!