What Can I Use to Hang My Punching Bag

By Kasim Javed Punchbags

When hanging a punching bag at home, you want to make sure it’s in as sturdy a location as possible to ensure there is no risk of the bag falling and tearing down your wall or ceiling, as this can both be very expensive to repair and risk causing injury while you’re using the bag.

However, that doesn’t mean that hanging a punching bag is hard, so don’t go calling a handyman to help you out just yet. With a few simple instructions and pieces of equipment, you’ll be able to hang your punching bag yourself with no issues. Since the punching bag will likely be heavy, however, you may want to get someone’s help to lift and hang the bag once you’ve prepared your wall or ceiling.

Let’s have a look at what you need to hang your punching bag, how to hang it safely and how to stay safe while you train.

Which Punching Bags Need to Be Hung?

There are several types of punching bags that each have their benefits for boxers, but not all of them need to be installed permanently. Those that you may consider hanging in your house include:

Heavy bags
Speed bags
Wrecking bags

Heavy bags and wrecking bags are filled with dense materials like sand, cloth rags or water and are designed to provide resistance to punches as well as absorb the shock from each strike to help prevent injury while training. Both can withstand powerful punches, by wrecking bags are particularly useful for uppercuts due to the bell shape of the bag. These bags are suspended from a sturdy ceiling bolt, or hung from a wall mount which allows them to swing freely during workouts.

Speed bags are much smaller and lighter so boxers can practise repetitive jabs, however, they still require a strong mount to enable rapid rebounding movements without damaging walls or ceilings. Speed bags are usually hung from a platform slightly above head height, so the bag is roughly at eye level, so boxers can improve their hand-eye coordination and rhythm.

How to Hang a Punching Bag

Before you buy a punching bag, you need to think about a few important factors:

Whether you have permission to make adjustments to your property
What space you have to train in
Where you can hang the punching bag
What equipment you’ll need to hang it

It’s no use buying a large heavy punching bag if you live in a rented apartment or only have small rooms with drywall or plasterboard walls. You need to make sure you have permission to hang a bag, enough space to be able to move freely around your punching bag and let it swing, have sturdy enough walls or ceilings to hang the bag without it falling down, and have the right tools needed to hang the bag up.

The best places to hang a heavy bag are from your ceiling or your wall, although you can also hang them outside if you wish. To hang a heavy bag outside, you need a sturdy tree branch and to be able to constantly put up and take down your punching bag so it doesn’t get wet or dry out in the sun. Even high-quality punching bags can be damaged in the elements, so protect your investment if possible by hanging your bag indoors.

Before hanging your punching bag inside, you will need to find the sturdiest parts of your ceiling – the beams and joists – or simply use a support wall, usually made of concrete or brick. You may need a stud finder to find the beams in your ceiling, however, if you trust your hearing and know-how, you can simply knock on the surface and listen for a solid, rather than a hollow sound.

Hanging Your Punch Bag from the Ceiling

Once you’ve found your support beam (ideally in the centre of the room so you can move freely around it without tripping over or knocking over your things) you should drill into the beam to create a small hole to insert your eyebolt. You can tighten the eyebolt with a wrench to ensure it’s secure.

Use an open eye bolt so you can then hook the chains from your punching bag on, or a normal eye bolt and attach the chains of your bag with an S hook. Both methods are secure so you can punch the bag without fear of it falling off. The chains should come with the punching bag, but check before you order it online.

Hanging Your Punching Bag from a Wall

Hanging your punching bag from a wall is a similar process, however, you’ll need a wall mount, also known as a wall bracket to hang your punching bag away from the wall to allow it to swing and for you to move around it at least 180 degrees.

Work out with a measuring tape how high your punching bag should be from the ground and pencil it onto the support wall to show where you’ll attach your wall mount. Again mark where the screws of the wall mount will go to ensure it’s level and in the right place for you to train comfortably. Using a drill, create small holes for your screws to enter, attach the wall mount, tightening the screws with a screwdriver or drill.

You can then hang your punching bag, using the chains attached to the top of the bag.

What You’ll Need to Hang a Punching Bag

To hang your punching bag from the ceiling or wall, you’ll need:

A stud finder
A drill
A pencil
Screws or bolts
A wrench or screwdriver
An eye bolt or wall mount

Why You May Benefit from Free-Standing Punch Bags

While the installation process is quite simple, you may prefer free-standing punching bags to heavy bags for a few reasons. Firstly, if you’re in a rented property or don’t have the space to install a punching bag or wall mount in one room, free-standing bags are better as you can train when you wish and move the bag into storage when not in use. If you do martial arts, consider training with a grappling dummy too.

Free-standing bags have the same benefits as heavy bags as you can practise many shots, combinations and powerful punches – and they cost roughly the same amount. You can also get in great shape with both bags. However, free-standing bags may be better for kickboxers as they’re usually longer, and have a covered base, so you can practise kicking the bags as well.

Can Kids Use Punching Bags?

Punching bags aren’t just great exercise tools for adults, kids can benefit immensely from the stress relief and cardio provided by punching bags too. Kids can train with punching bags regularly to release their energy and get out any negative emotions, so durable heavy punch bags can be a great investment for them.

However, children should have punching bags that weigh half their body weight or less to ensure they don’t hurt themselves when striking the punching bag. Adult punching bags can weigh more than 30 kg and measure more than one metre and a half, so kids should use specialist kids’ equipment to train safely.

Kids’ punching bags should also be hung on walls lower down than adults’ to allow them to reach the bag comfortably.

Tips for Training Safely

When using a punching bag at home, the best place to hang them is a garage or spare room as you’re likely to have a lot of space for you to move around the bag. However, if you do have your eye bolt in the middle of your lounge or dining room, make sure you clear the room of objects before you hang your bag and start training as you don’t want the bag to swing and break something, or for you to break something while you’re moving around the bag.

To train safely, you also need to wear the right weight boxing gloves for your size. MMA gloves and Muay Thai gloves aren’t the same as boxing gloves and don’t provide enough protection for your hands, so stick to heavy boxing gloves for your punch bag training.