Open the zipper and shove it in right? Wrong!
Do you want to know how to fill punching bag? Filling up a punching bag is not an easy choir at all. We have ad people that own businesses dealing with punching bags (mostly their own brands) and also talked to major manufacturers of sporting good dealing with punching bags and they all shared their little secrets, from heavy machinery to clonking the sledgehammer for hours. Yet still, it remains a delicate choir to complete.
Of course, you will not be buying a filling machine like the industry is using. You would be absolutely mad to do so. The sledgehammer technique is the only true way to go if creating a good, firm and balanced punching bag is your goal. We have already discussed that using cotton rags is the best choice of filling for a punching bag (check the site on “What to fill your bag with” for more info). So how to stuff it all in you say?
First of all, you have to consider and think out what you will be using your bag for. Are you a Muay Thai practitioner and wish to low-kick the hell out of it? Are you into western boxing and don’t give a damn about kicks? Maybe you are into eskrima and other sorts of weapon training and need a bag to practice power training. All of this is a factor when choosing how to fill punching bag.
Yes. Layers. You have to start at the bottom obviously. Do not be troubled by the crumpled bottom because it will all even out once you start pounding the cotton rags with a sledgehammer. Let us say we are dealing with a 5 foot long and 15” wide punching bag. Take the rags and put about a foot of the volume in. Take a sledgehammer (at least 8 pounds with a long neck) and start pounding for about a minute (15-20 times will do it). Just go up and down in amplitude of about 1.5 foot. When you feel that the bottom is getting hard throw in another foot and repeat all over. Make layers that are connected firmly with each other so that in the end they form a whole. When practicing mostly kicks than it should be harder on the bottom, so use more (30-40 hits with the sledgehammer) and gradually decrease with more height you gain.
The Bag is Collapsing – What Now?
Of course, a 5-foot bag will not stand up on its own. The usual bags have 4 hinges on them. The simplest solution is to take 4 pieces of rope or elastic and winch them up to a wooden beam you have in a garage or a shed (or wherever you are doing this) and the bag will float whilst you just feed it its dinner. Trying to skip the string hanging part will surely lead to a panic attack. The bag will constantly collapse and you will spend at least 1-2 hours extra for neglecting this.
Always check the firmness of the bag after every layer, because if there are any holes left at the end you will be sorry for many reasons. Firstly you will have to redo everything again. Secondly, the bag will most surely pop in that region after a couple of good shots because of the stretching of the material (whichever it might be) without having something solid on the other side.
Hope you complete your punching bag filling accordingly to the above pointers.So you understand clearly about how to fill punching bag.
Train hard and take care.