Bag

[KaiKhoon]

I'm thinking of getting a punching bag, I'm not sure what would be a good weight too get, or what kinda bah is durable and not that costly. Can anyone give me a hand ?

[SevenStar]

you should be okay with a standard 70 lb. If you're gonna be punching it without gloves, don't get canvas. Everlast makes a decent bag.

[KaiKhoon]

Yea we have a canvas bag at my MA class and it rips my nuckles to pieces.

I've actually just discovered that my friend has a bag, it seems in great condition, and approx 80 lbs. (they added weight to a 70lb.) and I'm thinking of buying that, or maybe just trying it out, seeing how much use I make of it.

[FngSaiYuk]

Originally posted by KaiKhoon
Yea we have a canvas bag at my MA class and it rips my nuckles to pieces.

If you insist on canvas bags, be sure to iron condition your knuckles. My skin used to tear up until about 2 months into iron conditioning. The stuph really works if you're dedicated and consistent.

[SevenStar]

Conditioning In general will. In my stupid days, I'd hit the canvas bag until my knuckles tore or were about to tear, then would stop. While they were healing, I'd wear gloves, and afterward, I took them back off. I got to the point where punching canvas really didn't bother me. They will still tear after a point - that's just the nature of canvas - it WILL tear your knuckles up.

[IronFist]

Get a 70lb nylon bag. Nylon is nice and soft and won't hurt your hands, unless your bag is like mine and the sandbags inside shift and get close to the edge. Then you'll hit places and they'll be as hard as a rock and it will suck.

[WinterPalm]

I'd say to get whatever outside material is the cheapest. Who cares if it is nice on your hands, you are here to condition them and make them tough, that is a byproduct of heavy bag training. I wouldn't go till you bleed or get raw, this can be a result of improperly striking the bag, you may tend to graze it or scrape the knuckles, try to hit it straight on. If you get cut it only means more time without training and then you have to go back to hitting the air or, like Sevenstar has done, wear bag gloves, but then you have to purchase these.

[Samurai Jack]

Or you could just kneel in Seiza and punch the concrete outside. It's not really that bad and gets your knuckles conditioned pretty quickly. Dosen't cost a dime either.

[IronFist]

Not everyone wants torn up skin from hitting canvas. A face isn't rough like canvas.

Samurai Jack, I hope that was sarcasm :)

[FngSaiYuk]

Bear in mind, conditioning the skin is NOT like building punching/strking form and power. You do NOT hit the conditioning material at full force... just hard enough to stimulate the body into thickening the skin and fascia.

I'll vouche that over time, you end up with striking surfaces tough enough to handle full power strikes into the canvas or an opponents hard parts. It's been years since I've trained this way and I can still strike canvas bags at full power (albeit my power is considerably reduced from when I did train heavily) without scratching my skin, let alone tearing them open so they bleed (like when I first started training).

[Samurai Jack]

Originally posted by IronFist
Samurai Jack, I hope that was sarcasm

You know it wasn't Iron, but I realize nobody wants huge, ugly knuckles like mine, nor the risk of arthritis... so I guess it was a little tongue in cheek.;)

[IronFist]

Originally posted by FngSaiYuk
I'll vouche that over time, you end up with striking surfaces tough enough to handle full power strikes into the canvas or an opponents hard parts. It's been years since I've trained this way and I can still strike canvas bags at full power (albeit my power is considerably reduced from when I did train heavily) without scratching my skin, let alone tearing them open so they bleed (like when I first started training).

Anyone can hit a canvas bag once and not tear the skin. But hitting it 100's of times per day, at angles where every once in a while you miss and scrape the surface will eventually wear down most people's skin.

[KaiKhoon]

I purchased a 70lb Everlast bag, It's perfect. Thanks SevenStar.

[FngSaiYuk]

Originally posted by IronFist
Anyone can hit a canvas bag once and not tear the skin. But hitting it 100's of times per day, at angles where every once in a while you miss and scrape the surface will eventually wear down most people's skin.

My experience was off of the iron conditioning. So I wouldn't say most people would have no prob. Most people WOULD tear their skin. Just mentioning that if they happen to want to pound bare fisted into canvas they'd probably want to do the iron conditioning beforehand.