If you search the Internet (just do a Google search on how to fill a punching bag) questions related to the topic of punching bags, a large number of questions refer to how to fill a punching bag. The main question people have is what material do I use?

I’ve seen responses that include: “fill it with water” or “use sand” or even better – “grass” – LOL. The water, the sand is fine, but it really depends on the heavy bag and the material the shell is made of … Believe me, if you fill a normal punching bag with water, you could have a lot of problems … and it is possible you have to buy a mop!

You can’t use weed because it smells bad. Also, the grass just doesn’t pack well. The bag will be too soft. If you don’t agree, do the following: mow the lawn and fill a garbage bag with grass. Try punching him … you’ll get the point.

So for this article, I will tell you what you need to know about how to fill a punching bag. And I’m giving it all away based on years and years of experience in both dojos and boxing clubs.

The first important lesson to always keep in mind when filling punching bags is the outer shell. Many of my students (unfortunately on a lower budget) have approached me and said: what kind of material should I use so that my aunt can sew a bag for me? My Answer: If you want to spend a lot of time and money buying stuff over and over again, you can.

Ok, how about buying a sack? A catch is not supposed to be hit hard over and over again. It wasn’t made to withstand that kind of pressure. Again, as I said before, go this way if you want to waste time and money. The best thing to do if you don’t want to buy a punching bag that is already full is to get one unfilled. They were made to fill! Make sense?

And quite often, unfilled bags are cheap … because it’s actually the filler for the most part that sets Everlast apart from TKO or Aries.

So we don’t have Everlast’s special engineered filler … now what !? The next thing to look out for are the strength / stiffness levels of the punching bags. Some heavy bags feel like hitting a brick wall … well, to the beginner it may seem that way. Others are like hitting a bag of weed … well, not so smooth (at least we hope not!) But you get where I’m coming from.

There are a variety of different materials that you can use to fill a punching bag. Through years of bag filling experience, the best way, in my opinion, is to fill the punching bag with a combination of materials.

Here are the materials you can use to fill boxers with:

* Cotton

* Wool

* Air

* Mattress foam

* Water

* Clothing

* Saw powder

* Pens

* Rice

* Sand

* Polystyrene foam

* Garbage bags rolled up and well packaged.

* Shredded tires

Now, let’s put this together. If you want a good speed bag, fill it with air … it’s that simple. For heavy bags, this gets a bit more complicated. I’ll tell you exactly what we used to do with punching bags in the friendly neighborhood dojo when I was in martial arts school … Don’t tell anyone I told you.

I want you to be on the lookout for something: if you go to a boxing club or dojo, the majority of the answers you will hear from people on how to fill a punching bag is to fill it with sand. Sand is, I suppose you could say, a common filler ingredient … but much to people’s dismay, IT IS NOT THE ONLY INGREDIENT in the filler. Pros can get away with filling punching bags with sand. The sand will make the bag very stiff. If you are a beginner, you will undoubtedly hurt your hands.

This is what dojos do … and probably no one will tell you this about filling a punching bag … it’s so simple! Here it is … short and sweet:

Fill with a cloth. Then pack it well. If it is too loose, you will have a warped punching bag that will be too soft and uncomfortable to hit. The solution?

Use fine sand on the bottom to keep the punching bag essentially like a “heavy bag” and maintain its shape. Fill the outer wall with a cloth. Mats or military bags work very well. Proceed to fill the core of the punching bags you are filling with a mixture of feathers and shredded tires and / or whatever rubber is available.