Free Standing Punching Bag Vs Hanging [Best Advice]

free standing punching bag vs hanging punching bag comparison

For a boxer like you, the punching bag is an important element in improving your boxing skills. Freestanding or hanging, both types of bags have pros and cons, which you must be familiar with.

In simple words, a freestanding bag is a more compact, easy to use and has a single structure you can use indoor or outdoor. While a hanging bag has a complex setup, used for heavy workouts mostly in indoor gyms. But there some other factors of each of the punching bag you must know.

So, let’s deep dive, to differentiate between the characteristics of both bags, and make a clear decision for your healthy life.

Free Standing Punching Bag Vs Hanging Heavy Bag

In any type of fighting sports, free standing punching bags and hanging heavy bags are very important and main tools to improve combat skills. These bags are also an important source of aerobic exercise and are very helpful for indoor or outdoor healthy fitness exercises.

However, just because of the chaos in the town, the main problem in choosing a bag is our unfamiliarity with the target. As a boxing professional, I remind you again that these are just tools, and the only thing you should do is get one of them according to your clear goals and needs.

Before selecting the right equipment according to your requirements, it is important to know the exact differences between both of the bags and its pros and cons.

What Is a Heavy Hanging Bag?

The heavy hanging bag is a traditional martial art and fighting training apparatus with a long history, which is widely used in heavy boxing and fitness exercises.

It is a cylindrical bag can be filled with various materials that are conducive to boxing exercises. Usually it is filled with sand, sawdust, flat carpet and cloth according to the level of exercise to increase the hardness. Hanging punching bags can be hung on the ceiling, hooks or special heavy bag stands.

Most professional and heavyweight boxers prefer to use a heavy-duty hanging bag for exercise because it has a larger surface area, is heavier, and has a wider weave area compared to other bags. Therefore, the player can easily break out his attack from any angle and improve the technique for real battles.

Professional Muay Thai and martial arts athletes also use heavy bags, but each game has its own bags, including different sizes and lengths, for specific techniques and training. For example, boxing heavy bags are bigger and shorter, while Muay Thai slings are thinner and longer because it involves kicks.

Similarly, other sports professionals and novices can also benefit from heavy hanging bags, but only from the bags that suit them best. Therefore, before choosing a heavy-duty punching bag, it is necessary to understand its advantages and disadvantages for a specific exercise or training method.

Pros and Cons of Heavy Hanging Bags

Pros and Cons of Heavy Hanging Bags

The following are the advantages and disadvantages of heavy hanging bags, which will guide you to make a clear decision whether it is good for you.

Benefits of hanging heavy bags

Wide Angle of Footprint

Heavy hanging bags are usually attached to hooks installed on the ceiling, support poles, or standard heavy-duty bag racks. Therefore, there is a wide area under it that can move freely, and when it is kicked or punched, it can swing freely.

Its free movement facilitates different shooting from various angles. Once you hit the ball slowly or hard, it reacts like the opponent swings and returns to you for the next shot. Its swing can provide you with a real boxing experience.

Whether it is boxing or kicking the swinging action of the bag remains accurate, which is conducive to the development of blows in a specific direction. In addition, if the bag is installed in an open area, the area around the bag is sufficient for your asynchronous method to move back and forth.

Suitable for Heavy Hitters

You can choose heavy filled bags for specific workouts and training achievements. The interesting thing about these bags is that they can be hit as hard as possible with a powerful blow. A good bag made of high-quality leather or other synthetic materials will not be overwhelmed by your powerful blows.

For martial arts, mixed martial arts and Muay Thai, these bags are still favored by professionals because they can withstand heavy punches and kicks, and are more suitable for enhancing the main kick technique.

Cheaper and more valuable

Compared to free-standing bags, a high-quality hanging bag is cheaper because it is usually not full, but for some reason, if you can’t hang it, you need to make the necessary safety arrangements for it, and then a heavy bag stand will cost you some extra bucks.

However, if compared with freestanding punching bags, it may still be cheaper. Otherwise if you can afford a high brand like balaz punching bag with stand.

Disadvantages of Hanging Heavy Bags

Difficult to install

The main disadvantage of the hanging bag is that its installation is very difficult. First of all, if you use this bag at home, you need a suitable location, and then you need a place or beam where you can install a hook.

People mostly drill holes in the ceiling to install accessories, which not only damages the ceiling, but is also unreliable from a safety point of view. Because the weight of a heavy bag ranges from 70 pounds to 150 pounds, this is a huge weight, which needs to be supported by a bracket installed on the ceiling, and its continuous use cannot be ignored.

Additional Space Requirements

Professionals love and like heavy bags, but they have a very open and dedicated space to put these bags. However, due to its wide-angle movement, it is inappropriate and imperfect for shorter spaces.

However, if you have a separate space, installation and use are great, but for apartments or small houses, this can be a big hassle.

Fast and Rapid Exercise Requires Partners

Heavy-duty slings are very suitable for high-intensity exercises and hard muscle training, but not for quick exercises. However, if you want to get hard and fast training at the same time, you must need a partner who can carry the burden for you.

Because, with a hanging bag alone, you can’t develop a faster, rapid strike phase, instead of slowing down your strike through its slow rebound.

What Is a Free Standing Bag?

The free standing bag is an alternative to the hanging bag with a round base. It requires some filling material, such as sand or water, to ensure stability on the floor or flat surface. These are modern bags, mainly used by beginners, intermediate and professional fighting athletes to improve their fighting skills in various sports and fitness purposes.

The free standing bag is very compact and does not require too many arrangements like hanging bags. It has all the qualities of a suspended punching bag and has more advantages compared with it.

Some of the free-standing bags provide more stability and functionality, allowing you to get rid of the tedious installation process and requirements. These types of bags are portable and are suitable equipment for indoor and outdoor training exercises.

 Pros and Cons of Freestanding Punching bags

Pros and Cons of Freestanding Punching bags

Freestanding punching bags have many advantages, but also some disadvantages. Therefore, let us further and thoroughly highlight each aspect.

The Benefits of Free standing Punch bags

Easy to set up

The standing bag is easy to set up. In most cases, these bags are only two-piece sets. You must use the provided screws to connect the two and fill the base with filler material. There are very few pre-installed bags, you just need to fill the base and start using it.

Suitable for shorter spaces

Since the base of the free-standing bag is very stable, its swing angle is smaller and it can be placed in a small space. It is suitable for small houses, apartments, and even you can use it in the corner of the bedroom.

Pre-packed punch bag

Unlike hanging bags, freestanding bags come with some pre-filled foam and softer filling materials. So, you don’t have to worry about punching bag filling. It is comfortable even without gloves, but in order to avoid hand and wrist contusion, you must wear protective equipment to protect your hands.

Various varieties and sizes

Freestanding bags come in different types and shapes, which is a great thing. It has a variety of different models and designs, making it more attractive and beneficial for various exercises.

Consistency in various exercises is a key factor. For this free-standing bag, it is the best place to provide a good exercise experience. In addition, you can not only stick to a specific shape like a hanging bag, but also enjoy different levels of power building changes.

Real Opponent Feeling

Certain types of free-standing bags in the shape of a punching mannequins can give you a sense of true opponents and can develop your fighting confidence. Other types enhance your punching and kicking skills by providing a large hitting surface, which completely surpasses the sling bag.

Beneficial for All ages

The biggest advantage of a freestanding punching bag is my favorite. If you are just for fitness purposes, a specific punching bag may be enough for your whole family to use for a long time. Thanks to its softer surface and flexibility, every age group from children to adults can perform fitness exercises.

Safe and Convenient

From a safety point of view, the independent bag is safe enough and will not damage your ceiling, you or your child at home like a hanging bag. You can drag and drop it to the position you want and which position is suitable for your workout.

Moreover, it is lighter and easier to practice outdoors, without any hooks, beams or other expensive requirements.

Disadvantages of freestanding punching bags

Toppling with Heavy Strikes

The free-standing bag is a good exercise tool for beginners and intermediate players, but professionals who like heavy sports are often not satisfied with the performance. Because many standing bags are relatively soft and light, for heavy hitters, they cannot withstand heavy hits, and they are easy to fall.

Although with the advancement of technology, some brands are now producing the best self-supporting heavy-duty bags to solve the toppling problem, but there is still room for improvement in meeting professional needs.

No Swing Option at The Bottom

Unlike hanging bags, freestanding bags are fixed to the base with a pole, so it only allows you to move the upper part back and forth, not the bottom. In some cases, this lacks functionality compared to hanging bags.

Although the free-standing bag can give you a good boxing and kicking exercise. But, in my opinion, the static bottom is somehow the minimal missing feature instead of drawback for footwork exercise.

Noisy Springs and Displacement  

There are not many independent bags, but few are cheap and spring-loaded to provide extra elasticity and rebound effect, usually making a lot of noise. If the spring is not regularly lubricated and needs regular inspection, this noise can be very disturbing.

Another thing about free standing is its movement when hitting the ball. Most lighter standing pouches often deviate from their actual position, which can sometimes be annoying, especially for shorter spaces and cause interference during exercise.

Whether you want a bag for fitness exercises or becoming a professional athlete, choose the right equipment to increase your strength. For your ease, read my brief review about best free standing punching bag.

Check out the video about the diffrerence between a BOB XL Dummy and a heavy hanging bag.

Free Standing Vs Hanging Punching Bag: Which One Should to Buy?

If you want to add a punching bag to your arsenal, there are no strict rules stipulating that a particular type of punching bag is one kind. In my opinion, and the knowledge of choosing or purchasing a particular bag that I have learned during my boxing career depends entirely on preferences and your needs.

If you have a limited space and want a bag that can be placed there, it can be easily set up, and you can move it to where you want, I would definitely recommend buying a free-standing bag according to your needs.

Secondly, if you do not face the above problems and want an open space bag. Where you can put your fitness equipment or any other exercise area that you can fully utilize separately at your home or apartment, then the hanging bag is also suitable for this dedicated space.

Final verdict

I hope you can clearly understand the different characteristics of free-standing and suspended heavy bags. Now, it’s up to you to decide which type of bag should be used. However, remember to check each type thoroughly, so that latter it will be more productive for you rather than troublesome.

Further read about: – How to choose a punching bag

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