Heavy bag in the basement?

[Airkings]

x-no-archive: yes

Is it advisable to attach a heavy bag to a basement floor joist and use it for training? Will the vibrations cause damage? What has people's experience been? Thanks!

[fasthands]

Sure you can hang a bag. Just make sure it isn't too heavy and it is secured. Here is a video clip of Ross Enamait, M.S., CFT hitting the bag in his basement.

train safely, AK

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

He's definitely whipping that bag's ass. I've got a 100 lb bag hanging off a joist in my garage and it hurts my arms to really pound it. Of course, I've got some hardware in them so I guess I can't have everything.

Getting back to topic: I just drilled a small hole through the joist and hung the bag on a bolt with great big fender washers to prevent the bolt from eating the joist. It works fine.

[Red Neckerson]

"Airkings" wrote

The floor handles my wife, so I don't see the difference between walking on the floor or hanging from the floor's joist....

[Don Wagner]

Depends on the house and the beam, but in general I've found the rattle the whole place.

Pick up a free standing bag frame. There were some good 2-station frames for about $125 used on ebay.

--Don-- The beatings will continue until morale improves.

[Jonny R]

Based on feedback from people at my martial art's club and from a martial arts store owner's personal opinion:

1) Over time you can damage the floor joist and/or the flooring above the heavy bag. The 100 lbs heavy bag will swing from side to side, creating a swinging torsion on the floor joist from which it hangs, lifting/loosening the subfloor which over time can damage the flooring above it. For example if the heavy bag is hanging in the basement underneath the kitchen, and the kitchen has ceramic tiles, these may crack. If its hardwood, the hardwood may become squeaky over time. This is what a (very honest) martial arts store owner warned me when I was shopping in his store for a heavy bag. 2) I've also had some people at my martial arts club tell me that they've damaged their floor joist with their heavy bag, twisting its shape (i.e. its now curved). 3) And everybody tells me that its loud. People in your house (most notably those in the room directly above) will hear it unless you punch and kick like a sissy :)

That being said, any punching bag is loud, including the free standing ones like the Wave Masters. You can try hanging it from the metal I-beam (if its exposed in the basement) which I've heard eliminates most of the problems listed above when you hang it against a floor joist. However hanging it from there will be louder than from a wooden floor joist.

Hanging it in a garage is a good alternative, as is getting a hanging cage for a heavy bag (literally a metal frame from which you hang the bag). The main problem with the cage is that they are tall and you need a basement with at least a 8' ceiling clearance. Some versions also require you weighting the cage down with dumbbell plates so that it doesn't tip over or move around. There is a version by Century called the CornerMan that sits in a corner and doesn't require weights to hold it down however the legs extend 9' in both directions from the corner. Its also designed for a 70 lbs bag.

The hanging cages are usually around $200 - $300, but I've seen some professional models sell for $1,500. The professional models are usually designed to provide you with a less restrictive access to the heavy bag VS the cheaper ones (i.e. you have more freedom around the bag). You'll know what I mean if you see/try both models.

Its possible to get brackets that mount directly against the studs in a wall, and hang the heavy bag from this, but I've heard that these are worse than hanging the bag from the ceiling. Especially since the bag will always be swinging and hitting the wall possibly creating large indentations in the drywall (again, unless you punch like a sissy :)

[Matt Fuerst]

I hung mine in my garage from two joists. I drilled two holes through the joists and threaded the chain through the two holes. I then cut two

2X4's the distance between the joists and nailed them in as supports. I figured the heavy bag pulling "down" on the chain would cause the joists to bow in towards each other, so the 2X4's would counteract that force.

Ghetto engineering I know. It works pretty well and hasn't shook my garage down yet. I don't imagine you'd have much luck watching a movie or quietly reading the floor above you if you hang it in the basement.

Matt

[John Hines]

I'd suggest a pair of steel angle irons, which would allow you to spread the load over 2 or better yet, 4 joists, and take some of the pounding.

They would make a T shaped item, which can take a ring to hold the bag.

[TG]

FWIW, I bought and have used this bag stand

(or try if that link gets broken)

(the heavy frame version) about a year and a half ago, using it with a

150-lb leather heavy bag. Unless you like to dance in circles around the bag, it's pretty good IMO. If you hook a bungee or elastic cord to the bottom you can pretty much punch the crap out of it without worrying about it teetering (if you choose not to weight the back or drill the base into the floor). However, when doing hard kicks, even with the bungee cord attached to the bottom, you have to 'time' your kicks to reduce excess swingage.

[Colbyt]

My son used to shake the floor and rattle the windows. We tried it from a joist and the steel beam same results. Then I made a mounting place out of

2 x6 stock L shaped and cross braced across 3 studs and attached it to the sill plate and the concrete wall. End of problem. My description was lousy. I will upload a picture if you like.

Colbyt

[default]

Was it me, I'd run a laminated beam of 2 2x4s across 6 or so joists, Attaching it at each joist with a metal hanger, and put solid blocking between the joists.

[Chas]

Bungee cords- 3 to 1 weight ratio. Screw in a half-dozen up-eyes, run your cords through; work your ass off.

Chas

[Stormin Mormon]

I tried that one time. I kept trying to practice heating and AC repairs on the bag, but I don't think it did much good. The guys on alt.hvac kept telling me to get some training.

I tried training CPR, and also training factory assembly work. None of those helped much.

What kind of training do you do?

[Stormin Mormon]

How long does your wife hang from the floor? and how hard to hit her?

[YoJimbo]

I just hang mine with chains from the steel support beam, as you mentioned. I prefer a free-swinging bag that isn't tied down and is allowed to sway.

Sure, you will get some vibration from the bag swaying, but as long as your support chains aren't connected to anything that could be damaged, alls you'll get out of whacking this dude is some noise upstairs :-).

I'm not as wild about bag frames as some others here. although that is another solution. JS

[Don Wagner]

We start our classes decoding divine script with the aid of magic rocks. How about you?

--Don-- The beatings will continue until morale improves.

[Chas]

"Don Wagner" wrote

Talkin' to the day-glo lizard about where he hid me Lucky Charms.

Chas

[Fraser Johnston]

Same with us. But we read ours out of a hat.

Fraser

[Don Wagner]

I've ended training sessions like that before.... ;-)

--Don-- The beatings will continue until morale improves.

[Fraser Johnston]

I have to come train where you do. Sounds like my kind of place. For the record I learnt everything I needed to know about the Mormon religon watching Southpark. It is almost as crazy as the whole immaculate conception thing. Tell me that Mary and Joseph, who were married, never had sex and then gave birth to a son. Even 2000 years ago if they didn't have pre-martial sex the first thing when you got married was to have sex until you dropped. Either that or Joseph must of had calluses like a brickie from tugging himself.

Fraser