History of the punching bag

The “progenitors” of the projectile are considered to be leather bags filled with something heavy and securely attached to sturdy tree branches. In ancient Japan and China, warriors used such bags to hone their skills, practicing punches, fists and kicks. Later similar equipment appeared in Ancient Greece. Here leather bags filled with sand, flour served as an excellent training tool for ancient heroes who performed in fist fights. The new history of punching bags as a tool for training boxers began only in the middle of the 19th century. It is believed that it was then that boxing was officially recognized in England as a separate sport.

Today there is a wide range of punching bags for productive training not only for professionals but also for beginners on the courts of gyms and at home. Some of the shells are fastened to the ceiling, others are mounted on straps. They may differ in weight, size, quality of upholstery material and filler. Most often as a filler are special rubber granules, and upholstery material – natural leather and various synthetic materials. Among the great variety – drop pear, speed pear. The floor pear, according to the name, is attached to a rod mounted on the floor. It allows you to develop the speed and accuracy of blows. To improve hard and powerful punches, a wall cushion is used – a structure made of a wooden frame and a shell with a felt filler and foam rubber, which is attached to the wall. For training at home there is quite a handy compact device in the form of a tabletop punching bag, attached to the table with a heavy-duty attachment. For practicing blow technique and quick reaction to the opponent’s blow professionals prefer pneumatic blowers.
Boxing bags are very often used in gyms for training which differ from bags in their size and shape. As a rule, shells weighing 32 kg are used. To improve the movements of the hands, feet use a cylindrical bag (25-45 kg). Bag on a stand can be in the form of a punching bag or dummy. The bag is placed on the floor and filled with sand or water. For the improvement of work with kicks from the bottom and undercuts use a 90-kilogram bag banana; kicks to the head and uppercuts – a bag-cone. The round bag is used for all types of punches.

Progress in the field of punching bags continues. They are being perfected with invariable persistence and new original specimens appear. Only its purpose remains unchanged. The punching bag, as well as hundreds of years ago, is used to practice power and speed kicks, allows you to improve the skill, reaction time, accuracy of movements and punches.