If you are looking to buy a new muay thai punching bag or your first one, then It is advisable to take your time to make good informed choice.
Also take into account your personal circumstances including budget, location (some properties may not allow you to drill into your ceiling to hang a bag) etc.
These will all be discussed below to help you make a good decision.
Purpose of a Muay Thai Punching Bag
In most professional muay thai gyms the heavy bag is a major piece of equipment that pro fighters work on every session.
For pro fighters in Thailand, training twice a day 6 days a week is normal.
And the heavy bag is used each session for all fighters.
1. Power Development
The main purpose of the muay thai bag training is for power.
This is when the bag is part of an overall session that includes pad work, partner work, sparring and clinching.
Most of the time in sparring you do not use full power, same goes for partner drills. So the heavy bag is an ideal place to really put in work on your power shots.
The pads also allow for power to be used and a lot of Thai trainers encourage their fighters to use power in all strikes.
But pads also allow for development of accuracy and cardio i.e 10 kicks on the pads that is common in pro gyms.
Also pad holder safety should always be on your mind when training with a pad holder.
But with the bag you cna go all out on your power and really develop heavy and powerful kicks, punches and knees.
2. Solo Training
The heavy bag is esepcially helpful for solo training outside of the gym and when you do not have access to pad holders and training partners.
For a lot of us who train mainly at home due to access to muay thai gyms, the heavy bag is the most important tool for home based solo training.
Solo training outside the gym also allows you to put in more work and advance much fasted in your skills, technique and power.
The heavy bag will allow you to get 10,000 reps of any technique much quicker than only training in the gym three to five times a week.
The extra solo bag work definitely pays off in the gym and in competition for sure.
Important Considerations
If you are a begginner to muay thai and purchasing your first punching bag then here are a few important things to consider first.
i) Where to Hang the Bag?
As mentioned earlier you may not be able to hand a bag in your current location. This may be because you cannot or are not willing to drill holes and place a mount in your ceiling.
In this case you can:
- Hang your bag from on a strong beam, this could be outside in the garage. Or outside on a tree. I would also recommend looking into a Universal Heavy Bag hanger from Everlast.
- Buy a free-standing punching bag. These are more expensive than hanging a heavy bag but offer versatility and flexibility with location.
ii) 4 foot or 6 foot bag?
I would recommend the 6 foot Thai bag or banana bag as this is one of the few ways you can train low kicks solo – using the extra length to train low kicks on the 6 foot bag.
This bag can be more expensive but overall it offers more versatility and variety in your training than a traditional thai punching bag of 4 feet.
That being said, the 4 foot bag is often a lot more accessible to most people -e specially if training solo at home and this is also a great option to choose.
Top 5 Muay Thai Punching Bags
These are in my opinion the top 5 punching bags for muay thai for someone who is looking to train solo outside the gym a lot. They are by ‘type of punching bag’ rather than brand.
This is because there are different types of bags and I give my Top 5 in order below.
If you have access to a muay thai gym then it is likely you can access the bags discussed below and vary your training. But training solo I would pick from the 5 below in order.
#1 6 ft Thai Bag
This in my opinion is the best value bag for muay thai training. Especially for solo training at home.
It offers more options by allowing for low kicks. The teardop bag (for clinching) and traditional 4 foot bag do not allow for low kicks.
A lot of the muay thai game is low kicks. Also many fighter favor a lot of low kicks to set up their attacks. Therefore being able to practice low kicks and drill them solo can be crucial.
#2 4 ft traditional punching bag
These bags are a minstay in any pro muay thai gym.
You can get very tough, durable 4 foot bags that can take repeated punishment and last a long time.
This bag is a staple for any boxing gym but is my second choice if I had to choose only one for solo muay thai training.
If I had to choose only one bag as my first choice then I would go with the 6 foot bag for the options it offers.
Still the 4 ft bag is incredibly valuable and if this is your only option you can go a long way with consistent and effective heavy bag training.
#3 Teardrop Bag
The teardrop would be more of a luxury choice and not absolutely necessary. Especially if you are looking to buy one bag for your home training.
It is especially good for knees and clinch. If you have training partners at your home gym then this would be my top choice for a second bag.
It offers better options for clinch and knee training than the 6 foot bag.
#4 Free standing bag
There are a lot of great options when it comes to free standing bags.
The major issue with these bags is that they can often move around a bit when struck with a lot of power especially by heavier people.
This would require resetting the bag in place which is not optimal for training.
Still very popular in many martial arts gyms is the B.O.B free standing punching bag.
Still this would be lower down the list if I had to choose only one punching bag for muay thai.
#5 Reflex bags
This would be my last choice but definitely would be a great addition if you are building out your home gym and want to add versatility.
Reflex bags comes in different options the cheapest and most common being the double end bag.
This can be really great if this is all you can get your hands on as it is a very useful tool for accuracy, defense and counter striking.
More advanced reflex bags have come on the market in recent times and these tools can be good additions to change up your training. But they can be expensive and are deifnitely not required.
The double end bag would be my pick for reflex bags and leave the more expensive options to commercial and pro gyms.
