A punching bag is a round or cylindrical piece of athletic equipment usedby professional boxers for training and by amateurs for exercise. The bagscome in a variety of sizes for a variety of uses.

1. Free Standing Speed Bag

The largest, known asthe heavy bag, is used to develop footwork and power. The timing bag,usually suspended from the ceiling and floor by bungee cords, developstiming and hand-eye coordination. The small speed bag develops hand speed,coordination, and rhythm.HistoryThe sport of boxing dates to the ancient Olympic Games. The first goldmedal in boxing was awarded to a fighter named Onomastos in thetwenty-third Olympiad. The earliest boxers were trained as if soldiers forwar. There was little sophistication in the sport. Participants boxedbare-handed.

One of the earliest boxers, Eurydamus, was known for hisfierceness; he was reported to have swallowed his own teeth during a matchrather than admit that he had been severely injured.By the beginning of the first centuryA.D., boxing had been forbidden and would not be seen again in the sportsworld until the eighteenth century in Great Britain. The first recordedEnglish boxing champion was James Figg, who fought in the early part ofthe 1700s.

But the speed bag just feels unnatural when you look at fighting physics. No foot movement, hands above your head, throwing a punch you never throw in the ring. At least with the floor to ceiling bag you have to avoid incoming shots, weave, use footwork and maintain your defence. Yes it works your lats, but so does a wide grip pull down. Understanding Car Crashes: It’s Basic Physics! Teacher’s guide for grades 9–12 by Griff Jones, Ph.D. This teaching guide will help you to:. effectively present the video in your classroom. teach hands-on “crash science” lessons. fulfill curriculum requirements. teach objectives that correlate with national science standards. A punching bag is a round or cylindrical piece of athletic equipment used by professional boxers for training and by amateurs for exercise. The bags come in a variety of sizes for a variety of uses. The largest, known as the heavy bag, is used to develop footwork and power.

Figg was followed by Jack Broughton in the mid century.Broughton was considered a master of blocking, parrying, and hitting onthe retreat. In 1743, Broughton created a boxing code of conduct calledthe London Prize ring rules. (The rules were later revised and becameknown as the Revised London Prize Ring rules.) When Broughton'spatron, the Duke of Cumberland, asked him to teach some of his well-to-dofriends to box, Broughton devised special gloves, or mufflers, so thatthese 'gentlemen' would not injure their hands.The sport was further refined by the establishment of the QueensberryRules, which were created under the sponsorship of another patron of thesport, John Sholto Douglas, the eighth marquess of Queensberry.

Theserules, still in effect today, set round limits, established glove weights,and created fighter classes by weight. They also forbade hits below thebelt, to the back of the head, to the neck and to the kidneys.It is not certain when the punching bag became part of the boxer'straining regiment. The United States Office of Patents and Trademarksawarded a patent for the punching bag to Simon D. Kehoe in 1872. Sincethat time, others have made improvements to better simulate the humanbody.With the increased interest in physical fitness and the advent of healthclubs in the 1970s, amateurs became more interested in boxing as a form offitness. By the beginning of the twentieth century, large numbers ofpeople in the United States were enrolled in some type of boxing class.DesignPaper patterns are created for the various panel sizes. The patterns areplaced on sections of leather.

Using chalk or grease pencils, a workertraces the shape of the pattern onto the leather.A striking bag is usually constructed of two leather balloons, insertingone inside the other, then inflating the inner balloon with air to createa resilient ball.Raw MaterialsThe earliest striking bags were made from kangaroo skin. However, goatskinis now more commonly used for small punching bags. The animal skin isdipped in strong chemicals to remove the hair prior to being cured in saltwater. After curing, the skin is stretched and dried and ready for use inmanufacturing.The larger, heavy bags are constructed of polyvinyl or canvas. Canvas is aheavy cotton material.

Polyvinyl is a plastic material developed duringthe Second World War. It is made from the byproducts of petroleum andcoal.A heavy, coated synthetic thread, typically nylon and polyester, is usedto stitch the pieces of leather together.While the striking bag is inflated with air, the heavy bags are filledwith sand or finely shredded wood clippings.Snaps, hooks, zippers, chainlink, and cord lacings are used to close thebags, attach them to the rebound board, and/or attach them to other bags.The ManufacturingProcessThe manufacture of striking and training bags are accomplished through acombination of manual and mechanical steps. Joe Frazier throwing a punch at Muhammad Ali.Joe Frazier was born on January 17, 1944. Growing up in the rural Southwith his 12 brothers and sisters, Frazier rigged a punching bag from aburlap sack, rags, corncobs, brick, and Spanish moss. Leaving school at14, he worked as a delivery man and then as a construction worker inSouth Carolina. Arriving in Philadelphia, he got a job at aslaughterhouse and developed a habit that would be immortalized in themovieRocky:Frazier practiced his punches on hanging sides of beef.Frazier's boxing career began in 1964 after wining the Olympicgold medal in Japan, and peaked when he became the first AmericanOlympic heavyweight champion to also win the heavyweight title of theworld. When he was champion, Frazier held the highest knockoutpercentage in history, and while he had been knocked down a few times,he had never been knocked out.

Frazier was involved in 'The Fightof the Century' with Muhammad Ali in 1971 for the worldheavyweight title, which Frazier held. The Frazier-Ali fight was thefirst of three and set indoor boxing records for attendance and revenue.Frazier underwent cataract surgery on his left eye in 1975. While thecataract was removed, it was too late—he was legally blind in hisleft eye and now wore contacts to fight. A rematch with George Foremanin June of 1976 was stopped in the fifth round, and Frazier knew hiscareer was over.

He came out of retirement in December of 1981 to fightFloyd Cummings. Even though the bout was a draw Frazier had to admit itwas time to hang up the gloves for good.Constructing the striking bag.The leather for the bag is usually derived from goatskin.

Free Standing Speed Bag

The skin mustbe tanned by placing it in rotating drums filled with a salt and watersolution. The salt ingredient is typically chromium. In approximatelyeight hours, the chromium soaks through the skin. The chromium is then'fixed' to the skin by the addition of an alkalinechemical such as sodium carbonate or bicarbonate.The tanned skin is run through a machine that shaves it to the desiredthickness. After that, it is passed through a wringer to remove excessmoisture.Once the leather has been dried and prepared, it is ready to be cut.First, patterns that are the exact size and shape of each panel aretraced onto the leather using chalk or a grease pen.

Then, thesesections are manually cut by workers using leather-cutting shears orknives.Some manufacturers employ automated cutting machines in order tocreate the panels. In these cases, a very sharp metal component isconstructed in the exact size and shape of the panel. As the leatherpasses. A boxer practicing with a speed bag.under this metal die, the die cuts down into the fabric similar to acookie cutter.The next step is to sew the leather panels together. The bags areconstructed with either four or six panels, depending on the desiredsize. When sewn together, the panels create a pear-shaped balloon. Heavyduty nylon or polyester thread is used to stitch the pieces to oneanother.

The stitching is performed by a worker operating a sewingmachine.Once the two bags have been sewn together, the inner bag needs to beinflated with air. An inflation device called a collar is inserted intothe inner bag just before the two bags are completely stitched. A valveon the inflation collar regulates the amount of air that is blown intothe outer bag. Inflated air is measured in terms of pounds per squareinch, or psi. The striking bag is inflated to a measure of 4—4.5psi. A cap on the collar then clamps the bag wall to the collar skirt.The final step involves manually connecting the striking bag to anoverhead rebound board by a piece of flexible metal combined with aball-and-socket joint.

The rebound board may be constructed of wood or athick, durable plastic.Constructing the training bag.Training bags are usually made of vinyl or canvas. The vinyl or canvasis cut from patterns using a garment knife or die cutting machine, justas the leather was cut for a striking bag. The round top and bottompieces are cut on a punch press.Once all of the material has been cut to the specified size, the piecesare sewn together. Again, strong nylon or polyester thread is used. Thepieces are stitched together by a worker operating a sewing machine. Thetop is left open.In order to fill the bag, it is placed over a sleeve attached to ahopper.

The stuffing materials, such as shredded wood clippings or sand,are loaded into the hopper. Forced air fills the bag with the stuffingmaterials.The top of the bag is sealed by sewing tabs of vinyl or canvas to thetop edges of the bag.

A round length of tubing, called a torus, isthreaded through the tabs. Four metal rings, attached to four chains,are fitted around the torus. The top is then closed with laces or withzippers.Quality ControlIn order to ensure that bags have been properly constructed, manufacturerswill periodically test the final product. Either manually or usingautomatic robotic devices, the bags undergo rigorous tests that determinethe durability of the seams, the outer material, and the hangingcomponents. To test the seams, the fabric may be pulled in opposingdirections at measured forces or repeatedly tugged and timed. Punching thebag in a manner similar to how it will be used is also another qualitycontrol measure.

It is important to ensure that the final product canwithstand excessive wear and tear and that the primary components willremain in tact after use, especially considering the purpose of thisproduct.Byproducts/WasteScraps of leather, vinyl, canvas, thread, and fill material are the excesswaste produced through the manufacture of punching bags. Depending on thesize of the scrap fabrics, they will either be reused for other goodsproduced by the company or, more likely, disposed of in the trash. Anypieces of thread will also be thrown away. Fill material may berecollected for the same use if it is still in good condition.

Excess woodclippings could be safely incinerated and sandcan be disposed of at an appropriate dump site if not adequate for reuse.The FutureManufacturers continue to make improvements to punching bags in an effortto better simulate the human body and its reactions to strikes. A patentwas issued in 1998 by the United States Trademark and Patent Office for atraining apparatus that combined a head-sized striking bag to a hangingtraining bag.Other innovations are designed to attract the amateur boxing enthusiast.One such version is the Soc-o-Mac, developed by Howard'Mack' McConnell in 1976. The Soc-o-Mac weighs about 450 lb(204 kg) and sits in a weighted steel pan on the floor. The steelpan's curved bottom keeps the bag upright and allows it to rollover and back up when hit.In the early 1980s, Tom Critelli, a former deputy sheriff invented awater-filled bag that can be drained and refilled. Another invention inthe last decade of the twentieth century, was the SoloSpar, an automatedheavy bag that moves when punched and talks back when struck in certainspots.

Multiple muscles in the upper and lower body have to contract when you punch a bag, especially a heavy bag. The pectorals, deltoids, triceps, latissimus dorsi, glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings are examples. The pecs are the chest muscles, the delts are on the sides of the shoulders, the triceps are on the back of the arms and the lats are in the back. The quads, hamstrings and glutes are in the legs and butt. The abs also contract to generate force and to keep your body balanced.

If you use a bag regularly, these are the primary muscles that will get toned. Copyright ©2019Leaf Group Ltd.Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the LIVESTRONG.COM,and.The material appearing on LIVESTRONG.COM is for educational use only. It should not beused as a substitute for professional medical advice,diagnosis or treatment. LIVESTRONG is a registered trademark of the LIVESTRONG Foundation.The LIVESTRONG Foundation and LIVESTRONG.COM do not endorseany of the products or services that are advertised on the web site.Moreover, we do not select every advertiser or advertisement that appears on the web site-many of theadvertisements are served by third party advertising companies.