Should My Double End Bag Be Tight Or Loose?

Double end bags are definitely one of the best tools for sharpening up your boxing skills. It improves eye-hand coordination, helps to get more accurate with your punches and slip them better.

The problem that seems to boggle many fighters’s minds is the question “how tight should my double end bag be?”. I mean, just look up some videos on YouTube of professional fighters and you’ll see that some them have it set up tight or loose.

There is not simple answer to this question, so further i try my best to explain what to go for.

Tight advantages

Tight double end bags won’t move as much when hit. Loose double end bags sway back and forth quite a bit by a regular punch, not to mention a hard one.

Because of that, you’ll be able to throw more powerful combos and just focus on throwing punches from different angles the bag comes from. That also removes any need of additional defense like slipping.

Loose advantages

Loose double end bags on the other hand, move a lot more. Personally i think that’s a lot more realistic to a fight, as it’s mimicking an actual opponents random movement. You will have to slip, move around, fire your punches in a more strategic manner, as hitting it hard all the time will make it swing uncontrollably, and i guess you don’t want to get hit by it in the face!

The best configuration

At the end of the day, it’s really a personal choice. What i would suggest is switching up between different tightness to get the best experience.

Some days try to get it as tight as possible so you’ll be able to do some more consecutive combinations, other’s get it loose and work more on your defense. You could even try to get it about 50% tight and 50% loose – again, mess around with it and find what works best for you.

Adjusting tightness

That can be done in a couple of ways. You can really use just about any elastic cable with a double end bag, but the best ones is definitely bungee cords.

If you just have a one set of bag cords and want to make it tighter, just tie some knots at the bottom and top to provide some additional tension.

You might also consider getting a good quality pair of cables specifically made for double end bags, like these Ringside from Amazon (link).

Another thing you can try is getting a whole set of different length bungee cords (link) so you’ll have even more options when it comes down to choosing preferred tension.