Best Ways To Weigh Down A Heavy Bag Stand

Hanging a heavy bag from a stand is a great alternative to doing so from the ceiling or a beam.Sadly most of the time stands also have to be loaded with additional weight to prevent them from shifting around when punching.

The great news is that there are a lot of solutions to this issue, cheap and expensive, so down below i exactly talk about them.

Weight plates

Best, although most expensive way to keep the stand from shifting around is definitely with weight plates. It should be pretty obvious why, as most heavy bag stands already come with pegs sticking out on each end exactly for that reason. Each peg on the stand has to be weighed down with at least three 25 lb (11.3 kg) plates – if you want to buy them new, which you can on Amazon, the whole set of plates will cost around 300$, and that’s quite a bit.

Your best bet is to either purchase them used from websites like Craigslist, go to a yard sale, ask your friends, and in some cases you might even get some weights for free, if not all of them. You don’t have to specifically buy the same size plates, if it’s cheaper you can get six 45 lb (20.4 kg) instead, however they will stick out more.

Sometimes you don’t have to weigh down all of the sides with exactly the same weight. As example, if you push the stand against a wall, you might not need to put any weight in the back, so you might just need to buy only four weight plates, and put them only on the front pegs.

What i like about weight plates is that they don’t make any mess, are easy to take off and can be used for more than just hitting the punching bag like weighlifting, and don’t limit the movement as much.

Alternatives

Hands down the cheapest way to weigh down a heavy bag stand is definitely with sand bags. A 50 lb (22.7 kg) bag can cost around 4$, so getting six of them is a bargain compared to weight plates. You might also want to use concrete mix bags, as depending on the current sale they can be cheaper.

I would also suggest to get some canvas bags to fill the sand with as they’re more durable, so you won’t rip them accidentally and they blend in with the colors of the stand better.

Sandbags, or really anything except weights are a great alternative, but more often than not they take up more space on the ground, which means you’ll have a harder time moving around the stand comfortably when boxing.

You can really use anything you want to weigh down the stand like cinder blocks, bricks, or even dirt from your own yard filled in bags, just note that using too big of an object can make working the punching bagnot as fun.

Before placing the weights on the stand, first remove the plate pegs so you can place your load close to the endings.

Other ways to reduce the stand’s movement

Putting something underneath the stand which has some friction will make it move less when punching, especially if it’s not weighed down at all. Interlocking foam mats (link to Amazon) work great for that – they will also make any movement for you more comfortable, especially barefoot. Just get two packs of these and you should be good to go.

Use a heavy bag spring (Amazon). What it does is help control the sway and shake of the punching bag which will definitely help the stand slide less, and also reduce the wear on the hooks.

Stabilizing the heavy bag itself with an anchor (link) attached with a bungee cord will also greatly help in keeping your stand still.

Get a large board of plywood or OSB and secure the stand to it – it’s a lot easier to do so if the actual stand’s weight pegs are removable, which means it will leave a clear hole to put a bolt through. When punching, just stand on the platform and your weight should be enough hold to it down.

Bolt the whole construction to the floor. This option is oftentimes unavailable especially in rented places, but either way there’s really nothing better than that.

More on heavy bag stands

Heavier stands are more stable. Many of the punching bag stands on the market normally hold up up to 100 lb (45.4 kg) heavy bags, so if the stand can support heavier bags, it’s going to also weigh more because of the additional material, and that’s going to make it move less. Also, the heavier the punching bag, the less the stand moves

Punching technique

The stand can shift far less if make sure you hit the heavy bag with proper technique. Yes you can throw a hard punch here and there, but remember punching is much more than just sheer power.

If you’ve never took a boxing class i would highly suggest at least watching a couple of tutorials online on how to punch correctly, as not only will that teach you the right way to do so, which can make the stand be more stable, but will also reduce any chance of injury and give you a better workout.