Hello, I'm new to boxing and need advice on proper bag selection. Sadly only one place near me actually sells bags for me to "test" a bit which I will see Saturday. I'm 6'3 220 large build, my goals at the moment are to 1) shed 30 pounds and get my body into proper physical shape and condition my body to the bag. Part 2 of my goal is to then start seriously training for boxing matches in my area to see where it goes from there. I plan to get my uncle to teach me who was once a great boxer that was bound for the Olympics till he broke his leg. I don't want to waste his time until I can hold my own and be able to do everything he asks of me. I have a few novice questions however 1) What should I look for weight wise for my bag or even what should I look for in general on this? 2) Since my body wont be use to this type of training should I look for the best gloves/wraps for padding? They have some extra thick gloves and 180 inch wraps and not 100% sure on this one. Any basic tips or advice that could help me to achieve a long-term healthy body? I have weakish wrists from YEARS working IT so I will need to use extra wrap I think on my wrists. Appreciate any help thank you.
You're a big guy so I'd recommend at least a 100 lb. bag. They can be as light as 40 or so lbs. but in my opinion the lower weight bags are a waste of time and money. For years I used just my hand wraps and a set of lightly padded bag gloves to hit the heavy bag with no problems. The last gym I went to had a few dozen pairs of 12 oz. gloves with velcro closures to use on the heavy bags. Doing this will help with endurance because of the extra weight. As for any wrist problems, use your wraps to reinforce the area of the wrist and more importantly, learn proper punching technique. Trust me, if you hit that bag wrong and your wrist bends violently, it is quite painful and takes a while to heal. I did this early on a couple times when learning to throw a proper left hook. I've given this advice before about how to help lower the risk of wrist injury as it has worked for me. Make a fist and hold out your arm parallel to the floor in front of your face. I like the top of my hand, wrist and forearm to all be on or near the same plane when striking the bag. If the top of your hand is elevated up or tilted down a good bit, that is just inviting it to be bent even more and causing an injury.
Like above poster said, for your weight you should get a bag that is at least 100lbs. Because I have wrist issues myself, I use two pairs of wraps (one of them being 180'' semi-elastic Mexican wraps, the other a 120'' cotton pair) so I can reinforce the wrist accordingly. Also, look into getting a pair of 16oz training gloves (velcro on the wrist), and avoid the use of those old school bag gloves.
I see, well I will look into the 100+ pound bags then, also appreciate the advice on gumbo2176 on technique. @wordisbond I will probably take your advice on the double wrap at least till my wrist gets with the program. Also by "old school bag gloves" do you mean these types This content is protected Since local stores carry so little I was looking at these [ame]http://www.amazon.com/Everlast-Style-Training-Gloves-Black/dp/B000JF6LUE/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354227971&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=everlsat+boxing+gloves[/ame] After making some calls it's one of the few pairs carried at the only shop in town for my to try out.
Those are the old school type I've used in the past. Not a lot of padding and that ridge in the palm you can see in the picture is usually a bar of some sort to help a bit for keeping your fist solid.
Those everlast training gloves are ****. Try to avoid everlast for gloves and pick up a different brand.
Recommendations? Sadly they only carry Everlast stuff so I will have to order online or drive 150 miles to another store :/ I live in a crappy little area that doesn't have much in terms of specialty shops. *edit* How does Title hold up against abuse? I was talking to a guy at the sports shop and he had nothing but great things to say about Title, he recommended these gloves - http://store.titleboxing.com/title-super-bag-gloves.html but that is only 12oz, so the guy then pointed me to these - http://store.titleboxing.com/platbagglov.html - it claims leather but I sent a email asking if it's just fake leather as it's too shiny. The large issue here is I would be buying blind which might be a costly mistake. There any math to glove sizes that might help in a blind choosing of a glove online?
