Can You Get A Good Workout With An Inflatable Punching Bag?

An inexpensive alternative to standard boxing gym equipment is an inflatable punching bag. At a maximum of around $30, you can get your hands on one of these for less than half the cost of a traditional heavy bag.

Basically, these were invented for kids. When used by a child, they’re sometimes called “bop bags“, and kids love to whack them over and over again until it wears them out.

But recently, companies like Everlast are building large versions for larger people to use. The Everlast inflatable punching bag is around 5 feet tall, and the base is fillable with water so it won’t fly away the second you hit it with a strong punch.

But how well does it work?

Is an inflatable punching bag any good for working out?

OK, as you probably suspect, you won’t get a world-class workout with one of these. There’s just no substitue for a properly-mounted heavybag when it comes to developing punching power, strength, and fight conditioning.

But you can get a bit of exercise with this sort of punching target. Especially for kids, this is a good way to get some activity and exercise in a fun way.

It offers several benefits:

• You won’t hurt your hands with an inflatable punching bag, no matter how you hit it. You can use it to work on bare knuckle punching.
• It’s easy to set up and put away. Just fill the base with tap water.
• It bouces up from the floor very quickly, which is good for your reflexes. It’s like a double-end bag on steroids.
• The higher you pump it up, the faster it will rebound from the floor when you land a punch on it.

Drawbacks

There are several limitations inherent in this style of bag:

• The slick surface makes it hard to land “solid” punches unless you hit it just right.
• For adults, it doesn’t offer any punching resistance. It’s almost like hitting air.
• The base — even filled with water — isn’t very heavy.
• For tall people, a 5-foot bag just isn’t very high.

So basically, if you have no better alternative, you might want to look into one of these bags. Check out the selection at Amazon.com: Inflatable Punching Bag.