In this article today we're going to be talking about what are punching bags filled with and if you've recently bought an unfilled punching bag we're also going to help you how to fill it out step by step. Getting the filling right in a punching bag is a crucial step mainly because it can dictate the life of your punching bag and how hard/soft it will feel while punching. If you fill it with the wrong materials it can feel as hard as a cement wall or just like your bed pillow, so without further a do let's get into filling a punching bag!
Punching bags are mainly filled with industrial cotton waste. Sawdust is also used but found rarely and cotton waste is readily available. To increase the weight of the bag some manufacturers also use sandbags but it's important not to completely fill a bag with sand.
INDUSTRIAL COTTON WASTE
If you open any punching bag that you bought online or locally this is what you will find 99% of the time. This is industrial cotton waste basically the cotton that is wasted in making our clothes and those are compiled and put into a bag. Using cotton waste is good as it can make punching bags fairly heavy. Cotton has a weight of its own and when used in large quantities it can make the punching bag weigh a lot depending on the size of the punching bag and how much filling the manufacturer has put inside.
However, if you try to fill a punching bag with cotton waste make sure to wear a mask and sunglasses as there are small pieces of cotton that can get into our nose and eyes causing irritation and potentially making us very ill. Workers in punching bag manufacturing companies often get sick due to this and I wouldn't recommend you fill a bag without protection. It can lead to sneezing and coughing or potentially some illness so better protect yourself.
SANDBAGS
The second most common filling inside a punching bag is sandbags. The reason I'm saying sandbags and not sand is because if you want to fill a punching bag with sand then you have to buy small zipper plastic bags and put sand inside them. Each sandbag will weigh around 250 - 500 gms so you can add as many bags as you would like to make it heavy enough for you. Sandbags cannot alone be added to a punching bag or it will feel like punching a rock.
Due to small particles of sand, when you fill a 3 or 4 feet bag entirely with sand it will weigh to be very very heavy and feel like you're punching a rock, so sandbags are always used in addition to cotton waste so that the hardness is not like a rock and also sandbags can add some extra weight to your bag which is always great. I once filled a 4 feet aurion punching bag entirely with sand and it ended up weighing around 50kgs which is too heavy for 4 feet bag and it felt exactly the same as hitting a cement wall with boxing gloves on. So never try to fill an entire punching bag with sand.
OTHER FILLING MATERIALS
SAWDUST
Sometimes sawdust is used to fill a punching bag although I'm not sure how heavy it will be or how hard or soft the bag will feel to punch as I've not seen many bags filled with sawdust. I read some reviews on amazon that some people have used sawdust and were pretty happy with it. You can try it out yourself but I would say it's better to stick to cotton waste and sandbags as these are the best ways currently that you can fill a punching bag.
OLD CLOTHES
This is similar to cotton waste as the material is the same however the biggest issue with old clothes is finding enough volume. You would need to make a bag weigh at least 20kgs for it will somewhat heavy for punching for an adult and getting 20kgs weight of old clothes in your house is very rare. You might be able to find some old clothes left but it will not be enough to fill an entire punching bag with just that much.
So if you're planning on getting an unfilled punching make sure that you have access to old clothes, sandbags, or cotton waste. I would say it's better much better to buy a filled bag in the first place as it doesn't cost that much more as well as saves you a lot of headaches, trust me.
HOW TO FILL A PUNCHING BAG
Step 1 - Get a friend/mom/dad/anyone who can help hold the bag like the image above while you fill it. It will make things much easier for you. You can fill it out yourself as well but it will be somewhat difficult.
Step 2 - Fill the first layer of the punching bag with cotton waste and don't put sandbags inside yet. Make sure to wear a mask.
Step 3 - Fill the second layer with sandbags like this. Use around 10-15 sandbags depending on the size of both your bag and the sandbags so that it forms the second layer.
Step 4 - Fill another layer of cotton waste and then another layer of sandbags. Basically, repeat Steps 2 and 3 as many times till you completely fill your bag. Make sure that the layers of cotton waste are much more in quantity as compared to the layers of the sandbags or else the bag will end up weighing too heavy and become very hard to punch.
Step 5 - Your bag is now completely filled. You will have to use a lot of quantity of cotton waste to make your bag look filled to the top and have uniform thickness all around. I did not have enough filling for the bag hence as you can see it looks saggy.