What Are The Different Options For Hanging A Heavy Punching Bag?

Your options for hanging a heavy bag will be limited to the materials of which your ceilings and walls are composed. Wood, metal, and concrete each provide their own strengths and weaknesses. You will need to choose your method of installation as well as your installation materials according to your individual circumstances.

Hanging from the rafters: Installing your heavy bag from a wooden ceiling beam

If you have exposed beams in your basement, you might choose to install a specially designed plate for heavy bags which has a loop through which you can install an "S" shaped hook. The chain to your heavy bag will be connected to the bottom of the "S" hook.

For this option you will need hanger bolts, which have wood threads on one end and machine threads for nuts on the other end. These bolts will have a flat section in the center for turning the bolts into the wood after you have drilled a pilot hole in the wood.

To install a heavy bag plate in a wood ceiling beam, you will first place the plate against the beam in the desired location, and mark off the pre-drilled holes in the plate with a pencil.

You'll need a drill with an all purpose bit that is slightly smaller than the wood threads to drill two pilot holes, then you'll use a pair of vise grips placed around the flat center of the bolt to turn the hanger bolt into the ceiling beam.

When the bolt is secured in the beam, you will slip the plate over the machine thread ends of the bolts and secure it with 3/8" washers and two 3/8" nuts for each bolt.

While this will hold the bag securely, it may be very noisy when the bag is struck, and you may encounter more resistance from your significant other (or your neighbors if you live in a row home) than you encounter from the bag itself.

Option 2: Hanging your bag from a steel beam

If you are hanging a heavy bag in a commercial location, or any other place where you're lucky enough to have an exposed horizontal steel beam, you can install a u-bolt in the beam.

A u-bolt is so named because it is shaped as the letter "U", and has a smooth center with threaded ends. You will need a rounded (as opposed to a square shaped) u-bolt, along with washers and nuts that correspond to the size of the u-bolt, for this option. 

You'll need to drill slightly larger holes for a u-bolt, so you'll need a slightly larger drill bit. Place the ends of the u-bolt against the steel beam to mark off the hole locations, and drill slowly and straight so your holes will be properly aligned.

Be very careful when you are about to break through to the other side of the steel beam, because bits tend to get caught at this point and you will have a "wrenching" experience, as your arm and wrist are twisted with the drill as the bit remains stationary.

Thread one nut and place one washer on each of the threaded ends of the u-bolt before pushing it upward through the holes in the beam, then add washers and two nuts to each threaded end at the top and tighten them securely.

Option 3: Securing your heavy bag into concrete

If your only option is to secure the heavy bag from an "L" shaped beam that is secured to a concrete wall, you'll need to use anchor bolts. For this job, you'll need two types of drill bits. You will use a metal bit for drilling holes in the "L" beam, and an SDS bit for drilling into the concrete wall.

Anchor bolts are placed inside a hole in a concrete wall or ceiling. The bolt is then tightened as normal. However, anchor bolts have an special expansion section at the end that opens as the bolt is tightened, securing it inside the concrete.

 Drill the holes in the beam first, using the metal bit that is slightly larger in diameter than the anchor bolt.. You will then be able to mark off the holes in the concrete. Use the size of SDS bit that is recommended by the manufacturer of the anchor bolts to drill the holes in the concrete. Tightening the anchor bolts will secure them inside the wall.

If none of these options work for you, find a good solid tree branch and breathe fresh air while you work out on the heavy bag in the great outdoors. Check out a supplier, like u-bolts by Buckster's Xylan Coatings Ltd, to find the hanging hardware you need.