They Call it ‘Repacking a Heavy Bag’ for a Reason
I own an 80lb heavy bag that I use for exercise. I got it used, and just hung it up and began banging away. I love the workout, and the stress relief helps as well.
About a year has gone by, and the filling has begun to settle even more. It was to the point where the top was flimsy and the bottom was hard as a rock. So, time to refill the bag.
What I can tell you after finally getting it finished (on my second try) is this: They call it repacking a heavy bag for a reason. If you just fill the heavy bag you’ll never get enough material in there to make it the right density. You have to actually pack the material. I started by putting about one foot of rags back into the bottom of the bag, then I began smashing the material from the top down into the sides, spinning the bag as I went. I continued this process until I couldn’t get any more material down the sides, then I added about six inches of material and repeated the process until it was full.
The bag isn’t perfectly smooth on the sides, but it’s pretty good and there aren’t any hard spots. I got all but a couple of handfulls of the material back in the bag, so the weight should still be good. The consistency when punching the bag is uniform from top to bottom, which was really what I was after.
Like so many other things in life, though, now that I’ve repacked it I have a greater feeling of ownership. I guess you could say we spent some quality time together. Time where it wasn’t just me dishing out a beating, but time where I was working on maintaining my equipment. I would also say repacking the bag is not a bad low-intensity workout. I can certainly feel it in my hands and forearms.
I had the same problem, and my everlast bag had the rag stuffing as well as 6 small sand bags for weight. I pulled everthing out of my heavy bag and divided up the stuffing and sand bags between three old pillow cases. Putting 2 sand bags and equal amounts of stuffing in each pillow case, and tied off the opening. I used extra stuffing to fill in any gaps made because the pillow cases do not perfectly contour to the round shape of the bag. Since doing this the bag has worked perfectly.
@Eddie:
Mine only had three of the sandbags. I’m amazed you were able to get the filling compacted enough in those pillow cases.
I’ve been going to a boxing gym for the last couple of months, though, and with instruction my form has really improved. Sadly now my 80lb bag just isn’t heavy enough so I’ve given it back to my uncle who loaned it to me.