Hanging a heavy bag?

[swagmoneylord13]

I'll start by saying this probably shouldn't be in this section, but it seems more fitting than the sports/fitness section.

I've filled a heavy bag with 75kg~ of sand, and have hung it from one of the beams of my garage using some rope. It seems to make the beams creek, which makes me assume it's pretty heavy on them and I don't exactly want the garage caving on me while I go at the bag

So does anybody know how I could reinforce the beams to allow it to be hung? or any other ways I can hang it?

[Azadina]

Take a picture of the beams. Adding more material helps, but it's hard to say how you should do that without knowing the structural parts.

[Blueobelisk]

You could just...buy a punching bag stand lol...

[McFuu]

I'll start by saying this probably shouldn't be in this section, but it seems more fitting than the sports/fitness section.

I've filled a heavy bag with 75kg~ of sand, and have hung it from one of the beams of my garage using some rope. It seems to make

What kind of beams? I have a 150 boltes through the floor beam in my basement. If you have this thing over a 2x4 you are asking for trouble.

[Stacyrect]

What you wanna do is build a wider base to distribute the weight. You can accomplish this by simply screwing a 2x4 into your ceiling beams and using an eye bolt through the 2x4. You are going to want 4 to 6 feet 2x4, drill a hole somewhere near the middle to drop the eye bolt. Make sure you purchase a few extra washers.

[Azadina]

What you wanna do is build a wider base to distribute the weight. You can accomplish this by simply screwing a 2x4 into your ceiling beams and using an eye bolt through the 2x4. You are going to want 4 to 6 feet 2x4, drill a hole somewhere near the middle to drop the eye bolt. Make sure you purchase a few extra washers.

Slapping a small piece of 2x4 to a beam won't do much of anything. You need to add a full length 2x4 relative to the beam. Otherwise the ends of the beam are still the same size and strength, except it's now heavier than before, because you've added something in the middle, without actually reinforcing it at all.

[Independent voter]

Get an 8' 2x4 and lay it on top of your rafters so that it spans 4 or 5 rafters, then attach your bag to that 2x4. If you want to get fancy you can nail the 2x4 to the rafters. This way the weight of the bag will be supported by 4 or 5 rafters instead of 1.

[Azadina]

Get an 8' 2x4 and lay it on top of your rafters so that it spans 4 or 5 rafters, then attach your bag to that 2x4. If you want to get fancy you can nail the 2x4 to the rafters. This way the weight of the bag will be supported by 4 or 5 rafters instead of 1.

It's still quite a load on that 2x4. Maybe take another and nail them together to make 4x4, to be on the safe side.

[Celista]

You could just...buy a punching bag stand lol...

Do this. Unless there's some other reason that you've decided to hang up a giant bag of sand?

[nextormento]

Slapping a small piece of 2x4 to a beam won't do much of anything. You need to add a full length 2x4 relative to the beam. Otherwise the ends of the beam are still the same size and strength, except it's now heavier than before, because you've added something in the middle, without actually reinforcing it at all.

It strengthens the particular section of the beam by increasing the local second moment of area.
75Kg is a very light load. It's only problematic because it's not distributed: it's 75 shear and ~75/4 times the length of the beam flexion moment in that one point.
It is a very crude solution, and I would not trust it if not solidly joined, but it might work.
But I'm not entirely sure if they're suggesting distributing the load across several beams, or increasing the area of the one beam.

Nevertheless, I'd prefer if pictures were provided.

[May90]

I don't think sand is a good filler. It gets way too dense, so, unless you are a very experienced fighter, all you might do is to break your skin. I'd suggest something with more space between pieces. Rice is used quite often, rags, some foaming might be in order - depends on your style.

[Rasulis]

If the beam is 2 x 4, then likely your garage roof is supported on a truss system. A post and lintel system on a two-car garage would use double 2 x 8. At least I would.

In a truss system, the members are designed to primarily carry axial load. They are not designed to carry significant shear, rotational and bending moment loads. Creaking sounds mean that you are putting stress at the connections. Your beam is probably not quite square, and you are putting both bending and rotational (twisting) forces at the connections. Not to mention that, depending on the age of the house and geographic location, the connections are probably not strapped.

Take that bag off right now. Buy yourself a bag stand.

[Justpassing]

I'll start by saying this probably shouldn't be in this section, but it seems more fitting than the sports/fitness section.

I've filled a heavy bag with 75kg~ of sand, and have hung it from one of the beams of my garage using some rope. It seems to make the beams creek, which makes me assume it's pretty heavy on them and I don't exactly want the garage caving on me while I go at the bag

So does anybody know how I could reinforce the beams to allow it to be hung? or any other ways I can hang it?

Get a professional punching bag? Or did you just randomly decide to hang up a bag full of sand?

[Celista]

75kg sounds like a lot of sand, even for a punching bag. Maybe start with 50kg? Have you been training in a gym before you decided upon the do-it-yourself approach?

[Rasulis]

75kg sounds like a lot of sand, even for a punching bag. Maybe start with 50kg? Have you been training in a gym before you decided upon the do-it-yourself approach?

50 kg is a lot already. It is approaching the top end for heavy weight boxers. Most will stick with 80 - 100 lbs.

- - - Updated - - -

Get a professional punching bag? Or did you just randomly decide to hang up a bag full of sand?

Most punching bags come empty to safe on shipping. Not to mention different people have different methods of filling the bags.

[Jinpachi]

Creaking in wood structures is normal. It's a sign of flexibility. I wouldn't worry too much about it, but the comment about distributing the weight with a wider 2x4 and an eyebolt is never a bad idea.

[May90]

75kg sounds like a lot of sand, even for a punching bag. Maybe start with 50kg? Have you been training in a gym before you decided upon the do-it-yourself approach?

The weight isn't that important, I'd say: when I did boxing, I had an 80 kg bag in my room, and it served its purpose well. The material, specifically the filling, is what matters the most, I think.

[Rasulis]

Creaking in wood structures is normal. It's a sign of flexibility. I wouldn't worry too much about it, but the comment about distributing the weight with a wider 2x4 and an eyebolt is never a bad idea.

Creaking sound when the structure is subjected to transient loads (wind & seismic) or when somebody walked on a floor board is not a big deal. Creaking sound from a bag that is going to hang on a beam for an extended period of time is never good.

[nextormento]

The weight isn't that important, I'd say: when I did boxing, I had an 80 kg bag in my room, and it served its purpose well. The material, specifically the filling, is what matters the most, I think.

What makes for a good bag is rather offtopic, for OP is concerned about load bearing and structural safety, but I'm curious anyway: care to offer rationale?

Let it be known that I have exactly 0 knowledge about boxing, but the way I see it, inertia, density and elasticity should be 3 very important features for the filling.
Inertia (mass) is in direct relation with how much the structure gives.
Density conditions the size.
Elasticity should be important for safety concerns, as well as offering a satisfying feeling on the punch.
Finally, what outer material the bag is made off will determine it's durability as well as contributing to the sensation on the punch.

[Jinpachi]

Creaking sound when the structure is subjected to transient loads (wind & seismic) or when somebody walked on a floor board is not a big deal. Creaking sound from a bag that is going to hang on a beam for an extended period of time is never good.

True, but was about when the bag is swinging around while its being beat on? would that count as a transient load?