Mounting platform in a corner?

[ammonihah99]

Firstly, I'm a noob. Never even hit a speed bag before (that I can remember) but I do have 15 years of experience in martial arts (American Kenpo). I also want to say this is an awesome forum and has been a great help to me in browsing.

I initially wanted to find a Craigslist kind of deal on a setup, but being fairly handy and having improvised training aids before (not to mention budget constraints), I have decided to build my own (which I didn't even think about doing until finding myself here). I have a little home gym that I will build it in, but I would prefer to save as much space as possible as the space is multipurpose. It doesn't need to collapse or fold up to fit a car past it or anything, I just want to keep my options open.

My question is whether or not it would be wise to mount a platform in a corner. I can foresee a two-fold practical advantage: efficient use of space and a more solid construction, with stability coming from two walls vs. one. The disadvantage I can foresee is obviously limited range of motion. But in my limited speed bag experience, I can't see myself moving that much around the bag—at least not like a heavy bag—so I'm not sure it's enough to dissuade me from putting it in the corner, as right now the pros outweigh the cons.

Like I said I'm a total noob so any insight or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Ammon

[Kyle]

Firstly, I'm a noob. Never even hit a speed bag before (that I can remember) but I do have 15 years of experience in martial arts (American Kenpo). I also want to say this is an awesome forum and has been a great help to me in browsing.

I initially wanted to find a Craigslist kind of deal on a setup, but being fairly handy and having improvised training aids before (not to mention budget constraints), I have decided to build my own (which I didn't even think about doing until finding myself here). I have a little home gym that I will build it in, but I would prefer to save as much space as possible as the space is multipurpose. It doesn't need to collapse or fold up to fit a car past it or anything, I just want to keep my options open.

My question is whether or not it would be wise to mount a platform in a corner. I can foresee a two-fold practical advantage: efficient use of space and a more solid construction, with stability coming from two walls vs. one. The disadvantage I can foresee is obviously limited range of motion. But in my limited speed bag experience, I can't see myself moving that much around the bag?at least not like a heavy bag?so I'm not sure it's enough to dissuade me from putting it in the corner, as right now the pros outweigh the cons.

Like I said I'm a total noob so any insight or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Ammon

right now maybe not but in the near future with 15 years kenpo experience you will pick up the speed bag fast and i think you will be very disappointed u built it there so i would say dont do it. you will be doing great things on the bag after a month i think. but then again its up to u...its not my house.
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BIG WOMEN LIVE

[Tim]

Firstly, I'm a noob. Never even hit a speed bag before (that I can remember) but I do have 15 years of experience in martial arts (American Kenpo). I also want to say this is an awesome forum and has been a great help to me in browsing.

Welcome to the forums. Glad to hear you've found it useful.

My question is whether or not it would be wise to mount a platform in a corner. I can foresee a two-fold practical advantage: efficient use of space and a more solid construction, with stability coming from two walls vs. one. The disadvantage I can foresee is obviously limited range of motion. But in my limited speed bag experience, I can't see myself moving that much around the bag—at least not like a heavy bag—so I'm not sure it's enough to dissuade me from putting it in the corner, as right now the pros outweigh the cons.

That does sound like a good idea, I haven't seen this done before but I agree that it sounds like it would be very stable.

I do most all of my speed bagging pretty much rooted in one spot, sure I could move around the bag, but I mostly speed bag for speed bag's sake, not necessarily for a cardio workout.

As far as range of motion, how much space you will need will depend to some degree on hitting style - will you be doing just boxing style hitting (i.e. punching only from the front?) or bible style - passing fists through the bag and hitting from the sides, back , and front? In either case, as long as the platform is large enough I think you'll be ok.

[Speedbag]

Firstly, I'm a noob. Never even hit a speed bag before (that I can remember) but I do have 15 years of experience in martial arts (American Kenpo). I also want to say this is an awesome forum and has been a great help to me in browsing.

I initially wanted to find a Craigslist kind of deal on a setup, but being fairly handy and having improvised training aids before (not to mention budget constraints), I have decided to build my own (which I didn't even think about doing until finding myself here). I have a little home gym that I will build it in, but I would prefer to save as much space as possible as the space is multipurpose. It doesn't need to collapse or fold up to fit a car past it or anything, I just want to keep my options open.

My question is whether or not it would be wise to mount a platform in a corner. I can foresee a two-fold practical advantage: efficient use of space and a more solid construction, with stability coming from two walls vs. one. The disadvantage I can foresee is obviously limited range of motion. But in my limited speed bag experience, I can't see myself moving that much around the bag—at least not like a heavy bag—so I'm not sure it's enough to dissuade me from putting it in the corner, as right now the pros outweigh the cons.

Like I said I'm a total noob so any insight or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Ammon

As an Experienced Kempo practitioner, I think you have several things to consider. First, from your space lay out and information, the corner set up may be ideal, and will not effect the normal speed bag punching out to much unless you have a tiny board. It may help stability for you will move to power punching pretty quick.

From a workout standpoint, you may want to move to the elbow strikes pretty quickly, for the speed bag will let you do some pretty quick and effective multiple elbow - fist combinations which I believe most martial artists really favor. The corner set up won't bother that either, But it may cause a problem IF you want to do some kicking. You will have to use caution to make sure your set up and chamber won't be cramped by the wall, or be sure your follow won't hit it. Corner set ups may present a problem for 180 turning hook kicks and spinning crescent kicks due to the distance covered and follow through.

Most folks don't do a lot of footwork all around the bag
and stay in the face-front standard position as Tim said. I would say try the corner set up if it is the most efficient for your space utilization, and if it presents a problem you can always remodel it later.

Good luck with your set up and keep us posted on how your progressing.