How to hang a heavy bag: ceiling, wall or stand

There are three good ways to hang a heavy bag: from a wood ceiling joist, from a wall, or on a stand. Which one fits depends on your room and on what your bag weighs once it's filled. Below are the ratings of the PROLAST mounts, stands and hardware, so you can match them to your bag before you drill a hole. Ratings from our product pages.

What you need

• Something to hang it from: a ceiling mount, a wall mount or a bag stand
• A nylon hanging strap, rated to 500 lb, looped through the bag's D-rings
• A carabiner, a steel spring snap hook with a working load limit of 270 lb, to clip the strap to the mount or stand

Our leather heavy bags and leather wrecking balls are the exception: they hang from the steel chain they ship with.

Ceiling, wall or stand

Ceiling mount

The simplest option when you have wood joists overhead. It's a steel hanger with a swivel eye on twin bearings, so the strap doesn't twist as the bag turns, and it fastens to a joist with the two lag bolts that come with it.

Wall mount

For rooms where a ceiling mount isn't an option, or for a heavier bag. The 38 in arm holds the bag far enough out from the wall that you can move all the way around it.

Stand

No drilling at all, which suits renters and finished ceilings. The single stand takes any size heavy bag and has room for four optional sandbags to keep it in place: two on the back leg and one on each side leg. They ship unfilled for you to fill with sand, or you can add our 55 lb filled sand bags. The T stands hold two or three bags and can be bolted to the floor instead.

Match the hardware to your bag

Compare your bag's filled weight with what each part is rated to hold:

For the 6 ft XL 300 lb bag, use the wall mount (500 lb) or a stand (450 lb single, 750 lb T stands), and clip the strap on with a hook rated above the bag's weight.

How to hang it, step by step

1. Choose the support from the tables above, for your room and your bag's filled weight.
2. Fix the mount. Ceiling mount: find a wood joist and fasten the mount to it with its two lag bolts and washers. Wall mount: line its holes up with wood studs or a filled masonry wall. Stand: set it on a level floor and fill or add its sandbags.
3. Loop the nylon strap through the bag's D-rings.
4. Clip the carabiner through the strap and onto the mount or stand.
5. Let the bag hang, check the carabiner's spring gate has snapped shut, and give it a few light shots before training hard.

Why a strap and not a chain

On our vinyl bags, the nylon strap sits between the hook and the D-rings. It protects the D-rings from metal-on-metal friction and keeps your warranty, and it's rated to 500 lb, more than our heaviest bag weighs filled.

Hanging height

Set the height for how you train. For punching, hang it so the part you aim at sits where your punches land in your stance; for kicks, a longer bag lower down. The single stand is 7.8 ft tall and the T stands 7.5 ft, so a stand sets the top of the bag for you.

No room to hang one?

A freestanding bag needs no mount or stand: it comes in 4, 5 and 6 ft (50, 140 and 240 lb).

Check it regularly

• The strap: stitching intact, no fraying
• The carabiner: the gate snaps shut on its own
• The mount: bolts tight, no movement in the joist or wall

Replace a worn strap or hook before you train on it again.

Frequently asked questions

Can I hang a heavy bag from drywall?

No. Fix a ceiling mount into a wood joist, a wall mount into wood studs or a filled masonry wall, or use a stand.

How much weight does the PROLAST ceiling mount hold?

250 lb. That rating covers every PROLAST stock bag up to the 5 ft XL 200 lb, but not the 6 ft XL 300 lb.

How do I hang a 300 lb heavy bag?

From the wall mount, which holds 500 lb, or on a stand: the single stand holds 450 lb and the T stands 750 lb. Our carabiner is rated to 270 lb, so use a hook rated above 300 lb for this bag.

Do I need a chain?

Not for a vinyl bag: use the nylon strap and a carabiner. Our leather bags hang from the chain they ship with.

Can I hang a heavy bag without drilling?

Yes: use a bag stand, or choose a freestanding bag.

Does the strap affect my warranty?

The nylon strap protects the D-rings from metal-on-metal friction and keeps your warranty.