Imagine a boxer, an MMA fighter or a martial artist has poor reflexes. This literally sets the bar low for him/her. Anyone in other sports branches can also use better reflexes so we see that people in many different sports branches train with reflex bags.
In addition to that, a reflex bag, which is a subcategory of free standing punching bags, can even benefit you in many different ways. Firstly, we will start with the reviews of the 5 best reflex bags on the market. Then you can read why reflex bags are irreplaceable components of martial arts gyms and a thorough buying guide.
Table of Contents
- Ringside Fitness Reflex Bag (Editor’s Choice)
- Everlast Freestanding Reflex Bag
- Fitness Maniac Reflex Bag
- MaxMMA Speed-Adjustable
- Everlast Hyperflex
- How to Purchase a Reflex Bag?
- How to Assemble a Reflex Bag?
- Benefits of Reflex Bags
1. Ringside Fitness Reflex Bag
Training Quality: 9.9 / 10.0
Cost Efficiency: 9.2 / 10.0
Check It Out: on Amazon
Pros
- The first choice of many martial arts gyms
- Amazing swing rate
- High base capacity
- Adjustable height (49″ – 69″)
- You can clean it with wipes
You can see Ringside Fitness Reflex Bag in martial arts gyms all over the world. I have seen this fitness reflex bag more than 7 gyms and boxing trainers are quite satisfied with this particular product. So it earned the top spot of this list.
It has a spring which allows this bag to move and swing less than usual. In this way, it actually helps you have a more control over the bag and swinging less is ideal for reflex bags. Since if it swings a lot, it comes at you slower and you have more time to react to it. So you may not reap all the benefits. Thus Ringside has an ideal construction to improve hand-eye coordination, reflexes.
The base can be filled up to 125-pound with water or if you prefer heavier you can fill it with sand and it becomes 240 pounds when you fill it fully. When you prefer sand, the base becomes ultra stable.
The height can be adjusted between 49″ and 69″. So comparing to the other reflex punching bags, the height variation is more so you can try out different heights and prefer one which you are most comfortable with. When it also has a lot of height selections, the bag becomes ideal for a lot of people, who have different heights, to practice.
Check out Ringside Fitness Reflex Bag
2. Everlast Freestanding Reflex Bag
Training Quality: 9.1 / 10.0
Cost Efficiency: 8.9 / 10.0
Pros
- Good swing rate
- Ergonomic design
- Really easy to install
- 4 months warranty
- Adjustable height
This bag also has a spring which does not allow crazy swing and it is mounted at the bottom. Based on my research on forums, the sturdy body is not going to break any time soon. So even if you can’t punch or kick lightly time to time you are most likely not going to break it.
It has an adjustable height and you can turn the adjustable nut which is in the middle of the body and just adjust it according to your height. The base is smaller than usual and it can be filled with sand or water up to 50 Lbs. Everlast Freestanding Reflex Bag is really easy to install and the manual is quite straightforward. You can basically do it within 2 minutes.
As almost any other Everlast boxing equipment, this one has 4 months warranty. If anything happens to the bag or you just decide not to train with it within this period you can simply return it.
3. Fitness Maniac Reflex Bag
Training Quality: 9.9 / 10.0
Cost Efficiency: 9.0 / 10.0
Pros
- Very quality materials
- Adjustable height
- Soft shell
- The adjustable speed!
- Suitable for everyone
Cons
- The height variation is not much
Alright, let’s start with a really awesome quality which is the adjustable speed. You can adjust the speed according to your level and once you get better at it you can increase the speed of this reflex bag. When this is the case it becomes suitable for everyone including beginners.
The materials have good quality and the plastic base can be filled with either sand or water.
Fitness Maniac Bag has only one drawback. It has an adjustable height however you can change it only between 56.2″ – 60.8″. So it is a little over 4 inches and it is not much at all. So if two people have a lot of height difference, they just can’t train with it but other than this there is not anything negative about this bag.
Considering the adjustable speed and quality materials, hands down Fitness Maniac Reflex Bag is one of the best freestanding reflex bags on the market.
4. MaxMMA Speed-Adjustable
Training Quality: 9.1 / 10.0
Cost Efficiency: 8.7 / 10.0
- Adjustable speed
- Adjustable height
- Decent materials
- Popular
MaxMMA is one of the popular reflex bags and after reading a couple of Sherdog posts and watching some YouTube videos I realized that many regular guys, who train at home, get it for their own home boxing gyms.
MaxMMA is made of standard materials. For example, the body is made of steel and the base is plastic. It has adjustable speed and height though you can’t decrease or increase the speed as much as you do with Fitness Maniac (the bag above) with MaxMMA. But still, it is above a certain level and does the job.
5. Everlast Hyperflex
Training Quality: 8.8 / 10.0
Cost Efficiency: 9.3 / 10.0
- Adjustable height
- 3 different workout types
- Very good price!
- 4 months warranty
As you can see, it has 3 different adjustable nuts. Each of them provides a different workout type. For example, one of them provides extremely fast workouts. The other one, which is straight flex, provides you to practice footwork and improve timing. Lastly, you can mostly work on your precision with the hyper flex setting.
Basically, Everlast Hyperflex is ideal for improving various different skills.
You can fill the base with classic materials and this really cheap reflex punching bag has also 4 months money back guarantee.
How to Purchase a Reflex Bag?
The Materials: PU leather is superior to the other materials and used for bags. It is also safe and it is produced without using animal skin. PU leather is durable and does not cause irritations. Even though this leather is not genuine it is smooth and “feels” like genuine leather.
Adjustable: If there are a couple of people who want to train with it, it is always ideal for a bag to have an adjustable height so you can train at a level which is suitable. This is a must for the reflex punching bags if the children and adults want to use the same bag. As a side note, all the reflex bags above can be adjusted via adjustable nuts.
The Base: Some bases can’t be filled and these have their own weights. On the other hand, some bases can be filled with water or sand. With that being said, the base should be at least 30 pounds, period. This is the minimum weight which you should aim for. Because if it is less than that, even after you kick the bag lightly, it is most likely to move and this can ruin your workout. Also if you are not satisfied with the weight, you can always fill the base with sand instead of water.
The Price: Well, it is one of the best parts of reflex bags. These bags are not expensive at all. If you are on a budget like me, you can find a good and cheap reflex bag from a decent brand easily.
The Brands: Considering my experiences there is no dominant brand for reflex bags and over the years Ringside, MaxMMA, Cobra started producing really awesome reflex bags and I know very well that some other brands can start producing them since reflex bags get more and more popular.
How to Assemble a Reflex bag?
The reflex bags don’t come as installed. There are generally only a few pieces, which are the body, base, and a bag, to put together. However, it is incredibly easy and you honestly don’t even need the manual. Below there is a tutorial of Everlast which is the second bag on this list. You can check it out and see how it is done.
Do Fight Balls Work? There are fight balls which are tied to headbands. These generally have velcro closures and bungee cords. You can extend these cords according to your preference and basically punch the ball in a certain rhythm. To be honest it looks really silly to me and when I first tried it, I felt like a complete idiot so I don’t think that I benefited much from it. However, more importantly, it does not offer versatile workouts because the ball comes at you from close angles. In addition to that, you can’t even do any footwork with it.
Because of these reasons when I compare them to freestanding reflex bags, these are basically useless so you don’t see this type on the best reflex bags list above.
Benefits of Reflex Bags
Hand Eye Coordination: Reflex bags are built to decrease the reaction time and improving hand-eye coordination is one way to do it. Basically, after you punch a reflex bag, it moves quite fast and having a proper rhythm is not possible without a good hand-eye coordination.
This is one of the main reasons why many people in different sports branches prefer training with this bag type.
Improve Precision: It is a quite small target and it can come at you quite fast. The goal is to strike to right points so you can keep up a certain rhythm and continue having a good workout.
It is good for your Shoulder and Cervical Spine: Thanks to the light training and good posture while training, this workout relaxes your shoulders and I don’t know about you but my cervical spine does not stand straight which causes a posture problem. When you watch the video above or below, you can see that cervical spine has to stand straight to punch the bag so if you also have this problem, reflex bags can help you with that.
Improve Focus: Imagine that you are patiently trying to punch a quite small target which moves extra fast. I don’t know your skill level but whoever you are you need to focus on the bag all the time.
Patience: When I first started punching reflex bags I was quitting so early because I just didn’t have enough patience to go on and finish my workout. Because it can be extremely difficult to finish your session when you first started training with this bag. And these sessions were really annoying. People, who don’t have enough patience, certainly should include reflex bags in their training routines and actually need to finish the sessions!
Improve Your Defense, Footwork: These bags can hit you back and you can block the bag with your elbow, fist and basically work on your defensive skills. You can even punch and move around the bag. Practicing it according to a fast moving target help you figure out how to move in the ring.
Speed: Well it is not the first choice to improve to speed. After all, there are speed bags for that. However, have you watched the really popular video below? If you have never seen these bags in action, I highly suggest you check out the video below. After watching it I am sure that no one will ever doubt that these can be great for speed.
Physical Conditioning: After all, you are moving, punching, dodging from the bag… So your muscles work quite intensely and it is a good cardio. So depending on your caloric intake you can lose weight with these bags.
It is also really fun to workout with these bags and you will never get bored easily. Because the variations are endless and as you read above it also hits you back. This is something which you can’t experience with many other bag types.
What kind of Gloves can you use for Reflex Bags? The cover materials are not as tough as heavy bags however you need gloves. Boxing gloves, hand wraps, MMA gloves or some sort of striking gloves are suitable for you to train with these bags. However, there are people who don’t like wearing anything while punching these. And there is actually not a common choice for these bags. So you can choose whatever you are comfortable with. For example, I prefer MMA gloves which are not bulky. With that being said I also have seen a lot of boxers who only use boxing gloves for this training type as they want to punch with boxing gloves and get used to them as much as possible.
While I was doing a research for this article, I watched a video which Floyd Mayweather trains with a reflex bag while he was wearing boxing gloves and you can find this video below.
Shortly, the glove choice is up to you. Some reflex bags also come with some kind of gloves and are budget friendly.
Honestly, these bags are underrated and many people don’t seem to care about the benefits like improving hand-eye coordination and get the other benefits via other training types and the latter is actually understandable because if you train with double end bags, it is better for improving defense skills etc. But as I stated above, these bags are critical for the many aspects of your skill development
Note: Another good reflex bag is Cobra Reflex Bag, however, I did not include it since even though I checked out various sites I am still not sure that the company still produces it or not. However, it is a really good quality product and I can easily vouch for it since I know that many amateur boxers trained and had incredible results with it.
Reflex bags are not shown in boxing equipment guides. But after reading the benefits, I am sure that many of you will realize the importance of it and why everyone needs to have this training in their routines. And if you are thinking of buying one, above there are the reviews of the best reflex bags on the market, a buying guide, materials and basically everything related to reflex bags. I hope this article is informative for you and if you have questions, have a comment below and I will get back to you within 24 hours!
Thank you so much for going into detail about everything related to reflex bags! The video you posted about assembling a reflex bag is an awesome find. And I never realized all of those benefits that you listed. Great post!
Exactly even though that video does not come up at first and has somewhat low-quality it has some valuable information. Yeah I know, right? I just wanted to provide information so people can realize that they can use it for so many different purposes.
These all look excellent, but is one better for teens to use? I have preteen/teens and would like to get one for them, but I’m not sure if they will benefit from the same ones as an adult. Tips?
I like the idea of having one of these reflex bags in the house so you can use it whenever. What an excellent idea.
Very good article for anyone that is even slightly interested in buying a reflex bag. A lot of details and many options to choose from. Great work!
I provided thorough information as I know many martial artists search quite carefully for their needs. Thanks and if you want to ask anything I am here Stratos.
Hey there! This is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for.
I’ve just recently started Muay Thai and my reflexes are terrible. I always flinch and am afraid to hit my opponent.
I figured something like this would help me respond better to an ‘attack’. Will it?
I also like that they don’t take up a lot of space either because I don’t have a lot of space in my house.
Do you know which one would be better suited for a tall person over 6ft? Or would it be better to practice on a regular sized one since most of my ‘opponents’ won’t be as tall as me anyways?
Thanks,
Marlinda
I used to flinch and blink a lot as well and thanks to reflex bags, speed bags, and double end bags, I do it less often : ) So I know what you meant and yes these will help. I would recommend that pick one which has a more adjustable length. In this way, you can get used to targets which have different heights. By the way, all of the reflex bags above are suitable for people who are over 6 feet.
Good article, Furkan, and one I never really thought about that much. But now that I have seen them and read the reviews kinda makes me want one. This would be a good get in shape exercise for just about anyone. Does a person need a trainer to teach them to use it properly?
Yeah, I hear similar things from time to time. It looks really cool to watch someone train with this and this makes people want to train with it.
You can put some muscle mass on your shoulders and arms. This is also a not bad cardio as well. No, some reflex bags come with a training video and you can also watch beginner tutorials on anywhere.
Also, it is not hard to master.
Hi
Just wanted to thank you as you have provided really thorough information and motivated me to purchase a reflex bag.
I hadn’t realised how many benefits could apply!
Thanks again,
David
There are many martial arts related skills to improve with reflex bags.
Wow, incredible review of these reflex bags. I have a full standup punching bag from Century, but I never gave thought to getting one of these before. I like the Ringside Fitness model especially. Seem like a good price for the quality and the reviews look promising. Thanks for this in-depth review!
Century’s Freestanding Bag is completely different from this one. You can focus on building solid strength with that one and focus on punching precisely with it.
On the other hand, the reflex bags are used for improving other vital skills. Ringside Fitness Model is one of the best-sellers and I am sure it will not disappoint you.
This is an awesome guide Furkhan. My sister does MMA and I’ve been looking for a reflex bag for her and was a bit undecided, but your post has narrowed it down for me.
Also, thanks for sharing some info about how to purchase a reflex bag, now I have a better idea of what to look for.
These bags will improve her reflexes for sure. If you follow the guide to a tee, you can make a good purchase.
This was a through detailed description on how and what the reflex help your development as a fighter.I like that you can adjust the bag for different types of fighters. Everlast has been synonymous with pro boxing/ fighting for as long as I can remember . So you know they are going to make a quality product and the only one on your list with a warranty that actually helps builds trust with consumers .
Thanks for the share
Yeah, that brand has been around for decades. Reflex bags is a must tool for a boxer. You can even train at home with it as it easy to set up and does not take much space.
Love these bro just knowing that they’ll stay stable and you can fit it right in the comfort of your home and take your anger out on these bags!! Great content!!
Exactly. Many people use this bag for the psychological benefits.