Customer Reviews

Century The Original Wavemaster Training Bag (Red)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have owned this item for about 5 years and it is still going strong. I use it for about 20-45 mins/ day about 4-5 times per week.

Bare knuckle or with gloves. I primarily do boxing workouts but it has seen its fair share of kicks, knees and elbows and never seen a tear or a worn spot.

The padding is about 4" thick and beneath is a solid plastic ring that alows you to adjust the height. This is also what keeps it from getting worn spots like a regular punching bag.

I used to work out at a friends house who had a 40lb everlast hanging bag and after a few months we tore it and had to hold it together with duct tape, which made us all sticky after every workout.

You can fill the base with water or sand, i have never filled it up all the way, but its pretty stable. If you cant use a hose and have it inside i made a funnel by cutting the bottom off of a 2 liter coke bottle and running back and forth to the bath tub with milk jugs.

Great product for anyone not wanting to drill holes in their ceiling to hang a regular punching bag.

The "original" Wavemaster free-standing training bag is an older design, but it is still one of the top models available. The large base allows the bag to be hit with significant force without tipping, and the long center pole provides a target area up to a rough height of five and a half feet. The unpadded plastic base is resistant to damage, but can still be broken if accidentally kicked with too much force - an important aspect to realize, since this "no-kick" area is the first foot and a half of the device. The bag can be pushed/rolled into a corner when not in use, but be aware that it is somewhat difficult to move when completely filled. And, while this bag is especially good at absorbing the force of non-linear strikes (round kicks, hook kicks, hook punches), linear strikes that go UPWARD (non-thrusting front kick, grazing uppercuts) will tend to rip the padding from the glue/center that holds it in place, breaking the bag. Still, this is definitely one of the best models to get for the price (at the time of this writing, ranging between $100 and $135 depending on sales and shipping), and I highly recommend it.

But, is a free-standing bag for you? This type of bag IS NOT for everyone in every instance. A free standing bag...
- is NOT SILENT. If you live in an apartment building or have people living below you, THEY WILL HEAR/FEEL you striking this bag (just like a more traditional punching bag).
- is NOT IMMOVABLE. All bags move when struck - hanging bags, however, eventually swing back into position. The "give" this movement provides is a good thing, as anyone that has ever kicked a telephone pole or punched a brick wall can tell you. The bag provides significant resistance to strikes, but it can be knocked over or slid if struck with too much force or improper technique. Try working both sides of the bag during a workout in order to keep it in the same general place.
Make sure to keep these aspects in mind when considering your purchase.

Note: A "waterbed fill & drain kit" is an excellent purchase to go with this bag, as it allows the Wavemaster to be easily drained and filled (along with a hose) as needed. Most people will not be able to lift the Wavemaster when it is completely filled with water, so having a way to drain it (especially if you intend to move in the next year or so) is a must.

I just got my bag and was really excited about it but then I started punching it.

PROS:
--It is very easily stored as it is not too large when all the way down to the bottom setting.
--The bag itself seems to be pretty durable and can take some punishment.
--good price

CONS:
--I am 6'3 and need the bag to be at the highest adjustment for a good straight punch. When it is at that adjustment, the bag is very wobbly and makes a lot of noise when it is punched. I had to use duct tape to tape the bag to the base for less movement. This makes it tough to adjust the height to be lower for kicks.

--It makes a lot of noise when it scoots across the concrete floor of my garage during a workout. I havent tried sand in the base only water and that may be my next option to remedy this problem.

IN SUMMARY: If I had to do it again, I would probably opt for the larger wavemaster XXL. I will make do with what I have for now, but if you are a larger framed person, go for the larger bag, not the cheaper one.

Length:: 1:33 Mins

The Century Wavemaster Freestanding Training Bag is a decent bag for martial arts workouts. Our TeaKwonDo studio has about eight of these and we liked using them in our workouts. We were lucky enough to get ours locally and find it a very useful training aid. Here are my observations:

While I really can't speak to the packaging or shipping of these, the setup really couldn't be easier. This unit consists of the hollow base and the striking padding. The Base can be filled with water (which we use), sand, or a combination of both. When filled with water it is weighs over 200lbs and can moved around by tilting it on an angle and rolling it. The pad is inserted over the base shaft and can be adjusted by twisting and positioning it near the correct height and locking it in place (see video).

The assembled and filled unit is fairly sturdy, but it does tend to move and slide around when it is hit with force (see video). We usually use ours in the yard or on mats in our garage so the movement isn't really a problem for us, but this would make a racket on a house or apartment floor.

The large base is not a target area and needs to be avoided when kicking. The base also rocks upwards and it would be possible to get toes caught under it on the bounce, so some caution needs to be used if advancing on the unit.

The striking padding is thick enough to absorb the hardest blows, but the covering can be a little rough on the knuckles if gloves aren't worn for protection. The covering has held up well, both on ours and on the ones we use in class.

This is a very good alternative to a heavy bag and really helps to develop better striking power.

Recommended, with the above caveats.

CFH

I've had my Wavemaster for 12 years. I am a lifelong martial artist and former boxer, so this thing has seen some beatings! After thousands of hours of striking, it still looks brand new. I fill mine with water, and use a small square of foam matting underneath it to dampen noise & reduce slide. While it doesn't give the same impact resistance as a heavy bag, it's MUCH move durable, portable, and easier on your joints. I would still recommend hand wraps and bag gloves, however. Nothing sets back your training faster than a wrist/hand sprain. Great bag though. I'm going to have to put it in my will, cause this thing's going to outlive me.

This bag is awesome. I pack a lot of punch and was worried it might not have enough weight behind it to stay put. I was able to put 4 bags of 50lbs of sand in it. I have room for one more, which it kind of needs because it does still scoot a bit across the floor i just haven't gotten around to it.

I scooted it into a corner so that i could brace it with the wall and a towel (to quiet it down) and that seems to work. I just can't do 360 work out on it now.

I'm 5'5" packing punch and it's stable. It has many height adjustments to fit anyones need. Unless are you freakishly tall? I only worry about getting the sand out? But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

All in all it's a great bag, i'm just starting so it hasn't had TONS of use, but just for recreational use i think it's perfect. Especially for the price.

This is a well made bag but as noted in other reviews it is no replacement for a good heavy bag.(a heavy, heavy bag)I bought this bag for my step kids who are into TKD. They are small 9 and 11 year olds so I thought the bag would be fine even with the well documented problem of it moving around. Well, not really. Even with some relatively light strikes the base moves all over the place. We have a rubber mat under it and finally stacked sandbags around it which slowed it down a bit. (and yes the base is totally filled with sand) If I hit or kick it I basically have to reset the thing after a few strikes and I am not Joe Frazer.

Now the good. It does take up very little space. If you placed it in a corner it might stay put. It also is impressively well made. If you have bought/used much boxing and other martial arts equipment you know there is a lot of just plain junk out there. This is definately not junk.

So as an adjunct to other equipment this is a fine addition especially if you need the space savings. Just depends on what you are using it for. Exercise, targeting of blows-fine, pick one up. If you want to work on really delivering blows then be careful or you will end up pulling your punches just to avoid the annoyance of the thing moving. And I should note that I picked mine up used for a third of new so I won't be complaining about price.

I'm impressed. It hasn't broken yet, so I haven't had to try out any of the adjusting notch fixes that I have read about. Maybe I'm just a lightweight but I feel like I've tagged it pretty good and it still works well. DO NOT RAISE THE BAG TO ITS HIGHEST POSITION! Then it will break as it will not be supported. The bag walks a bit when you work it which is good in some ways as it forces you to circle the bag, working evenly on all sides in order to keep it in roughly the same place. The underside of this thing will probably damage wood floors. Ive got mine outside on dirt which is working out well for me. The dirt deadens the sound of the bag's base rocking back and forth when you hit it, and I can leave the base outside and bring in the bag (which just slides down over the base.) If you are used to a hanging bag this thing takes a bit of getting used to, but it is most definitely better than nothing if you do not have the option of hanging a bag.

I like the size of this bag. It's big enough for myself and husband both to use at same time yet small enough it doesn't take up large storage space.
Easy to put together. Bag and stand seem sturdy.

There's not much to complain about with this punching bag. True, it moves around the room as you're hitting it, but that forces you to move around and work on all sides of the bag so it's hardly a negative to me. It's also not as if the bag flies from one side to the other, I'd say on a solid punch the base will slide a few inches. What drops off a star to me is the fact that the filling hole is located in an odd spot. I've seen some free standing bags which have the opening at the very top of the black base. Obviously it can only fill up to the hole level so the part you wrap the pad around is not actually filled. It still provides nice resistance , but it would be nice to add a tad more weight by filling the base all the way up. Overall, it's sturdy and easy to move around. Hard pressed not to recommend it if you don't feel like hanging an ugly heavy bag in your house/garage.