Originally posted by tbro71
Speedbag shape & size
I was told they were going to leaner shape, like a "mexican style bag".
You can see several bag shape differences in this Bluegrass Medly videoclip
The opening song ("Contrast", by two unlimited) has a standard "old style" red-black panel ringside 9x6. The next two songs have a Yellow Title 8x5. during the "Rocky Top" song, a text comes up saying, "OK. lets go faster", and transitions to a song called "rolling in my sweet babies arms", where I'm hitting the newer, "mexican style" ringside red 8x5. That song transitions to the last song "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", again with the Title yellow 8x5.
These Bluegrass songs are extremely fast, and I'm normally hitting full bore to keep up when punching to them in syncopated rhythms (basic rhythm punching would be slower paced punching to this particular music)
There is a reason the Yellow 8x5 is seen more in this clip. I find it lighter (less to push.) and easier on the hands. That's not to say the more narrow bag is a bad, or a lesser quality bag, but I found that it took more effort to go at this speed than it did with the teardrop shape bag - and I'm doing this for about 30 minutes, non-stop. After using the "mexican style" 8x5 for a few songs, It came off-hook. I just prefer the teardrop. After using that "leaner" shape, I didn't particularly like it, and dubbed it a "bananna" bag.
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and think about it. Let's examine a little "speed bag technology", (which is OK on a speed bag forum....), First: a fatter (teardrop) 8x5 bag will contact the board and begin rebound compression slightly quicker than the narrower 8x5 bag. Second: if the leaner bag is also a bit longer per size (some brands are...) the rebound arc is then also longer, usually resulting in a slight loss of bag speed. You would have to hit it harder to keep up with the shorter bag.
don't think so??? Make an audio soundtrack of your fastest 8x5 punching (short rebound arc). Then play that tape/CD and try to keep up with it using a 10x6 or 11x8 (longer rebound arc) and see how much harder you have to hit to go that speed. (Musically, this is called a "click track", and many parts of songs are recorded on "rhythm click tracks in the studio" The click track sets the steady rhythm, and any instrument can play any individual part and rhythmically match the other. When I recorded speed bag rhythms for Blue Man Group a few years ago, many takes were hit to click tracks of different speeds. In the top picture of that link, notice the classic teardrop Ringside 8x5 on the board. It wasn't long enough to use on the "drums", so I changed to a larger black bag 9x6 and eventually an 11x8 bag.)
Anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' too it. Teardrop classic is my personal choice.