Century BOB XL Punching Bags - Freestanding Boxing Dummy for Adults & Martial Arts Kickboxing Training

Truth be told, I wanted to get a heavy bag but had nowhere to put it. I got Bob at the end of 2019 but put him into semi-retirement because punching him always ended up with my wrists getting hurt and the insides of my fingers getting scraped. I am a long-time MMA fan and had gotten some 4oz UFC gloves to beat on Bob. 4oz gloves really aren't adequate, nor are bare fists advisable against Bob unless you punch with the strength of a baby.Fast forward to quarantine and I ordered some 14oz Hayabusa T3 gloves, and Bob is a whole new experience. I've been beating on him about every other day for the past month and he's helping me to lose fat in conjunction with diet modification. I put on some heavy metal and go to town on Bob for about 30 minutes as hard as I can. Great stress relief and I always work up a sweat. Fat is coming off and my diet can stay a little closer to maintenance since I'm getting the cardio in.The best thing about Bob / a heavy bag is that the cardio is actually fun. I HATE running and I hate jumping rope. Most forms of cardio really suck. But beating the living hell out of this mean-mugging dummy really doesn't get old. You can get creative to keep it fresh. Sometimes I will blast his stomach with a hundred punch jab/straight combo just to max out my heart rate. Other times I will practice slipping into hooks. And still other times I will get elaborate and technical, maybe start out with a jab to the face followed by a 4 hook body combo and ending with a thunderous shovel hook to the head. I've given Bob my best spinning backfists and teep kicks and he still sits there with that mean mug, ready for more! It's also fun to emulate fighters. Pretend to be Nick Diaz and throw a pitter patter smattering of body and head hooks, or pretend to be Dan Henderson and throw a lights out Haymaker. Bob can take it all!Bob is very durable and setup only took me about 30 minutes all told, just filling up the base with a hose.The worst part about Bob is that even if he is fully filled with water, the base will scoot around as you beat on him. I know this can be mitigated with sand, but I have him in a small corner of the room and I don't want to exert myself super hard if I ever want to move him outside or into the living room.HOWEVER, I have figured out a way to somewhat deal with the scooting. Once Bob has scooted somewhere you don't want him, all you need to do is "clinch" him and then scoot him clockwise or counter-clockwise in little circles. For instance place your left hand into Bob's right shoulder and PUSH and then put your right hand onto the back of Bob's left hip and PULL. This will scoot him in a counter-clockwise circle. This way you are using leverage to scoot the base around rather than manually trying to get near the ground and scoot the base.The wobble can also be mitigated by going to the body more. If you whack the head really hard, this causes the base to displace more than if you hit the body just due to the physics involved. Doesn't mean you can never hit the head, but you'll just have to be aware that if you do, the base will move more. So if you want to go full power for an extended period without worrying about resetting, attacking the body will be to your benefit.Of note, the full size version has thighs, and it is fun to sink kicks into them. Probably my favorite thing to do with Bob is to body-kick him though. A flush roundhouse body kick feels amazing and realistic.I highly recommend Bob if you are serious about losing fat and hate running, biking, jumping rope, etc. Just make sure you get a pair of good quality boxing gloves so that you can hit Bob and not screw up your hands or wrists. Also beware that he will scare the sh*t out of you and others for the first couple months lol. He cuts a very convincing silhouette and looks mean as all hell.I've seen videos of Conor McGregor beating up on Bob, so if Bob is good enough for Conor, he should be good enough for all of us.

I purchased Bob XL to practice Krav Maga when I'm not in class. I have found this to be a way to stay sharp between classes. Of course you can't do everything with Bob like in a class setting with a live partner, than again there are some punches I can do to Bob I can't do to a live partner.To fill Bob I used a plastic gallon milk jug, just cut the bottom off turned upside it down, sits right in the fill hole and used a bungee cord wrapped around the plastic part that Bob sits in and the handle of the milk jug, filled it with 5 50lb bags of play sand. The sand was very dry (like everything else this Summer in Texas) so it took me by myself maybe 10 minutes at the most to fill. The plastic milk jug never moved and made pouring in the base a snap. Also, you will see on the Amazon page a green funnel, that does not come with it. One of the other folks bought that at a local Auto store for $5.00 dollars and posted the picture of what he used to fill the base with sand. It looks misleading because the picture is right next to picture of Bob XL. In many of the reviews I can tell that folks though that came with it.I have Bob in my garage in my apartment, and yes you can and will rock the base with good punches so you have to have him in a place that won't bother others. Punching his head doesn't quiet feel exactly right, but if you punch at his chin than a bit more life like feel, than higher up, still very good target practice! I can use Bob like a punching bag if I raise him up and punch into his chest. I'm only 5'7 155 pounds, so I would say if you are a big guy with some weight to boot I don't know if you would be satisfied with just having Bob, maybe have a 100lb heavy bag also. For me though at my size Bob works fine for that. Wear gloves, I use the Century Adults' Leather Martial Arts Wrap Gloves I use in Krav Maga for hitting, they work well, just sized a little small, so you need to test fit them, along with any glove really unless you've used them before. I found them at a local Academy Sports here in Texas.So I have found Bob XL to be an excellent investment, the shipping was very fast, ordered on a Thursday afternoon, got him from Fed Ex the following Monday afternoon. I run a lot, so on days in between running I'll go out into my garage for an hour and give Bob a beating, I do a variety of 2 minute drills similar to drills we do in class to get my heart rate up and to push myself, and I always come way drenched, so you can get a excellent workout if you push yourself. I have also noticed my punches are getting much stronger and I gotten into even better shape using Bob. I practice a variety of punches, elbows, and all the different techniques we use in Krav Maga, side kicks, you do have to be careful with front kicks if you kick too low, you could hit the plastic Bob sits on (In Krav we really don't focus on high kicks like in other MMA's do) I've been trying to find something that I can wrap around that area (between Bob and the base) to cushion that area so I don't bust a toe if I miss kicking Bob in the groin, haven't found anything I'm satisfied with yet.So I am very satisfied with my purchase of Bob XL, and I would certainly get the XL over the smaller Bob, worth the extra money. So if you use Bob he will make an excellent training tool, if you don't.... Well it's not like the rails on the sides of a tread mill that you can hang cloths on. Then again I guess you could use Bob has a mean looking mannequin, and like someone else said, very useful for Halloween! If your serious about whatever kind of Mixed Marital Arts, Boxing, or training you are doing, I would highly recommend Bob XL.