Advise for hanging 25kg heavy bag from pergola

[goncoza]

Hi Guys,

I recently got a heavy bag for my birthday and hang it from our pergola in the backyard; as I started exercising with it came to realise that it gets very noisy every time I punch/kick the bag. Perhaps is nothing to worry about and the noise is normal, given that the roof is of a plastic like material; in any case, Both my wife and I are wondering whether the pergola structure is sound enough for holding the weight and the motion of the swinging bag... At this point I am not using the heavy bag anymore, to avoid people getting too nervous...

It would be great if anyone can provide any advice/thoughts   

Details:

The heavy bag is 4 feet long but only 25kg

I have an average height/weight (175cm/ ~80kg), so it is not like the Rock or Chris Hemsworth is punching the bag

I am attaching a few photos of the setup; (note1: please do not mind my terrible quick and dirty knot ; note2: ignore the purple string in one of the photos, it was to mark a possible location of where the bag would go; at the end, I decided to place the bag in the cross-section of two beams)

The part I am worried about the most with this setup is one of the ends of the beam that the heavy bag hangs from (see the last pic); so any particular thoughts/comments about it are particularly welcomed   

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @goncoza. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about hanging a boxing bag.

You're likely experiencing such a loud noise due to the bag being located centrally and the polycarbonate roof reverberating the sound of the bag being struck. Ideally, you'd want the bag to be located on the shortest beam between two supports. I presume you haven't located the bag between the two pillars because the 2 metres is not quite large enough to kick it. I've added a white arrow in the image below of an ideal location. However, I understand there might not be enough space here.

I'm not a fan of the "weak spot" you've identified and how the beam connects to the roof structure. There could be some really fancy work done here behind the scenes that I can't fathom, but I really hope that beam hasn't been notched to accommodate the gutter and simply fastened to the fascia board. If so, that's really not a great building technique. Those beams need to be connected to the roof structure, not the fascia board, and can't have nearly half their height notched out like that over that span. 

Let me mention @TedBear and @tom_builds to see if they have any thoughts.

Mitchell

[goncoza]

HI Mitchell,

Many thanks for your advice, you are a gem!!

The pergola was already here, back when we bought this place, so I do not know the thinking behind when the pergola was installed (neither for how long it has been in the house); It does sound like something to have a closer look at...

You are correct, I did not put the bag in between the columns because It restricts me from kicking it and moving around as it swings. It cannot be appreciated from my photos, but there are 3 steps coming off the area where the two columns are (i.e. the backyard has a split level); This means that with the new location, I would need to go up and down the stairs as I move around the bag.

Saying that I would rather have a heavy bag that can only be hit from a ~120° arc area,  than not having a heavy bag at all because the "ideal" 
hanging spot is dangerous to the pergola structure.

I just hung the bag in your proposed location and it is still functional enough; I could actually get a very good workout. which is the main thing  

Also, with the new location, the polycarbonate roof noise is so much lower, just a tiny bit. I presume that the minor remaining reverberations are most probably not a sign of damage to the polycarbonate roof, so it shouldn't be something to be worried about? 

Cheers

Gonzalo

[Noyade]

Would a large spring between the bag and wherever you attach it to - reduce the resonance/vibrations in the pergola?

The springs I saw were in the hammock section of Bunnings, so there would be no issue holding the weight.

Or would it 'bob' about too much?

We had a similar experience with our son's punching bag in a outdoor area that was covered with corrugated iron. Each punch sounded like the Concorde passing by. I just came to the conclusion that punching bags and the average Aussie pergola are a bad mix.

What do they do (attachment wise) with the bags in gymnasiums?

[tom_builds]

Hi @goncoza and thanks for the tag @MitchellMc.

@goncoza I think your choice ro move the bag to the location @MitchellMc suggested is a good one. To further reduce the noise made, similar to what @Noyade suggested, if it were me I would tie a carabiner or D-Shackle to the bottom of the beam with a strap (as tight as possible), and then hang the bag from that. It should reduce the lateral forces being applied to the beam as the bag will only be swinging from the bottom of the beam whereas as it is currently tied the whole beam is involved in absorbing the swinging motions.

Hope I've explained that in an understandable way, and hopefully you will have the heavy bag sorted!

[MitchellMc]

That beam you've moved the bag to is well supported, and I can't imagine you are doing any damage to the roof's structure now @goncoza.

If you were prepared to investigate that original beam and potentially re-enforce it, you could move your bag back to the original position despite the noise. You'd just want to make sure the beam has a solid connection with the house's roof structure.

Mitchell

[goncoza]

Thanks Noyade for the suggestion. I am going to leave the bag in the location proposed by Mitchell and there the noise is not an issue anymore. It restricts the movements I can do while exercising, but it is more than good enough. I can imagine that the noise would get quite loud with an iron roof...Now after the fact, I agree that it is hard to find a good place for hanging a heavy bag in a pergola.  

I used to go to a gym and train a bit with the heavy bag there; they used a bracket attached to the wall for supporting the bag. I was not a fan of having such a thing in my backyard, so when with a simple rope instead..of course, it proved to me not exempt from disadvantages (i.e. the noise, risk of beam pergola structure not being adequate)

[goncoza]

Thanks Mitchell for the reassurance. I will be leaving the bag in the new position. Maybe in the future, I find it worth checking ways of moving it back to the initial place. Happy New year

[MitchellMc]

Happy New Year to you too, @goncoza!

[goncoza]

Hi @tom_builds , thanks for the observation, do you mean something like the photo below?