With the abundance of home punching bags available on the market. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the options. I was in a similar situation, and after some research I landed on a winner. The Century Wavemaster comes with a high reputation as well as a large following of advocates that swear by this home boxing equipment.
Seeing the amazing reviews from friends and also online, I wanted to give it a try and see how it would fit in my boxing home gym. After about 6 months, this is my thoughts on the Century Wavemaster.
Overall a solid product and design. The Wavemaster lives up to the hype and fits most, if not all of what a home boxer would be looking for. The large base gives plenty of room to fill with your choice of water or sand. And the rounded shape allows it to be moved easily to other areas of your home. Made from plastic for the base and vinyl wrapped heavy foam for the bag. This punching bag proved to be extremely durable and held up well after 6 months of intense use.
| Pros | Cons |
| – Easy to set up – Strong and Durable – Height Adjustable 47″-68″ – High quality foam and vinyl | – Can slide when hit too hard – Filling the base can be challenging without a hose or funnel – Can be too short for users over 6 feet – not noise absorbant |
The Century Wavemaster comes in two separate pieces. The base and the bag portion. The base was larger then I anticipated and when transferring it from the store, it almost didn’t fit in my modest 4 door sedan.
If you’re worried about transfer issues as well, a hatchback, SUV or bigger should give you enough space. Be ready to drop the back seats if needed. Space inside the car wasn’t so much the issue, it was fitting it through the trunk or doorways that made it a bit trickier.
Other than that, the empty base and bag are extremely light and easy to be moved from car to wherever you plan to put it.
Setting Up The Century Wavemaster
Connecting the two pieces of the Wavemaster was a breeze. Simply slide the top bag covering over the base and adjust the height as needed. The base has tracks where the punching bag slides on and fits into. The tracks allow you to slide the bag higher or lower as needed and then locked into place.
Sliding the bag up and down and locking it into place is smooth and easy to do. Since you aren’t able to see the track when the bag is on, it might take a minute or two to get oriented.
After adjusting the bag to your desired height and before filling the base. You would need to figure out where you would want to place the Wavemaster. I would suggest to place it on some type of cushioned or rubber floor mat, especially if it is going to be on concrete, wooden floors or tiles.
This is to ensure that your floors and the Wavemaster are protected from any damage that can happen when in use. Although filling the base keeps it pretty sturdy, against hard punches and kicks, the Wavemaster could still shift a bit.
Filling The Century Wavemaster
The two most recommended fillers for the Wavemaster is water or sand. When filled to the brim, water gives the total unit about 270 pounds total. And generally with sand filled to the same capacity, it would weigh a hundred pounds more.
Personally, I’d prefer to have the standing bag as weighted as possible to not allow any sliding at all when using the punching bag. However, filling the base with sand seemed a bit much. Even though it wouldn’t be in the near future, I know at some point it would need to be emptied or at a minimum moved to somewhere else in the house.
Three hundred pounds of sand just didn’t seem like a viable option. And even a mixture of sand and water (mud) felt like a not so efficient solution.
I opted to fill the entire base with water. Which should serve most users well, unless you’re a heavy hitter. If you’re planning on performing full range kicks and punches, keep in mind that that there is a strong possibility of the Wavemaster sliding a bit when being used. And in some cases toppling over completely.
I would still suggest not to fill with sand in the base. Instead find something with weight like dumbbells or sand bags to secure on top of the base. This would allow it to get some extra weight holding it down against a more aggressive workout.
It would also make moving or emptying the Century Wavemaster easier. Setting aside the added weights and pouring out the water, sounds a bit easier then pouring out 200 plus pounds of sand.
Alternatively, purchasing some non slip tape and attaching them to the bottom of the base could also help with the unwanted movement.
Six Months Of The Century Wavemaster
If you’re wondering if the Wavemaster is good for you, let me tell you about my experience so far. I’m 5’9, and about 180 pounds. I needed a free standing punching bag for my home gym that I use for general fitness, as oppose to training for fighting professionally.
I don’t consider myself a heavy hitter, however when hitting the Wavemaster with near maximum force, it does slide ever so slightly. But when you take into account a full workout, and what you’d be doing. By the end, my bag has sometimes shifted a few feet.
There were times where I’d stop the workout to reset the bag to the right position. However, adding some slip tap and tying on sandbags did fix the issue.
The max height of the Wavemaster is not really an issue, however I would say for myself at 5’9 I wish it could go a bit higher. Currently, most of my contact is nearing the top of the bag, when preferably I would be closer to the middle. But again, for fitness purposes this would do just fine.
Conclusion
Overall, I give the Century Wavemaster a 4 out of 5. It loses a point for not being totally stable and not being a tad bit higher at its peak. With that said, I would still highly recommend this product to anyone who wants to box at home for leisure or general fitness.
The quality you’re getting for the price is pretty reasonable. For general fitness this type of bag would be a great fit. Just keep in mind if you are above average height or specifically a heavy weight hitter. You may want to check out the equipment in person before purchase.
You can check the price of the Century Wavemaster here.
