Century The Original Wavemaster Review

 I love to box. This came as quite a surprise to me a few years ago, but there you have it. After working with a personal trainer who showed me how to box properly, I decided to buy a bag for myself and chose the Century Original Wavemaster bag for home use.

About Century and the Wavemaster
Century is a martial arts supply company. They make all sorts of martial arts/boxing supplies, including the heavy bag that I beat on three times a week when I'm at the gym. Based on Oklahoma, the company's been in business for about thirty years.

Century's original Wavemaster bag is a portable bag.  The bag is filled with high impact foam and is covered in vinyl. The rounded base is made from durable polyethylene and can be filled with sand or water. The bag comes in three colors: black, blue or red. I chose blue. The bag can be adjusted from 52" high to 70" high. It weighs approximately 270 pounds when the base is completely filled. One of the benefits of this bag and its base is that no matter what the bag is filled with, it can be rolled along the rounded base to a new location rather easily. On Century's website, the bag retails for $119 plus $10 shipping. I purchased the bag from a discount supplier for $98 with free shipping.

Setting up the Bag
My husband got home from work earlier than I did on the day that my bag arrived. He's a sweetheart, so when I came home I found the bag on the back porch, the base already filled with water. I had visions of punching the bag out on the back porch daily. Yeah, that didn't happen. More on that later.

The bag comes in two main pieces, my husband showed me. The base has a notched pole that extends up to the inside of the vinyl-covered foam pad. To adjust the height of the bag, you simply shift the pad higher or lower until it finds the right notch.

About the Adjustable Notch System
If you intend on using this bag at its highest, and you're very strong, be aware that you may run into some troubles with the durability of the product.

Adam, my trainer, told me that his Wavemaster bag's "notch" on the inside of the bag itself broke after he wailed on it the first few times. The supply store from which he bought it was going to pick up the bag, but when they didn't show, he called and they issued him a refund and told him to keep it. (Apparently getting UPS back out to his house was too much of a problem.) With the bag's price going from $100 to free Adam chose to fix his bag himself by putting a towel over the notched pole, and wedging his bag over the top of the pole. The friction worked great and now he has a free bag.

Using the Bag
I went out with the boxing gloves I purchased and began hitting the bag. We quickly discovered one big problem: The entire house shook every time I hit on the bag. It was on our back porch and I had severely underestimated the impact that hitting the bag so hard would have on the house. The deck hooks into the foundation, and I ended up shaking the foundation of the house with each punch. I also really didn't like how the water made the bag slosh. I decided I wanted to fill the base with sand.

Note to buyers: Plan on having a cement floor or other completely unmovable area, probably not inside your house, for this bag.

We emptied the base of the water the next morning and set it in our spare garage bay to dry out. After a trip to the local Lowe's for medium grade sand (remarkably dense and compact stuff) we filled the base in the garage and it was ready to rock. I took a few test hits, with some jabs and hooks, and nothing shook. We were good to go.

Impressions
I like this bag, but I don't love it. The bag moves around, which for some is a plus, but I tend to find annoying. You have to put the bag in an area where you can regularly circle it during your workout in order to keep it in vaguely the same place as you use it. I never would have thought that I could budge a base filled with 270 pounds of sand, but apparently I can, and I'm a 5'7" woman with a medium frame. If you're a heavy guy, a big time boxer, or just very strong, you'll find this bag moves easily.

I found the height of the bag adequate for my needs. If I were a guy approaching six feet, I would definitely go for a taller bag like perhaps the Century Wavemaster XXL or Wavemaster II, both of which appear to be taller options.

Another thing I don't really like about the bag is that it feels a little "dead" when I hit it. Unlike the heavy bag hanging from a stand at the gym, this bag sort of "thuds" when you hit it. You can definitely get in a good workout, but it's a less responsive bag than the hanging bag I usually hit.

I've used this bag for the past month, several times a week and I find that it gets the job done and it helps me increase the speed, timing and delivery of my hits, but I'd still prefer a regular heavy bag over the freestanding Century Original Wavemaster.

Cat's Bottom Line
If you're looking for a portable, freestanding bag solution to use in your home, the Century Original Wavemaster is a reasonably priced option. It doesn't feel as good as a hanging heavy bag, but it's less expensive, easy to move around and easy to set up. Have an area cleared on your home's foundation, preferably on cement, in which to use the bag.

Overall, I recommend this bag because of its portability and its price. It's an easy beginner bag to set up and use, which was just what I was looking for.

Century Martial Arts Supply
http://www.centuryfitness.com
1-800-626-2787