This Speed Bag Counter Tracks How Many Punches You Throw
The DuctTape Mechanic explains how he used an Arduino to add a punch counter to his speed bag.
When you train for boxing, you mostly practice punching on either a heavy bag or a speed bag. Heavy bags can weigh anywhere from 70 to 150 pounds, and are usually intended for taking punches thrown with all of your power behind them. Speed bags are much smaller, and are used to train agility, accuracy, and technique. It’s common when practicing with a speed bag to try to throw as many precise punches as possible in a given amount of time. You can obviously count them out yourself, but that can be difficult when you’re busy focusing on form. That’s why the DuctTape Mechanic used an Arduino to create a counter for his speed bag.
As he explains in the beginning of the video, the DuctTape Mechanic is passionate about both sports and electronics, so this project was right up his alley. He wanted to add a counter to his speed bag so that he could keep track of his own workouts and to challenge friends. Like most speed bags, the Everlast model that he started with is attached to a pivoting mount on the bottom of a wood platform. This was missing the frame and hardware to actually bolt the wood platform to a wall, so the first order of business was to construct a new frame. Using an old mattress frame that was cut into sections, the DuctTape Mechanic welded together an L-shaped structure to attach the platform perpendicular to the wall.
With the speed bag mounted and functional, it was time to tackle the electronics. Every time the speed bag is hit, it swings back and up to collide with the platform, before rebounding back down to be punched again. An NPN capacitive proximity sensor was set in a hole drilled right at the point where the speed bag hits the wood platform. That sensor is monitored by an Arduino Uno board, which also has a small LCD screen attached to show the punch count. Power comes from a set of batteries, so there was no need to run electrical wiring out to where the speed bag is mounted on the side of the DuctTape Mechanic’s shed. It isn’t clear how the electronics were protected from the elements, but it would be easy enough to just place a cover over the whole assembly when it isn’t in use. Now the DuctTape Mechanic knows exactly how many punches he’s thrown during a workout.