Go on, give it a kick! I was surrounded by high ranking black belts in the garage of my instructor to be. Hanging from the ceiling was a grim and silent bag.[l:4:J]

Heck, this bag should be simple, Ill open the eyes of these guys. My school is made of stern stuff. Gonna knock the stuffing out of this bag!

I drew in breath and set my stance. I eyed the canvas thing, and studied my opponent. It looked to be about seventy pounds, not too tough, and I didnt notice that the ceiling had been re-enforced to support the bag.

With mighty shout I thrust my sidekick out. My sidekick was my strongest kick, and it should bounce that bag off the ceiling like it was a ballon. My foot impacted, and nothing happened.

Well, something happened. The bag moved an inch and I bounced off, and a tremendous shock shivered my nervous system all the way up my leg and into my spine. And all the high ranking black belts rubbed their faces in a way that would conceal their grins.

My composure lost, I stared around in shock, and then stepped up to the bag. I ran a hand over it and asked, What in the world is in here? I looked at the fellow who would soon be my instructor, and he merely smiled.

The first bag I ever kicked was a duffle bag filled with free sawdust. I poured the sawdust in and bounced it up and down until it was as solid as I could make it, and then I kicked it until I thought my kicks were solid. I was under the impression that I knew what a bag was all about.

What Bob, the fellow who became my instructor had done with his bags, however, was sheer genius. His first bags were like mine, filled with sawdust and pounded and packed until it was solid and meaty to the foot. Then he started adding a cup of sawdust every week, and the thing became ungodly tough, a real foot breaker.

Think thats tough? Nope. His next invention was the real deal, and where he showed his true genius.

He cut newspapers in a circle and put them in the bag. Newspapers, and all the news thats fit to…kick. And thats the story behind the toughest bag that ever kicked my butt.