throwing dummies?

[mixjourneyman]

The time of the year when I have money to spend on things is quickly approaching and I want to buy a throwing dummy.
I know JW, you have one. Do you think it is a good piece of equipment?
anyone else have one? What are your thoughts?

Also I'm wondering if they will stand freely or if you have to hold on to them before you execute you're throw?



James

[DeusTrismegistus]

I have a throwing dummy, he stands freely. I can't slam him too hard because he will complain. I need to tell him to HTFU more often

[Kurt Robbins]

Build your own - it's cheaper and you can make it more specialized to your training.

[mixjourneyman]

Build your own - it's cheaper and you can make it more specialized to your training.

You interest me strangely...

Do you have a blue print kicking around?

[johnwang]

The 90 lbs that I have doesn't not stand freely. It hurts my left elbow a year ago when I left it up. Pat has a 120 lbs one but I think it's too heavy. Since the body is too rigid, it doesn't feel like a live human being. If you want to save money then a single head weight bar may do the same for you.

[Daniel]

Does doing it verbally to people all day long count?


D.

Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[CaliG]

I got the 70 lbs. title legged grappling dummy.

It was on sale at the time I think I paid somewhere around $150 at first I was worried that I was wasting my money but nothing could be further from the truth. The grappling dummy is a great investment for someone serious about throws.

The cool thing about it is that you can work on whatever throw you want to as much as you want to. When I first got it I used to spend almost half an hour straight throwing it around. I used to try every throw I knew and some new ones, each time doing a different throw to help train going into any throw I wanted to. Then later when I started to see my mistakes more I started just focussing on one or two throws a day for one week for 10 minutes.

Now I'll also do more of a cardio workout with the dummy for example doing a throw like a pick-up as fast as I can and as many as I can for 5 minutes straight. Afterwords you have to put your hand on your heart to make sure you're not having a heart attack!

I also work my gripping sequence on it.

You can also do pinning drills with it, and of couse armbars. But since I do those a few times a week at the gym I mostly focus on my throwing technique because there's not too many people who are going to allow you to shoulder throw them 30 times in a row at full speed and power.

The only drawback is some throws you have to slightly change to work well on the dummy. For example I got the legged dummy so I could work on ou-ochi gari or inner hooking, but even when I do hook it doesn't really go down fast because the weight switches legs slightly and the throw comes off kind of sloppy (when I do it anyway) so now I'll do the inner hooking by sweeping both the legs at once as if it were one leg.

But overall the more I use it the more I am able to use it the same way I'd throw anyone else. I took JW and his students advice and went with the lightest weight for Title, because the problem with the heavy weights is that everytime you throw it you have to pick it up and besides when you do a throw right your opponent doesn't feel heavy anyway. Not to mention these dummy's have dead weight so a 70 pounder feels more like 150. So I figured why waste your energy on picking up a heavy dummy when I could use for that energy for my throws.

I also only throw in on a mat to keep it from falling apart. I read up on these and it seems that if you push it too much these do eventually break down. So I treat mine like a human.

Hope this helps.

Let me know how it goes.

Good times,

Greg

[Kurt Robbins]

My home made dummy is about 90lbs and when I use it for throws (I made it more modified for grappling) it does not land in a position i can readily advance to another throw, so instead of picking it up 30 times I just transitioin into the ground game do a couple of submissions and pick it up and throw it again. I usually work squats when I do pick it up. Were a masocistic lot.

[Formosa Neijia]

http://formosaneijia.com/2008/introduci ... ing-buddy/

A heavy bag and gi combo like this is much cheaper. Plus you get the heavy bag.

Dave C.

[Wuyizidi]

http://www.suples.com/dummy.htm





Wuyizidi

[Wuyizidi]

Hi,

So what are the ideal features for such a dummy:

• free standing?
• weight - not so heavy that you have to do an extra lift first
• four limbs
• joints: rigid so you can hook?
• need to have reinforced/extra stiff curved joints so we can practice techniques on them? I imagine if they're too soft you can't 'hook' them.
• material - outside: all leather?
• material - inside: ?

Wuyizidi

[Fubo]

Here's a link to a guide for making a throwing dummy... Probably not the best, but could give some ideas as to how one could be made.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/okcdt ... 2892697188

[Formosa Neijia]

This is what gave me the idea to just use a heavy bag. Notice that the shape of this thing isn't that much different. So why not just use a heavy bag? It's a heck of a lot cheaper plus you can hang it up and beat it.

Also notice that the weight fails into the bottom. This is good for building power in leg sweeps. The dummies are far too light for that IMO. A heavy bag allows you to really build power for sweeps or leg kicks. Plus it can stand upright on its own. Nearly all of the dummies can't.

The problem with the weight in the bottom is that many throws become much more difficult. The weight is dead so it can't be "lead" or off balanced easily. You actually have to pick the thing up and slam it. Excellent for power building but I found it to be WAAAAY heavier than I thought it would be. Takes some time to build up to using it in some throws.

Dave C.

[CaliG]

If a bag works for you that's cool. But I used to train with a bag before moving onto a dummy and I'm glad I made the switch.

For one thing I couldn't imagine stopping my training to hang the bag up everyday and then take it down. But that's just my preference because when I train hard I make it a point to go non-stop with only short breaks that are about 20 to 30 seconds long and then I go hard again. This way when I train at the gym I've always got some gas in the tank because I train harder on my own.

Another thing is that bags don't bend. So doing something like a hip throw is pretty ackward on a bag and forget about SumiGaeshi, where you bend your opponent forward then flip on your back and toss them over you. Not to mention you can't do a fireman's carry on a heavy bag which when done repeatedly is in itself a hell of a workout.

Although I do agree about the foot sweeps, you can get a lot of more in your sweeps by sweeping a bag, but when you do a foot sweep in judo/grappling you're not so much kicking them as much as you're brushing their foot off the mat just they take a step.

Anyway, if someone has a bag I say toss it around, but I wouldn't go out and buy one as a substitute for good quality grappling dummy. But then again throwing that thing is probably my favorite part of my workout because to me it feels just like I'm throwing a real person.

Good times,

Greg

[Formosa Neijia]

For one thing I couldn't imagine stopping my training to hang the bag up everyday and then take it down.

I use it for throwing more than hitting these days so the gi stays on it and it stays unhung most of the time.

Another thing is that bags don't bend. So doing something like a hip throw is pretty ackward on a bag and forget about SumiGaeshi, where you bend your opponent forward then flip on your back and toss them over you. Not to mention you can't do a fireman's carry on a heavy bag which when done repeatedly is in itself a hell of a workout.

Hmmm...I don't have mush problem doing any of those on the bag (although sumigaeshi might be a challenge). For the hip throw, you go deeper than normal but that's how i liked to do it anyway. The fireman's carry is easy to do. You treat the bag as both legs.

Dave C.