You Could Learn a Lot from a Dummy: T.I. #117

The finished dummy. I used blue duct tape to finish him off. Feels like you’re beating up a member of Blue Man Group.

With some pipe scraps and an investment of about $20 in duct tape, zip ties, and one $3 length of PVC plumbing pipe, I made a grappling dummy. There’s a photo set of the construction at the bottom of the page.

Why did I make such a thing? Because you can learn a lot from a dummy. Plus, with the price of shipping, these things cost over 200 smackers — and I’m way too frugal for that.

If you don’t have a dummy and you don’t feel like making one, you can always substitute a large athletic bag full of folded sheets or something — but since your bag won’t have legs, your starting position will have to be on top of a weight bench or plyometric box, which will interfere with your footwork.

You Could Learn a Lot from a Dummy: Cabal Fang Martial Arts Training Involution #117

Heavy bag power punching. Set timer for 10 minutes and work your combination of choice, applying the Dempsey falling step. Suggestion: Lead Jab, Rear Cross, Lead Hook. Sink into that Lead Jab. Then, when throwing your Rear Cross, get your rear heel off the ground and really bite into the ground with the ball of that foot as your lead foot creeps out a jot more. Then surge in on the bag and uncork the Lead Hook — “slam the door” with max power as you straighten your knees a tad and pop up after the two previous falling step punches. Rules 1 through 3 are (1) move in, (2) move in, and (3) move in.
Work your dummy. Get out your dummy, pick a throw or clinch technique, and work it for 10 minutes. I prefer either Seoi Nagi or Duck-Unders (which I always finish with a takedown — either a back ride to the mat or a knee breaker to put him on his back). 10 minutes is enough if you don’t muck around.
Complete a this month’s constitutional. Leg Lifts (50), Jumping Jacks (100), Push-ups, Hop/Clap (25), Crunch’n’Punch (50), Help-ups (50) (if solo substitute Steam Engines), Burpees (25), Jump Squats, Split (50).

: Misc. pvc, pipe and dowel scraps to be used as the skeleton of the dummy.

: Various tools used during the construction.

: This is a shot of the “collar bone.” The spine is the gray pipe, the shoulders/collar bone is the wood dowel, and the white pipe in the background is the top of the right arm. Note: The entire dummy has rope connecting the various parts of the skeleton together.

: Here’s the elbow joint. I cut up a heavy duty red plastic jug into strips and zipped it to the joint. The joint flexes one way but not the other or side-to-side. Triple them up for durability.

: Cutting out flexors from the jug.

: Here are some of those red plastic joint flexors.

: I originally had flexing knees but they kept buckling. I had to slice open the backs of the legs and zip tie longer pvc pipes iin place. A 10′ piece of 3/4″ pvc costs about 3 bucks.