The Medium is the Message!

You do not have to have a teak wooden dummy to do dummy moves. Any medium can work. It is the angles that matter. The dummy is often said to be a protractor - i.e. it encourages you to move and face certain angles and not others.

The arms are open to different media. Here are a selection of pics of the types of materials I use on my dummy.

[Example 1 out of 6]


First pic is of some arms I picked up recently with glossy wooden arms. These are lovely to work with and are now my first choice. They make a lovely clacking noise, very crisp. And the wood is slightly lighter than my other beechwood arms, which creates a different feel. The offset nature of the back end of the arm is more pronounced, too.

[Example 2]

I even used my new nunchuks in there to be a de facto arm. The stubby nature is what can be expected but the rubbery nature of the 'arm' is interesting. Gum & Bong  sau is possible in this low down position, at least.

(NB yes - if you are wondering you can strike the dummy with the heavy rubber nunchaku. It does not make marks, as far as I can see that are deep or permanent. The recoil is the worst enemy. Use 'witik' strikes then if you are not certain of what the recoil will be like).

< A silencer! If you are up in the very early morning, or late at night and do not want those clacking noises then the rubbery edge connectors of those child play mats can be slotted in.
These 'give' a little when pressed and offer a different feeling.

Should have thought of this years ago. A pick axe handle offers something new. Distance.

(Some people think this is heresy, as you are fooling with tradition. I say Bruce Lee led the way - and that happened any way when the Pole was added to the Wing Chun inventory).

The reverse side shows the flared ending being of use too.

< 'A' for effort. The wheelbarrow inner-tube was a good try but you cannot expect to use this for heavy punches. The air just gives way to the force and moves elsewhere. If you were to pump this up to take the force then the tube would be bloated to exploding point, I bet ?!

This picture shows a yoga mat plus inner tube. It is different. Now the softer inner tube adds something to the mat alone. The tube also stops the mat unravelling, as I have not cut squares into it like the YouTube suggestion below.

I suspect sharper readers of this blog will see an uncanny resemblance to the Emperor Dalek below from Dr.Who. ;>

These are my training partners.

It is right to give praise to your training partners.
Here are mine.

They know who they are.
A pop star. A chess world champion ... and some slippers.