Makiwara pads?

**maofas** · Posted On: 3/15/2008 8:48pm

It's not like the forehead is a brick wall that won't give at all. Sure, it's hard, but the human head only weighs ~10 lbs, so it's going to snap back when you punch it. So yeah, I'd buy it that he can punch a guy in the forehead and not feel it (much) without being a mutant.

I have mixed opinions of makiwara. I was told to hit it as hard as possible and the knuckles would wind up breaking, but would grow back stronger. (Maybe the fact the guy telling me this had one huge knuckle on each hand where his first two knuckles were supposed to be should have served as a warning.) That was fine until I got a painful lump (that I could poke and move around under the skin) on my left kunckles that wouldn't go away, even after I stopped makiwara-ing. It gradually shrank a bit, but didn't go away and stayed on my hand for years. It only finally went away when I wound up taking a complete hiatus for ~2 years.

Nowadays, I just do weight/pressure and not shock/impact for knuckle conditioning. If I ever feel like I need more, I would go about it a lot differently and do a much more gradual buildup of how hard I hit the board.

**kingwado** · Posted On: 3/16/2008 12:15am

maofas, that was bad advice you got indeed, if you see the guy who said that kick him in the nuts.
Start slow and build up is the way.
Ive been useing one for eight years, but i can honestly say it took about two years before i was pounding it as hard as i could, the biggest threat by going too far to soon is in damageing the wrists, the man who advised you sounds like a bit of a lunatic.
Im not saying the makiwara is a miracle tool that will have you punching holes in armoured cars, but for conditioning knuckles and wrists into weapons, and i can only go by my own experience on it.
The makiwara has its benifits.
Although hitting a makiwara all day long and doing nothing else is useless, its just a small part of training that reaps its share of benifits when the **** hits the fan.
Pushing weights and bag work play there part too, as do a hundred other things.
Medicine balls are good too, like a makiwara for the belly.

**3moose1** · Posted On: 3/16/2008 12:20am

Originally Posted by kingwado

maofas, that was bad advice you got indeed, if you see the guy who said that kick him in the nuts.
Start slow and build up is the way.
Ive been useing one for eight years, but i can honestly say it took about two years before i was pounding it as hard as i could, the biggest threat by going too far to soon is in damageing the wrists, the man who advised you sounds like a bit of a lunatic.
Im not saying the makiwara is a miracle tool that will have you punching holes in armoured cars, but for conditioning knuckles and wrists into weapons, and i can only go by my own experience on it.
The makiwara has its benifits.
Although hitting a makiwara all day long and doing nothing else is useless, its just a small part of training that reaps its share of benifits when the **** hits the fan.
Pushing weights and bag work play there part too, as do a hundred other things.
Medicine balls are good too, like a makiwara for the belly.

Really? I gots to get me one

**kingwado** · Posted On: 3/16/2008 5:34am

Originally Posted by 3moose1

Really? I gots to get me one

Yes not all old time things are bad, tied in with plenty of sit ups and crunches the medicine ball puts the iceing on the cake.
When i started out (mods, soz for going off topic) working doors, i found out two thing, 1, being hit in the head dont bother me and 2, being hit in the belly does.
I got a medicine ball six years ago and havent looked back.

The medicine ball is even better than a makiwara for knuckle conditioning, being rounded like cheek bones.

But i found its true worth was in lying on my back, throwing the ball in the air and letting it land on my belly and other places (wedding tackle excluded).

You can use it for excersize sets too, you may feel old fashioned doing it, but a burn in the muscles is a burn in the muscles.

I like to train in all ways possible, doing push ups and weights all the time would bore me into quiting.

Sand bags work well to for lots of things, but i will shut up for now, before being ousted for switching topic (does that happen here i didnt read the rules, MAP are blobs of population paste when it comes to that kind of thing)

If you have a large football (good quality, soccer ball) you can make one for very little cost,they are overly expensive in my view, but if your richer than me it wont matter
pm me if you want the recipe.

**3moose1** · Posted On: 3/16/2008 6:28pm

Originally Posted by kingwado

Yes not all old time things are bad, tied in with plenty of sit ups and crunches the medicine ball puts the iceing on the cake.
When i started out (mods, soz for going off topic) working doors, i found out two thing, 1, being hit in the head dont bother me and 2, being hit in the belly does.
I got a medicine ball six years ago and havent looked back.

The medicine ball is even better than a makiwara for knuckle conditioning, being rounded like cheek bones.

But i found its true worth was in lying on my back, throwing the ball in the air and letting it land on my belly and other places (wedding tackle excluded).

You can use it for excersize sets too, you may feel old fashioned doing it, but a burn in the muscles is a burn in the muscles.

I like to train in all ways possible, doing push ups and weights all the time would bore me into quiting.

Sand bags work well to for lots of things, but i will shut up for now, before being ousted for switching topic (does that happen here i didnt read the rules, MAP are blobs of population paste when it comes to that kind of thing)

If you have a large football (good quality, soccer ball) you can make one for very little cost,they are overly expensive in my view, but if your richer than me it wont matter
pm me if you want the recipe.

You didn't read how i quoted you.

I bolded the line 'The makiwara is a magical tool that will make you punch holes in armoured cars"

I was being funny.

**kingwado** · Posted On: 3/16/2008 7:46pm

whoops fair play lol.

**Valiss** · Posted On: 3/20/2008 3:38pm

I've made and used a makiwara. It's quite easy. I simply bought a 12-foot-long 4x4 wooden post, put 6-feet of it straight down in the ground and wrapped rope around the top. Start punchin!

And yeah, it hurts a lot. And I, too, have seen the old Karate masters with two huge knuckles on their hands that you could put a thimble on. I wouldn't recommend it long term personally.

**juszczec** · Posted On: 3/20/2008 4:00pm

Originally Posted by drunkmonkey

some years ago I remember having a jiu jitsu class, where they had this canvas pad dealy attached to the wall you could hit... i THINK it might have been called a makiwara pad but not sure...?

anyway, does anyone know anymore about them - history / origin etc...
plus if they're really any use (i wonder about potential for injury,as, in essence, you're hitting a padded bit of wall)?
how do you use it correctly to improve punching / striking etc?

You don't. AFAIK, the whole point of a makiwara (the one made out of a post) is that it flexes. One of those wall mounted jobs won't, so the force works its way back up your arm and fucks up your joints.

Those things sold great to McDojos, where people would whack them once or twice and walk away.

Given enough time, you'd wear yourself to pieces smacking one attached to a wall.

i gather they're probably readily/cheaply available, but just looking for tips on correct use / training tips / installing / and whether anyone either swears by them, or thinks they're useless and would advise against?

Count me as thinking they are useless and dangerous and definitely advise against them.

Mark

**drunkmonkey** · Posted On: 3/23/2008 10:49pm

Right... the jury is back in - thanks for all the informative and interesting replies...
I think i will go with: the freestanding bag, wavemaster, or ringside.
it may be more expensive, but i don't need any potential hand or joint injuries / damage, so it should be a good investment in the long run...
happy training

**maofas** · Posted On: 3/26/2008 3:27am

Well, I just received my Ringside standing heavy bag today.

I'm pleasantly suprised with how heavy it feels once you add the thai attachment. A side-effect of it is that it cuts the range of motion/increases of the resistance of the spring arm by quite a bit. It's not a hanging bag, but much closer than I expected. Hopefully the spring doesn't get stretched out and start giving too much. Atm it feels heavier to hit than a 70 lbs hanging bag.

With 200 lbs of sand in the base "rocks" you still can't do a full extension side kick on it without knocking the thing over (or coming so close it's scary), but tbh, those kicks are probably slightly more chambered/telegraphed than the ones I'd really use anyways, so I'll live.

Not bad!

Edit: Yeah, the spring did become less stiff after a couple of practices, so it doesn't feel quite so heavy, but still, better than I expected. I'm very pleased with this bag.

One word of warning tho: if you get the "thai attachment" to practice low kicks, you can't use the wheel attachment to make it move easier (unless you want to remove the thai attachment each and every time which is a huge pain in the ass). If you're just sliding it in/out of the corner of your living room, it's not worth it. If you're constantly moving this all over creation, over concrete floors, etc. then you probably need it.