hitting the "bob" w/ sticks-advice

**jspeedy** · Posted On: 2/11/2009 8:11pm

I was recently thinking of getting my own "bob" to hit at home w/ rattan sticks. my balintiwak (arnis) class is held at a jujutusu dojo on the days the JJJ guys are off. Occasionaly we hit the "bob' (you know that heavy bag/wavemaster thing shaped like a muscular guy's torso) the JJJ guys have there w/ sticks. I like this as it feels like it adds the realism of hitting a real person full power w/ sticks. Many arnis classes don't ever hit anything other than a tire full power. Howver a tire (which we also hit) seems to have draw backs. For example, you can't move around as much w/ a tire as you are usually hitting the front and sides from a mostly static or side to side motion. W/ a bob you can move 360 deg. aroung it like you would while striking a heavy bag. Also, i've heard w/ no real facts to back it up- hitting tires is bad for your tendons or joints from the rebound of your stick bouncing off the tire(something like that). I have read the "hitting tires' thread by the way. Also, I need something to hit at home where there isn't anyone to hold a tire for me and nothing to tie or fix one to. I need something that I easily can push off in a corner when i'm not using it & preferably dosen't junk up my house when guests are over (ex. nail a tire to your wall or something).

My main question is how do "bobs" hold up over longer term use either w/ sticks or fists/kicks? Will med to lighter weight (or even heavier) rattan sticks mess up a bob?Where can I get one cheap? (that would be nice).

**blindside** · Posted On: 2/12/2009 1:04am

Originally Posted by jspeedy

My main question is how do "bobs" hold up over longer term use either w/ sticks or fists/kicks? Will med to lighter weight (or even heavier) rattan sticks mess up a bob?Where can I get one cheap? (that would be nice).

I've watched whole seminars cycle through on power hitting on bobs. I checked them out pretty close to see if there was any damage and there didn't appear to be. So you should be pretty safe hitting a BOB with any weight rattan, make sure your edges are rounded and that you don't hit with the tip very often.

As for where to get them, I'd watch Craigslist if you are in a place with a reasonably large population.

**Ke?poFist** · Posted On: 2/12/2009 3:06pm

They are made of rubber so the sticks just bounce off them nice and easy. I'm pretty sure you could rig one up to be continuously hit in the same spot for years and it wouldn't break down on you.

**jspeedy** · Posted On: 2/12/2009 6:36pm

thanks for the input guys, guess i'll keep my eyes open on craig's list for one.

quote:"make sure edges are rounded and that you don't hit with the tip very often. "

-i'll definately make sure my edges are rounded, but in my style of arnis (balintiwak) the main emphasis for the striking surface is the tip of the stick. The idea behind this is the tip is fastest moving part of the stick w/ the smallest surface area- not to mention this gives added distance from the opponent (which helps because balintiwak is a reletively close style of arnis) I think I might be alright though if the bobs hold up as well as it sounds. That's probably why i'd stick w/ a lighter stick when using the tip to strike.

**Permalost** · Posted On: 2/13/2009 12:27am

The advantage of the tire seems to be that if you start to wreck it, no big deal. Used tires are cheap/free. I'd feel kinda bad if I wrecked a BOB.

**tao.jonez** · Posted On: 2/13/2009 2:07pm

A BOB in our school has a torn face from the FMA classes. Not sure how long that one lasted, but it took insane amounts of abuse before it got torn. Still - the tire option can work for you.

Bolt a 5 gal bucket to a round plywood board for your base. Stand a post in it and add cement. Bolt on your tire. Viola. You've spent $.89 for some cement, $4 for bolts and the rest comes from a construction site's dumpster. Good luck getting a BOB for less than that.

**jspeedy** · Posted On: 2/13/2009 5:58pm

quote:tao.jonez
"A BOB in our school has a torn face from the FMA classes. Not sure how long that one lasted, but it took insane amounts of abuse before it got torn. Still - the tire option can work for you.

Bolt a 5 gal bucket to a round plywood board for your base. Stand a post in it and add cement. Bolt on your tire. Viola. You've spent $.89 for some cement, $4 for bolts and the rest comes from a construction site's dumpster. Good luck getting a BOB for less than that."

interesting- I've thought about making the same bucket/cement/tire thing you described which sounds the most practical. The only main advantage of a bob I see, is practicing placement/precision of strikes on a realistic "opponent". Of course escrimadores have been mastering precision for a long time in the FMa without a bob. Maybe i will just go w/ a cement/bucket/tire dummy for now. Good point (CodosDePiedra) I'd hate to waste money on a bob just to mess it up .

**escrimador6** · Posted On: 2/14/2009 12:12pm

Unless you can find a BOB for cheap on ebay or craigslist, it seems like a lot of money to drop on something you may end up destroying. Here is a link to a page from FMA digest that has a great pdf on making your own training equipment.

http://www.fmadigest.com/Issues/spec...itions-07.html

**juszczec** · Posted On: 2/14/2009 12:29pm

I hit my heavy bag with sticks. I've got a hanging one at home and ones with water filled bases at the gym.

The only damage to the heavy bag was breaking the tab off the zipper at the top.

The only damage to the water filled base bags has come from the TKD group that shares my space at the gym. They've managed to split one of the bases.

**tao.jonez** · Posted On: 2/19/2009 10:18am

I was thinking about this - I'm pretty sure I've seen some like foam-core escrima sticks that aren't so damaging. I'd guess for practice / sparring / demos.

Not sure how well the sticks would hold up, but they would be less likely to damage a bag or BOB... Just a thought.

You could also just beat the hell out of a tree, a bull, or that jerk that scratched my fkn car with his door.