building a wooden dummy

[Ronin]

Experiment a bit, that is the best way.

[Southpaw]

I would recommend against padding your dummy if you are training Wing Chun.

1. You can always hit with a palm.
2. Focus should be on technique not conditioning.
3. If you train regularly, you hit the body lightly and gradually build up. (You should be doing conditioning seperate from dummy work).

[Ronin]

Originally posted by Amp
I would recommend against padding your dummy if you are training Wing Chun.

1. You can always hit with a palm.
2. Focus should be on technique not conditioning.
3. If you train regularly, you hit the body lightly and gradually build up. (You should be doing conditioning seperate from dummy work).

I disagree, if you are gonna hit, HIT !!
Padding the dummy allows you to perform the technqiue(s) with speed AND force.
I have seen too MANY WC guys who TAP and have very little power and in many cases, wooden dummy wotk is the reason.
They do NOT follow through for fear of damaging their hands, and that leads to weak techniques.

[virtual_mantis]

Originally posted by ronin69
I disagree, if you are gonna hit, HIT !!
Padding the dummy allows you to perform the technqiue(s) with speed AND force.
I have seen too MANY WC guys who TAP and have very little power and in many cases, wooden dummy wotk is the reason.
They do NOT follow through for fear of damaging their hands, and that leads to weak techniques.

I agree, I was using the dummy last night. I don't have any padding for it yet so I just used my foam sparring gloves and they worked great. A little restictive on the grabbing but I was really able to punch with a decent amount of power.

Oh, and I'm not learning wing chun. I plan on adapting my praying mantis forms for use on the dummy.

[Ronin]

I read that the dummy for praying mantis should have 4 arms.
I think it was an old 7 star mantis book.

2 arms up top and 2 in the middle.

[virtual_mantis]

I've read a bit about using the dummy in 7 star and everything is different. I have a seven star book that shows a dummy form on a traditional wing chun dummy. I've also read that the arms could be longer and wider apart. In the end I decided to go with what i could find plans for. maybe I'll alter it down the road. Make some longer arms.

[virtual_mantis]

Here's that wooden dummy how to: http://www.mccarriedesign.com/wooden_dummy/

[KhorneliusPraxx]

Originally posted by Amp
Don't get mad if you have a PVD dummy.

There's a distict sound a wooden dummy makes. After training on a dummy for years, it starts to really grow on you.

Of course it has nothing to do with the functionality of a PVC dummy.

I feel the same way about Wood vs. Aluminum Baseball Bats:D