Going to build a new place to train – training equipment

[Xue Sheng]

If you have seen the post about my DAMN heel you know I can’t do much of anything right now, no forms, no walking not even much of the Yoga I recently learned and it is driving me nuts...so I decided to build a piece od equipment that I got the idea for from an old book by James Mitose, I’m making it a little bigger and more solid.. Also it will save trees from me going out and beating them to train (SM ILE). I need to find a couple of pads for it. I am leaning towards something I can only describe as a sandbag. My past Wing Chun School had them on the wall. A white canvas rectangle with eyelets on it for hanging. I will need 2 or 3 and I have no idea where to get them. But as I was looking I saw these Makiwara that might also work.

Makiwara

Makiwara 2

Also a question about flooring

And my wife and I are looking for a new house (also another of my posts – more in that post later) But I am going to refinish ½ of the basement for training and I am wondering about flooring and I have looked at (on the web only) these

ProForce

Or this

Or this

All I have ever trained on is hardwood, tile, concrete or outside so this whole flooring thing is new to me. But I hgave to look at it like a room of the house and not just a MA training, exercise area.

But I am open to suggestions. Currently the floor I am using for training at home is concrete but part of a deal that was put to me (by my wife) to get me to buy a certain house I can build a nice place to train

Thoughts and ideas on either of these would be much appreciated.

 

[mook jong man]

I'd get a wall bag with three sections , then you can do head height striking , mid level and kicking.
If the vibrations going through the house are a concern you might be able to mount it on some sort of backboard with some shock absorbing material on it , then mount it on the wall.

That woodflex flooring looks very nice and looks like it wood be easy to pivot on for doing forms.
I prefer to pivot on hard surfaces , Wing Chun pivoting on soft surfaces can be problematic.

I don't know how you pivot so it may not be an issue for you , I'd go with the woodflex flooring , it looks good so it will keep the missus happy and it looks good for doing your forms on.

Still get some jig saw mats so you can train grappling and do your yoga on them , and you can put them away when your finished.

What about a heavy bag are you going to get one ? Heres a tip mount it from a heavy duty spring , thats what I did and it really cuts down on a lot of the vibration going through the house.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I'd get a wall bag with three sections , then you can do head height striking , mid level and kicking.
If the vibrations going through the house are a concern you might be able to mount it on some sort of backboard with some shock absorbing material on it , then mount it on the wall.

That woodflex flooring looks very nice and looks like it wood be easy to pivot on for doing forms.
I prefer to pivot on hard surfaces , Wing Chun pivoting on soft surfaces can be problematic.

I don't know how you pivot so it may not be an issue for you , I'd go with the woodflex flooring , it looks good so it will keep the missus happy and it looks good for doing your forms on.

Still get some jig saw mats so you can train grappling and do your yoga on them , and you can put them away when your finished.

What about a heavy bag are you going to get one ? Heres a tip mount it from a heavy duty spring , thats what I did and it really cuts down on a lot of the vibration going through the house.

Thanks

I was thinking the same as it applies to the 3 sections for a wall bag. Vibration should not be a concern because the will be mounted on the thing I am building and that is free standing (Pretty much an indoor tree ). And I have a heavy bag but I am thinking of buying a stand for the next house since it has ripped out of the beams in my current house twice. My old bag didn't but the new bag does, it is a bit heavier and the chain length is the same as with the lighter bag and I believe that is causing to problem.

Pivoting is an issue in Taijiquan particularly the fast forms but either flooring will work, however based on pure esthetics (and keeping the Mrs. happy ) I am leaning towards the wood flex flooring but that could change.

 

[Tensei85]

Thanks

I was thinking the same as it applies to the 3 sections for a wall bag. Vibration should not be a concern because the will be mounted on the thing I am building and that is free standing (Pretty much an indoor tree ). And I have a heavy bag but I am thinking of buying a stand for the next house since it has ripped out of the beams in my current house twice. My old bag didn't but the new bag does, it is a bit heavier and the chain length is the same as with the lighter bag and I believe that is causing to problem.

Pivoting is an issue in Taijiquan particularly the fast forms but either flooring will work, however based on pure esthetics (and keeping the Mrs. happy ) I am leaning towards the wood flex flooring but that could change.

----shakes head in disarray---- I would have thought that you had enough of tree based products by now. :uhyeah:

lol, just kidding by the way.

I liked the flooring specs, and the Aerobic tiles personally I've had good use out of. They've come in handy plenty of times.

Hope the injuries heal fast, be sure & include pics when its finished.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Hey Xue Sheng I like the idea of the what you are building.

When I built my house I made the basement an extra two and a half feet taller so that it could accommodate stick/blade training. I also outfitted the whole basement with puzzlemats and that was actually one of the best things I have ever done. Any issue pops up you just pull them up clean and walla they are as good as new. The mats were a must because I also do extensive grappling. My wife also loves them for working out, kickboxing, jumping rope, weight lifting, etc. The kid's also enjoy them as well.

Good luck and it sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun building and creating your space!

 

[yak sao]

wing lam used to carry the 3 section wall bags.
www.wle.com

 

[Tensei85]

wing lam used to carry the 3 section wall bags.
www.wle.com

Yea, the bags from WLE are decent. Should expect atleast a few years out of them.

 

[Xue Sheng]

----shakes head in disarray---- I would have thought that you had enough of tree based products by now. :uhyeah:

lol, just kidding by the way.

I liked the flooring specs, and the Aerobic tiles personally I've had good use out of. They've come in handy plenty of times.

Hope the injuries heal fast, be sure & include pics when its finished.

Thanks, I really can't do anything as far as construction yet, we technically do not own the new house yet.

As for the foot, it is getting better but still highly annoying, i am considering going to class this week to see how it does.

Hey Xue Sheng I like the idea of the what you are building.

When I built my house I made the basement an extra two and a half feet taller so that it could accommodate stick/blade training. I also outfitted the whole basement with puzzlemats and that was actually one of the best things I have ever done. Any issue pops up you just pull them up clean and walla they are as good as new. The mats were a must because I also do extensive grappling. My wife also loves them for working out, kickboxing, jumping rope, weight lifting, etc. The kid's also enjoy them as well.

Good luck and it sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun building and creating your space!

Thanks Brian, if we get the house I get to build this in the basement. Currently 1/3 of the basement is finished and I will take all that out and finish 1/2 of it and make the other half a laundry room and a wood shop. However the ceiling is to low for much weapon training. The finish section has a hung ceiling in it now that just barely clears my head so it will go to give me a little more height but still not enough for the (entire) long Dao form or the (entire) jian form. I think I will only gain about 4 to 6 inches with it out. Hey, it could be worse, I could still be training 3 section staff, Shaolin Staff and messing with the kwandao

As for the floor since I do not do extensive grappling I am still leaning towards the flex floor and buying large pads just in case. But I will admit the puzzle mats are tempting and the other aerobic floor I need to look into a bit more.

 

[Tames D]

Hey, we'll have to exchange ideas as I'll be in kinda the same situation. I want to incorporate a training room for martial arts and a general gym into the plans of a new home to be built. I'm undecided at the moment on which type of flooring to go with . I like a couple of different types. So I'll have to think about it awhile. Looking forward to hearing others thoughts.

 

[Xue Sheng]

wing lam used to carry the 3 section wall bags.
www.wle.com

Thanks, I just saw this and it may work rather well for what I need.

 

[jks9199]

Hey Xue Sheng I like the idea of the what you are building.

When I built my house I made the basement an extra two and a half feet taller so that it could accommodate stick/blade training. I also outfitted the whole basement with puzzlemats and that was actually one of the best things I have ever done. Any issue pops up you just pull them up clean and walla they are as good as new. The mats were a must because I also do extensive grappling. My wife also loves them for working out, kickboxing, jumping rope, weight lifting, etc. The kid's also enjoy them as well.

Good luck and it sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun building and creating your space!

What sort of puzzle mats did you use?

(Of course, I'd love to have a house built... with a training area, as well as (ideally freestanding) a woodshop. At a minimum, I want a garage I can use as a shop...)

 

[chinto]

i would suggest you look at the shureido makiwara .. we have one and its lasted a lot of use. over 8 years so far

 

[clfsean]

If you have seen the post about my DAMN heel you know I can’t do much of anything right now, no forms, no walking not even much of the Yoga I recently learned and it is driving me nuts...so I decided to build a piece od equipment that I got the idea for from an old book by James Mitose, I’m making it a little bigger and more solid.. Also it will save trees from me going out and beating them to train (SM ILE). I need to find a couple of pads for it. I am leaning towards something I can only describe as a sandbag. My past Wing Chun School had them on the wall. A white canvas rectangle with eyelets on it for hanging. I will need 2 or 3 and I have no idea where to get them. But as I was looking I saw these Makiwara that might also work.

Makiwara

Makiwara 2

Also a question about flooring

And my wife and I are looking for a new house (also another of my posts – more in that post later) But I am going to refinish ½ of the basement for training and I am wondering about flooring and I have looked at (on the web only) these

ProForce

Or this

Or this

All I have ever trained on is hardwood, tile, concrete or outside so this whole flooring thing is new to me. But I hgave to look at it like a room of the house and not just a MA training, exercise area.

But I am open to suggestions. Currently the floor I am using for training at home is concrete but part of a deal that was put to me (by my wife) to get me to buy a certain house I can build a nice place to train

Thoughts and ideas on either of these would be much appreciated.

Bugger it all... too complicated... a couple of sandbags... hanging on a rope & on top of a pile of bricks... get a tether ball post planted in the ground... then call Dale for jow. Commence training...

 

[Xue Sheng]

Bugger it all... too complicated... a couple of sandbags... hanging on a rope & on top of a pile of bricks... get a tether ball post planted in the ground... then call Dale for jow. Commence training...

I know, that is pretty much what I have now...BUT... this is a different house and we are not really in a rush to move in (if all goes as planed and we actually buy it) But this is a partially finished basement (1/3) and it is not big enough for my forms and I have to make it bigger and it still has to be aesthetically pleasing (family will be there from time to time and it is still considered a real live room in the house – you should see the plan for the family room ) to all that stop by and to be honest after many years of training in a basement that was not finished I am getting old and soft and kind of want to train in a nicer place in my old (and currently broken) age

Besides...I was given the option (bribe) so I might as well make the best of it.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

What sort of puzzle mats did you use?

(Of course, I'd love to have a house built... with a training area, as well as (ideally freestanding) a woodshop. At a minimum, I want a garage I can use as a shop...)

Hey jks9199 I used Century double sided puzzle mats. They have held up for years and I go through them so I purchased them wholesale which was a great savings.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Just looking and costs here (rough estimates), and I am going to call for prices soon, but from what I can gather on the internet the flex flooring is rather expensive. And for the area I am talking about I think I would be talking roughly between $6000 and $7000 just for a floor and that is not going to fly at all. I need to really call them to figure out a price for the aerobic floor and the puzzle mat is much cheaper that the flex floor but after much thought I do believe I like a hard floor for what I do over soft. I can by pads later if I need to, besides I have no doubt that a tricycle or two will be going over this floor in the winter. But this all lead me to look at real live hard wood floors which from what I can see are cheaper than the flex floor but still pretty high (thousands) and then I found Bamboo and that seem pretty reasonable (less than $1000), just a bit more work intensive for me (no more that hardwood though), but that is ok. I will need to put a sub-floor in part of the basement but I would need to do that anyway so no big difference there.

Of course this is all just web research based on my estimate of the size of the space I am talking about. When I get more solid prices on stuff I will post them just in case it helps anyone else decide what they want to do something like this and should they be, as my wife puts it, martial arts crazy, and want to build stuff like this in their house.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Hey Xue just remember that basement's retain moisture and if water does come in then that is where it will go first. Wood floor in a basement is usually recommended against.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Hey Xue just remember that basement's retain moisture and if water does come in then that is where it will go first. Wood floor in a basement is usually recommended against.

True, which is what lead me to Bamboo, apparently it does fine if allowed to acclimate (72 hours) before it is installed. But then at this point I am just looking and have not made any decisions yet.

 

[jks9199]

Hey Xue just remember that basement's retain moisture and if water does come in then that is where it will go first. Wood floor in a basement is usually recommended against.

Or takes careful, complicated planning for drainage & waterproofing.

 

[Big Don]

Or takes careful, complicated planning for drainage & waterproofing.

Which ought to remind all of us of the KISS rule:
Keep
It
Simple
Susan