The Target Ball - Practice on the cheap

[lklawson]

I have reintroduced a tool that I used to use a lot. A "target ball."

This is basically just a tennis ball hung from a line. There are many drills that you can use with it, but it excels at two general type of drills: Thrusting Accuracy and Evasion.

For evasion drills, adjust the hang to somewhere around hip to head height. Then start it swinging. The point is to work on evasions using footwork and body movement. Adjusting the height allows for practice at differing lines to the body. Work against low-line thrusts to the abbs will have the hang set at hips. The natural arc of the swing will provide a general "up" movement during the climb portion of the swing. Hanging the ball at head height will facilitate head evasions and can be used as practice against punches as well. Visualization is one of the keys.

For Thrusting Accuracy drills, well, a tennis ball is a pretty small target. For the initial thrust, be sure to adjust your range to the target to be the same as what you would be during an actual fight. Again, visualization is a key element. Don't "see" a tennis ball. Instead, "see" the clavicle, shoulder joint, or heart.

Yes, you can use it for slashing drills too, but don't cheat yourself. Target it. Don't just let the ball slide into your edge.

Combination Drills can be done too. My favorite at the moment is thrusting + evasion. Thrust for the ball and then, as it swings crazily about, avoid getting hit and thrust again.

Targeting, body movement, footwork, and even cardio, what's not to like?

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[KenpoTex]

I used to do this a lot, except I used ping-pong balls for a tighter "accuracy standard"...had a couple of them hanging in "high-traffic" areas of the house so I could just hit 'em once or twice anytime I walked past.

One of my favorite drills:

-Start with the knife sheathed/clipped to the pocket (however you'd normally carry it)
-Strike the ball with a punch/palm/whatever so that it swings away. Start your draw at the same time.
-The goal is to have your knife deployed in time to strike the ball as it swings back toward you. (this drill really exposes "snags" or wasted motion in your deployment since you have such a small window of time)

 

[Bikewr]

Waaay back when I was a lad thirsting for martial arts instruction... There was little available. This was late 50s, early 60s. I stumbled on the line of books by Bruce Tegner....
Bruce achieved some mild fame be being the instructor for the Nelson boys, Rickie and Dave back then when the TV show was popular.
He also published a line of books on any aspect of the MA you can think of, most of rather dubious accuracy.
Nonetheless, he advocated a lot of home-made training items and the ball mentioned was one I put to good use.
Mostly punching and kicking, but you could use anything including weapons. Keeps you busy.
In Danny Inosanto's book on Filipino martial arts, he has a number of home-made training devices.
One of the best (IMO) was a simple length of bamboo pole tied on two strings so you could vary the height and angle.
Used much like the ball, the pole comes at you either linearly like a knife-thrust or to one side or the other like a slash or stick blow.
A good impact-training device (also dead cheap) is an old tire on a rope. Hit it as hard as you like... It won't care.