Your favourite piece of training equipment

[Midnight-shadow]

A simple question: What is your favourite piece of equipment to train with and why?

My favourite right now is the Wooden Man (no, this isn't limited to Wing Chun practitioners) because it forces me to stay relaxed and smooth in my techniques, whereas with a bag I tend to just smack it as hard as I can without thinking about my technique. Try doing that on a Wooden Man and you'll end up with some very bruised hands. It also allows me to work on my blocks which a bag doesn't.

 

[Paul_D]

BOB. I can vary his height, dress him to be intimidating, and practice indexing, controlling limbs (the arms if he hoddie are stuffed with old clothes so he has arms) as well as striking.

 

[wingchun100]

Wooden dummy because it helps me train timing, distance, flow, and proper release of energy. (If you don't release it into the dummy just right, then you get knocked back by your own force!)

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I have many favorite training equipments.

- heavy bag
- BOB
- throwing dummy
- double heads
- single head
- weight pulley
- cane bundle
- ...

I like my "single head" the most. I can use it to develop

- grip strength,
- arm strength,
- leg strength.
- whole body strength,
- ...

 

[JR 137]

BOB XL, for the reasons Paul_D states, and a few more.

I use the bag (BOB included) like you do quite often. I pay attention to where my hands, feet, and head are. I'll practice combos slower, and look at where the above mentioned are in order to get the combo to flow better. Sometimes it's a simple step in with my opposite foot first, other times it's step in closer, wider, or further. The bag has really helped work kicks into my combinations seemlessly; before I payed closer attention, it was like punch-punch-adjust-kick-adjust-punch. Paying attention to my body weight distribution/posture/whatever has really made me flow smoother. Don't get me wrong, it's still a work in progress and will always be, but I suck much less because of it.

With a bag, I can do this and then start adding speed and power. I can't get that from shadow kickboxing because actually hitting something changes the amount of follow through.

People love focus mitts. They're great, but they don't develop that stopping power I strive for.

Going all out on the bag has its good points. I prefer to work smarter AND harder with the bag.

 

[Midnight-shadow]

I have many favorite training equipments.

- heavy bag
- BOB
- throwing dummy
- double heads
- single head
- weight pulley
- cane bundle
- ...

I like my "single head" the most. I can use it to develop

- grip strength,
- arm strength,
- leg strength.
- whole body strength,
- ...

What is the "single head" made out of? I've never seen anything like it before.

 

[jobo]

What is the "single head" made out of? I've never seen anything like it before.

it would seem easy to replicate with a weight bar and a weight on only one end. I've seen such as that being used in the gym, but not in such inventive ways as in the pictures

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

What is the "single head" made out of? I've never seen anything like it before.

There are

1. heaven weight (you swing over your head) - about 30 lb.
2. earth weight (you drag on the ground) - about 45 lb.

You can make one for less than $10.

- Get a PVC pipe.
- Draw 3 sets of holes (6 holes).
- Put 3 metal rods in it.
- Get a metal pot.
- Stand PVC pipe with 3 metal rods in that metal pot and pull concrete.

The following clip shows an "earth weight" without the metal pot. It's not used for throwing over the head.

 

[Headhunter]

Myself. That's not a sarcastic answer either when it comes to cardio sure a bags handy but for anything techical I just train on my own with no gear

 

[Midnight-shadow]

Myself. That's not a sarcastic answer either when it comes to cardio sure a bags handy but for anything techical I just train on my own with no gear

That's fair enough.

 

[Midnight-shadow]

BOB. I can vary his height, dress him to be intimidating, and practice indexing, controlling limbs (the arms if he hoddie are stuffed with old clothes so he has arms) as well as striking.

I'd love a BoB (especially now you say you can create arms for him) but I can't justify shelling out £400 for one.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

The hanging throwing dummy can be a good striking tool.

 

[JP3]

My favorite .....

... probably my judo-aikido buddy Raja, with whom we did our 3rd dan promo. Man, I threw that guy around like a 215 lb. rag doll... until he didn't ant to go and then it felt like he became a tree stump. One of the hardest guys to move I've been around, ever when he wanted to be... one of the best training partners I've ever had, too.

That's judo & aikido.

In TKD it was the hand-held kicking pads, not focus mitts... those came later.

For Muay Thai I had this love/hate relationship with this thing my instructor made, brought the idea from Thailand (remember the JCVD movie "Kickboxer"), but since he didn't have endogenous bamboo trees in Missouri, he rigged something else. 8-foot metal pipe, 6" diameter. Mounted/welded to a 1-foot square metal plate which was loosely bolted into the floor... bolts welded in place to the plate about a foot or so away from a wall in the back of the gym. At the top of the thing, on the wall-facing side, there was a small piece of reinforcing square iron rod about 2, maybe 3 inches long, which had been hammered basically round-ish. On the wall, opposite this little piece was a bell, like you find at the side of a boxing ring. Usually they hit on of those with a small hammer.

The pole was wrapped with rope, and there were three old (meaning worn-out, flattened and only slightly less hard than concrete) Thai kicking pads mounted on it, at lower leg level, mid-thigh level, and one at about the average man's rib cage level. We did not work head kicks on this thing!

Anyway, the thing was set up to teach you how to ... drive... the kick in, with penetrating impact rather than the snapping/shocking impact of the variety I was familiar with out of TKD. Different concept. Very dangerous and debilitating, as all of us who've watched any UFC as it was developing know.

I hated/loved that thing. When you kicked it right, the top swung back and rung the bell. The goal was... keep kicking it for the entire training round and to not fail to make it ring each time for the entire 2 or 3 minute round. It sucked. It made my leg kicks nearly impossible to withstand if one landed.

 

[Midnight-shadow]

It sounds like some of the best equipment to have is homemade stuff. It's a pity that I'm rubbish at DIY and crafting otherwise I would try and make some stuff at home myself.

 

[Paul_D]

I'd love a BoB (especially now you say you can create arms for him) but I can't justify shelling out £400 for one.

Oh god no far too expensive. Mine was half that off e-bay, think he'd been in someone's garage for a while as he's a bit mucky, but other that he was almost new as they obviously used him once or twice then got bored.

 

[Buka]

My three favorite pieces of equipment are a mouthpiece, a pair of gi pants and a belt. Although I don't even pack a mouthpiece any more, it was my "must have in my bag" thing above anything else, for decades.
Gi pants - there is nothing in the world better than a comfortable pair of gi pants. Yes, I've always had a full uniform, and still do, wear it to this day. But you can go without a gi top sometimes, but the pants....there's nothing like a good pair of gi pants.

The belt - I don't give a damn about the color, but cinching on that sucker immediately seperates you from anything else you might be doing physically, mentally, or spiritually. That one second pulling of the ends to cinch that knot - that's Show Time, baby.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Okay, though I agree with Buka's take on the belt and gi pants, I'll go with my original answers:

Grappling mats (lets us practice throws with some force, also useful for practicing downward strikes as follow-ups)
Heavy bag (good for working power, examining form and how changes affect power and speed, etc.)
Freestanding Century Versys (V1?) bag. Very different than the heavy bag- requires some focus on timing, etc. Don't have access to it any more (was in a space I was sharing with a Shorinryu Karate group).

I'd definitely put a Bob on the list, if I had one. Haven't had a chance to work on one of those in many years.

 

[Danny T]

Different equipment is favored for different things. No one piece of equipment for all aspects of training.
As I have aged; mats have become rather nice.
My list:
Long heavy bag,
Mook Jong,
Ground Dummies,
Wall bags,
Kettle bells,
Weight bar and plates,
Tractor tire and sledge hammer,
Wrecking Ball bag,
Speed bag,
Double end bag.
A great training partner is my absolute favorite but can't really consider them as equipment.
All are favorites for different training.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

It sounds like some of the best equipment to have is homemade stuff.

More homemade training equipment.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Even Karate belt can be used to develop your grip strength.