Training equipment!

[Nabakatsu]

Firstly I'd like to say.. please don't ban me for making 200 threads within 3 days!
On a more or less serious point..
I want to purchase a dresser of sorts, something with good strong wheels and maybe reinforce with some 2x4's or something, (I have no knowledge about any kind of hands on work of this sort) and than attach some padding to it, weight it down so that it's fairly difficult for me to move it, and than practice punching it back and forth to help me train.. last nights class I was really trying to be aware of how I was chain punching pads my partner was holding, and It became painfully obvious I need a crap load of work done.. I was essentially leaning on my back foot half the time chain punching like a lunatic, hardly using any kind of WT footwork at all!
I'll have to experiment with weight distribution and such, I'm sure it will be quite a project, but I feel it could really help me not only with chain punching, but a good front kick as well, certainly help get me in better shape, ect ect, if anyone has any thoughts about how to cheaply get this done, or just general common sense stuff.. I'm sure I may have overlooked some details/possibilities! thanks much!

 

[jks9199]

Firstly I'd like to say.. please don't ban me for making 200 threads within 3 days!
On a more or less serious point..
I want to purchase a dresser of sorts, something with good strong wheels and maybe reinforce with some 2x4's or something, (I have no knowledge about any kind of hands on work of this sort) and than attach some padding to it, weight it down so that it's fairly difficult for me to move it, and than practice punching it back and forth to help me train.. last nights class I was really trying to be aware of how I was chain punching pads my partner was holding, and It became painfully obvious I need a crap load of work done.. I was essentially leaning on my back foot half the time chain punching like a lunatic, hardly using any kind of WT footwork at all!
I'll have to experiment with weight distribution and such, I'm sure it will be quite a project, but I feel it could really help me not only with chain punching, but a good front kick as well, certainly help get me in better shape, ect ect, if anyone has any thoughts about how to cheaply get this done, or just general common sense stuff.. I'm sure I may have overlooked some details/possibilities! thanks much!

Describe your goal, rather than your solution -- because I can't picture what you're trying to do by beating up a dresser. If you can explain what you're wanting to work on, someone might have an idea if they aren't blocked by your idea.

 

[mook jong man]

Firstly I'd like to say.. please don't ban me for making 200 threads within 3 days!
On a more or less serious point..
I want to purchase a dresser of sorts, something with good strong wheels and maybe reinforce with some 2x4's or something, (I have no knowledge about any kind of hands on work of this sort) and than attach some padding to it, weight it down so that it's fairly difficult for me to move it, and than practice punching it back and forth to help me train.. last nights class I was really trying to be aware of how I was chain punching pads my partner was holding, and It became painfully obvious I need a crap load of work done.. I was essentially leaning on my back foot half the time chain punching like a lunatic, hardly using any kind of WT footwork at all!
I'll have to experiment with weight distribution and such, I'm sure it will be quite a project, but I feel it could really help me not only with chain punching, but a good front kick as well, certainly help get me in better shape, ect ect, if anyone has any thoughts about how to cheaply get this done, or just general common sense stuff.. I'm sure I may have overlooked some details/possibilities! thanks much!

Rather than spend good money on beating up a cupboard , I reckon you should look for a second hand punching bag , I got one for 60 bucks and its lasted about 15 years.

Another thing you can do is some WC schools hang up small canvas bags filled with sand on the end of a rope and practice short range punching on that.

You could also fill a large coffee can with gravel or sand and wrap a bit of padding around it and put it on a bench and practice your 1 inch punch on that and see how far you can move it

If you have a tree out the back , cut a car tyre in half , cut some flaps at each end of the half of tyre and screw the tyre onto the tree and kick that. Maybe put one half at waist height and the other half down low at knee height.

Best thing you can get in my opinion is a wall bag with three sections so you can kick and punch it.

 

[Si-Je]

If you Wing Tzun I'm pretty sure that when your doing "one foot forward" stance, or advanced, or "C-step" stance your supposed to have almost all your weight on the back leg. So, that should be okay. It feels funny at first. When I first started with that stance it almost felt like a "cat stance" without bending the knee so much of course.
But, you could try working your chain punching in basic first. So you can get your punching down without worring about your stance so much. I'm not sure if they train that way in WT, that may be a WC thing. When we do the punching pad drill we alternate from basic stance to advanced stance depending on where the partner takes the punching pads. But it think WT mainly stays in advanced stance when moving and punching don't they?

Like Mook Jong Man said, a good second hand kicking bag would work well to get your punching power and skill down, but if your wanting something you can "chase" like when doing the punching pad drill you could try one of those Wave bags. The one's that have a weighted base that you put water in (we put sand in ours keeps it from getting knocked over so much) and that way you'll move the bag when you punch and can work on following it in stance.
Of course, I'm a big fan of working in the air too. If you feel awkward moving quickly and punching, drill in the air. Chainpunch as you move in stance until that is comfortable making sure your chainpunching is straight and arrow line down the center. Then when you get to class you'll do better on the focus mits.

 

[Nabakatsu]

Thanks guys, the problem with a punching bag is my garage is already about to fall over from the last one I had, and in my house there are no real good support beams to hang it from.. and yeah embas stays pretty much in fighting stance with all the weight on the back leg the whole time, and I really do want to practice chasing stuff around, I was thinking with the dresser or whatever I would craft I could make the weight vary, so I could practice multiple steps without the need of a partner, I do train my steps with chain punches just in the air, but I feel like It would be more beneficial to me to train on something I was actually hitting. no trees in my yard i'm afraid, I could always hit the outside of my garage tho, I doubt I can break it down from the outside, and if I do, at least I won't die

 

[jks9199]

You might be able to use one of the freestanding punching bags; especially if you put it down on some carpet with those furniture moving sliders underneath, it should be nice and lively to chase!

 

[Nabakatsu]

I HATE doing wt footwork on carpet, so much dang work! lol, seriously, anything outside of smooth floors has given me trouble, especiallllyyyy grass!
thanks!

 

[Seeker]

I knew a boxer who would practice punches against a hand towel suspended from a string. The theory being that you would have to hit it dead on accurate and with a bit speed and force in order to get a reaction out of it.

And then once you get hitting it down, then you would have to chase it down to hit it more than once as it is flying away from you. And also as it swings back to you, you can work covering and/or evasion, footwork, etc.

He claimed it promotes, speed, power, accuracy and footwork.

You know, I think I am going to try this.

 

[Nabakatsu]

Thanks seeker, that sounds pretty awesome, I'd really appreciate if you could post your results here and let me know how it goes!

I'm wanting to build a few other things, or maybe just make a wooden dummy even tho i've been practicing for.. 5 months -laughs- idk.. I really want to work on my lat sau, tonight I had a really fun class, it's the first time we've done lat sau and incorporated tan san and pak sau, it was amazing to see how devastating it can be, especially the tan sau, not only were we able to land free easy hits, but the suddenness of the attack definitly would have an emotional/psycological affect on the victi.. I mean opponent as well

so yeah.. I want to develope a way to practice lat sau solo or.. just develope the skill some how by myself, i'm VERY open to possible suggestions to this, if anyone has devised anything, another part of lat sau that doesn't involve the punching aspest would be balancing in advanced/fighting stance, I'm practicing ebmas WT so all the weight is on the back leg as we are in contact with our partners shin, when fighting with the senior students I definitly feel my balance going all over the damn place, I was wondering if anyone has developed a way to enhance said balance, like for example, having a large heavy object leaning on you as your in your stance, or something of this nature, any thoughts?! Thanks for your time!!

 

[Raynac]

Firstly I'd like to say.. please don't ban me for making 200 threads within 3 days!

... you made 200 threads within 3 days!!! =0 is that even legal!?

 

[mook jong man]

Thanks guys, the problem with a punching bag is my garage is already about to fall over from the last one I had, and in my house there are no real good support beams to hang it from.. and yeah embas stays pretty much in fighting stance with all the weight on the back leg the whole time, and I really do want to practice chasing stuff around, I was thinking with the dresser or whatever I would craft I could make the weight vary, so I could practice multiple steps without the need of a partner, I do train my steps with chain punches just in the air, but I feel like It would be more beneficial to me to train on something I was actually hitting. no trees in my yard i'm afraid, I could always hit the outside of my garage tho, I doubt I can break it down from the outside, and if I do, at least I won't die

I think on another post you said you had a sister , is she big enough to hold a pad . Why don't you buy some focus mitts and get her to hold it and while your at it teach her to punch as well . What about joining a local gym and using their heavy bag , they usually have one hanging up. You might get some funny looks , but stuff em let them look.

Just be careful though , one of my gianormous friends actually broke the bag off the chain with one of his punches. There's no neighbours that you could teach and get them to hold a focus mitt or kick shield for you .

Is your yard grass , then get a big wooden post and bury the end in the ground and fill the hole with concrete , cut up car tyre rubber and duct tape it onto the post and you have a kicking post or type of makiwara if you put some padding up higher.

As you can see buddy I'm clutching at straws here trying to help you but I'm out of ideas , I still think the best way is to have a human holding the pad then they can give you feeback as to whether the strike or kick is penetrating or not , start teaching a neighbour so they can hold the pads for you or maybe someone in your Wing Chun school might like to do a bit of extra training at your place or theirs.

 

[Nabakatsu]

I was kind of expecting something along these lines to be said, and I can definitely tell that your clutching at straws good sir, and I really appreciate your effort, my sister is very tiny, and I can hardly get her to sit down and eat a meal with me these days, she's quite depressed and any effort to help her seems to send her farther away i'm afraid, as for neighbors, that is a possibility eventually, but right now there is a fair amount of snow on the ground, and nobody really comes out of their houses yet, but hopefully that will change soon. I'm not going to give up hope, I'm sure there is some way to quasi effectively train some of this stuff without a partner, if not I will die trying so to speak, once my economic situation gets a bit better I will try and get private lessons with my sifu, I'm pretty sure I will be able to find people to spar with eventually, but I want to be fairly proficient in my wing tzun first, for I'm sure they will be using muay thai, boxing, karate, or something of this nature. Thanks again, I do appreciate your good intentions and I hopefully your fingers have gained some dexterity from all the clutching of straws!

 

[mook jong man]

I was kind of expecting something along these lines to be said, and I can definitely tell that your clutching at straws good sir, and I really appreciate your effort, my sister is very tiny, and I can hardly get her to sit down and eat a meal with me these days, she's quite depressed and any effort to help her seems to send her farther away i'm afraid, as for neighbors, that is a possibility eventually, but right now there is a fair amount of snow on the ground, and nobody really comes out of their houses yet, but hopefully that will change soon. I'm not going to give up hope, I'm sure there is some way to quasi effectively train some of this stuff without a partner, if not I will die trying so to speak, once my economic situation gets a bit better I will try and get private lessons with my sifu, I'm pretty sure I will be able to find people to spar with eventually, but I want to be fairly proficient in my wing tzun first, for I'm sure they will be using muay thai, boxing, karate, or something of this nature. Thanks again, I do appreciate your good intentions and I hopefully your fingers have gained some dexterity from all the clutching of straws!

Yes I can now clutch the straws and propel them into a mans throat from 30 feet lol.

Seriously now I'm sure you will come up with a solution by yourself , anyone who has the motivation to punch for 20 mins like you have been will find a way to train , somehow and somewhere.
Good luck and I hope your sister gets better too.

 

[Nabakatsu]

I'm glad your fingers have become so powerful! The almighty master of bil gee! Thanks for your kind words, I have complete faith in myself and I'm sure i'll figure something out as well.

 

[bully]

Bruce listed these in the book The tao of gung fu:

A large hanging heavy bag
a hanging wall bag
a small hanging bag
Iron rings
a sand dish
wooden dummy
a stationary striking ball
a single headed staff
a pair of handgrips
a pair of dumbbells
a skipping rope

I dont know what half of them are but he was a fit bloke

and not bad at WC either.....

 

[koenig]

In no particular order:


Wooden Dummy

Punching a piece of paper hanging from the ceiling (develops *snap*) and helps train you to recoil your punches faster than you extended them

Long skinny bags filled with mung beans for iron body type drills (if you're into that thing)

Weight lifting

Sparring

 

[yak sao]

(said in thick German accent)...."so tell me, vy do you feel this compulsion to beat up furniture"?

Have you seen(this part is in an American accent by the way) football blocking sleds? maybe you could come up with an improvised version of that?

 

[Nabakatsu]

oooh, that sir is quite an interesting idea, I wonder how much one of those goes for tho, maybe I could steal one from a college near by in the wee hours of the morning

"Don't mind me occifer, i'm just practicing my wing tzun"