Grappling dummy

[Ground Dragon]

Anyone here used a grappling dummy for practice? If so, which one would you recommend and did you notice an improvement in your game?
I've been thinking of getting one but I'm not sure which one would be best and if it's worth the investment. I do think it would be cool to be able to practice certain things over and over at home.

[Internal Boxer]

Personally I would think it pretty pointless, try and seek out a grappling club or if there are non in your area, get someone who is interested in learning, get some tapes and train..... You need a live person for grappling period, do not fall for the "grapple dummy" gimick you are wasting your money!! You may as well just grapple your pillow!

[Ground Dragon]

I do study, I do bjj several times a week. I know all about the need for a live training partner. I was wanting some way I could practice techniques at home on my own time.

Anyone else with actual experience with one of these have something constructive to offer?

[Internal Boxer]

Then really you should know better than ask questions like "should I buy a dummy" :rolleyes: If you want to get better on your own, do some tendon strengthening exercies or weight training, cardio vascular work, your could hire a hall, and get a few contacts from your BJJ club so you can train with your BJJ brothers outside the dojo, ie, grassed areas are just fine for ground work.

Messing around with a dummy you will be only wasting your valuable time that could be spent with more constructive training. You may as well get a sex doll. :D

Don't take my word for it go speak to a well known grappler like Matt Thornton, drop him an e-mail, have you asked your mates down the club what they think???

If you seriously have contemplated getting a dummy I think you need to address your training regime because it is the wrong path to take, find a way to spent more time training with real people outside the dojo, go to other clubs, build up a network of contacts in the grappling community, go learn Judo, olympic style western wrestling, greco/roman wrestling, Sambo, no Gi submission fighting, do not be wrorried that it is another style, as long as you are getting that "contact" to help you develop the listening skills which is the fundamental corner stone required for any grappling art, you need training partners to develop skill that is the ONLY WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ground Dragon]

There are tons of ways to develop skills that can help you. I'm not saying this will replace training with a live partner. Hell, if I had time to train with judo clubs and sambo people and the freakin local wrestling teams, do you think I'd be worried about it? I'd go train. I'm looking for something I can practice a technique (be it throwing, escapes whatever) with when I get home at 11 or midnite, or before I go to work in the morning. Kind of hard to say that you couldn't at least memorize the actual techniques.

When first learning a technique in class your partner doesn't apply full resistance so you can get a feel for it. That's all I'm really looking for. And I'm not even necessarily going to buy one if I can make one myself.

There have been threads in the past on the underground of people talking about using one of these, most of the reactions I saw were positive. I think they know a fair amount about them. And there are mixed reactions from people at my school.
I was trying to see if anyone posting on this particular forum had experience with it, nothing more, nothing less.
Apparently you don't care for them, fair enough. But I'm looking for input from those who might actually have experience with this particular training aid.

[HuangKaiVun]

Most properly taught kung fu styles feature ways of training grappling moves in their sets, Ground Dragon.

They'll practice them against the air, on inanimate objects, and on live resisting opponents.

In my school, we have no inanimate practice dummy. Rather, we'll just work the moves on each other slowly and with restraint. Tap outs are used and the fighters mutually understand that the drill is but an imitation of real fighting.

I've always been around grappling dummies, and they're useful for showing basic finishes. However, it's how you get to the finish that's the trick. I've always preferred real humans for learning transitional movements because grappling dummies don't contort in ways that real humans do.

I'm all for you getting a grappling dummy if you have no other way to train.

[sweaty_dog]

A lot of people use "Bubba", including Elvis Sinosic who has fought in the UFC. I think a dummy is not a bad idea but don't pay too much for one. There are instructions for making your own archived on the forums at mma.tv, probably the bjj forum. Otherwise just post "Attn:bubbamaker" and a guy that makes them can help you. Then again you could just get a heavy bag and put some kind of makeshift arms on it.