Training timing with a Tennis Ball....

[Yum Cha]

Anybody use tennis balls for training? It kind of resembles using one of those top and bottom suspended timing balls...

How?
Suspended tennis ball on string, hit it and start picking it off as it swings, like a timing bag, almost, but more about speed and precision than strength. Its not a complete training, from that point of view.

sometimes, you might use a couple, or put a thumb tack or two on them? Just to make the target a little more tricky.


vary the length of the string or walk under it and keep the ball out to vary speed.

The objective is to hit the ball square, so it doesn't fly around randomly, or set to spinning from a glancing blow. The sweet spot is about the size of a 10 cent piece (US nickle). Strike with either the twin knuckles of a fist, of phoenix fist.

Start throwing in footwork, and there are lots of permutations.

Again, its not really about power, its about timing and targeting.

Anybody do this stuff, or something similar? To get the eye in, so to speak.

[Lee Chiang Po]

Yes. You can triangulate yourself with these and have 3 balls coming in at you at different angles and different times. Shifting and kicking as well as blocking kicks will benefit from this. As you said, it is not about power, but more about timing and sharpening the eye. BTW, A US nickle is only 5 cents. Just saying. The 10 cent piece is called a dime.
Karate people and those of kung fu that use high kicks will also benefit by raising the ball. I have several of these, but I have not done it in years. There are many things we can build ourselves that will work as well as something store bought and it can easily save us money. This is just one of them.

LCP

[Yum Cha]

Yes. You can triangulate yourself with these and have 3 balls coming in at you at different angles and different times. Shifting and kicking as well as blocking kicks will benefit from this. As you said, it is not about power, but more about timing and sharpening the eye. BTW, A US nickle is only 5 cents. Just saying. The 10 cent piece is called a dime.
Karate people and those of kung fu that use high kicks will also benefit by raising the ball. I have several of these, but I have not done it in years. There are many things we can build ourselves that will work as well as something store bought and it can easily save us money. This is just one of them.

LCP

Interesting...kicking never occurred to me. I try to work the ball, repeatedly hitting it like a speed ball, with kicking, I get the feeling it would be more of alike target practice?



BTW, in Australia, our 10 cent piece is about the size of a US Nickle, only thinner....:D

[uki]

hmmmm... juggling them tennis balls filled with some lead shot, sand, or rice might improve your timing aswell. :)

[Yum Cha]

Not sure if you ever checked out Master Wong you tube page? He has some drills on some of the clips were he uses tennis balls.

http://www.youtube.com/user/138mws

checked out the site, couldn't find tennis balls. So much stuff...

Uki, sometimes I do think its a bit like juggling, hitting the ball square, fist to fist to fist and all that....

BTW, I suk at juggling, just for the record....LOL.

[Lucas]

have you ever seen that contraption jet li made a long time ago, its featured in one of his films The Master, i think....but i might be wrong.

anyway its a few posts that he stands in the middle of with cords surrounding him with a ball in the middle of each. i think in the film he uses it to train with a stick hitting the balls.

but it looked like a great contraption for training timing, speed, coordination, periphial vision (sp), reaction, memory, etc.

i wish i had one

[uki]

i wish i had onebuild it and they will come...

[Lucas]

build it and they will come...

ya, i would but i would have to somehow put it up in my livingroom/trainingroom. but it would leave little room. ill either never do it, or have to wait till i have a place for it. same with a wooden dummy. i almost commisioned someone to build one for me, then realized i dont really have much room for it, and my neighbors (one on each side and above) already dislike me because of punching bag and weights...