the first time i saw someone freestyle on the dummy,was paul vunak's wooden dummy tape from panther video( my favorite tape of all his videos) i thought "this is great!" I've since have had great training sessions on it freestlying.I also enjoy the actual form,it has a lot of little nooks and crannies of wing chun concepts and the footworks really good.
I do not belieive in hitting it full blast.What i mean by that statement is, i hit it with my structure. now, i can hit it hard like that, but i dont blatantly slam my arms into the arms and leg of the dummy.When i hit it,the whole dummy moves.Hitting it like a madman does not serve any purpose,its detrimental to your development.
If you want to hit something,a heavybag works just fine,it gives just like hitting someone in the gut........eddie