Tire Man and Wooden Post DIY Gear

[Ray Langley]

Book Review.
Martial Arts Home Training:
The Complete Guide to the Construction & Use of Home Training Equipment
by Mike Young

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 080483170X
Softcover, 158 pages
U.S. $19.95

Here is another review of this book by James Hom on About.com:

http://martialarts.about.com/recreation/martialarts/library/zbookreviewz/bkr_080483170X_4616.htm

Review by Ray Langley

Included in the book are instructions for constructing and using the
following items:

Shadowboxing Towel
Multipurpose Tire
Precision Blocking Stick
Heavy-Duty Striking Post
Grocery Bag
Small Hanging Bag
Choking Dummy

Although some of the devices/training aids are for the empty hand,
I bought this book only for the "Multipurpose Tire" and the "Heavy-
Duty Striking Post. My goal was to learn how to construct my own
inexpensive training gear with the sole purpose of pounding the
hell out of it with hardwood walking canes. These two devices can
be constructed using common hand tools.

In the tire-man section the author refers to Kali, Escrima, and
Rattan sticks. For the person who wishes to practice full power
strikes with the cane, here are a few quotes with the word "rattan"
omitted:

"...a single empty tire can have a wide array of uses for training
yourself in various martial arts systems."

"...an empty tire hung at about eye level by a thick cord or rope
makes and excellent striking target to practice full-power and
focused strikes..."

"...an excellent striking tool for a number of reasons. For one,
striking at the hanging tire feels more realistic than hitting a
heavy bag. The hanging tire has unusual edges and angles to strike
and to be aware of like a human body, and it also moves in an
unpredictable manner, as a person would in a real fight."

"I enjoy hitting the tire because I can do it without the fear of
destroying an expensive piece of training equipment, or even the
stick (cane) itself."

The author also describes how he hung another single tire very
close to the ground for practicing leg strikes. There is also a
suspended two-tire model which is probably the one I will make.

Since this is a copyrighted book, I don't want to give away the farm
in this review. The author describes in detail exactly what you need
to pick up from the local hardware store. The old tires are free from
most any tire shop.

The author finds the two-tire model to be, "an enjoyable training
tool because of the independent movement of both tires at the same
time. This gave me unpredictable and erratic targets to strike at,
just as if I were fighting a real live opponent in the street."

The Heavy-Duty Striking Post is somewhat portable in that it can
be moved/rolled around to different parts of the dojo, garage, or
lawn. It could even be transported to training camps or seminars
in the back of a small pickup. A complete list of materials is
provided as well as detailed instructions for making your own. It
consists of a length of telephone pole mounted in a concrete-filled
base, again using and old tire as a base. I will use a smaller
diameter post and a different wrapping scheme than is demonstrated
in the book.

After the striking post is built, there are ten pages with lots of
photos on how he uses it to train (empty handed).

Twenty bucks might seem like a lot of money until you look around at
the prices of commercial training equipment. I feel that I got my
money's worth. Many of the stick and cane fighting/defense videos
don't cover the idea of actually hitting something heavy and/or
hard with your stick/cane. It is imperative that we learn how to
control our weapon after it makes contact with "objects".



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http://pub48.ezboard.com/bcaneknifestick

 

[judge]

Good topic.
I built my own tire man using a heavy welded 2 inch steel pipe frame and a stack of old tires. It holds up great.
Something like the suspended two-tire dummy, but more vicious as a training tool, is doing it out of wood. It used two sections of about 2x4 wood, two feet each. First one is drilled in the middle with one hole, the other is drilled at one end. Use rope to suspend the centrally drilled section at about shoulder level, fix it by letting it rest on a knot in the rope. That´s the free-spinning "shoulders" or arms of your dummy. The other section ("leg") is hanging on one end at about thigh/knee/shin height, fixed by a knot as well.
If you hit the wood sections, they start spinning and moving around (quite fast if you hit harder), and you get moving targets. Hit the "shoulders/arms" hard enough, and the upper part moves as well. But watch your head, I`ve been hit hard a few times. And more than once have I banged my hand/knuckles on the moving wood instead
of cutting with my blade. It improves your hand-target coordination and accuracy. If you want to use it with a live blade, slide pvc pipes over the exposed rope.
A funny training device that is cheap and easy to build, but needs quite sophisticatd technique when working harder with it, and can hurt quite a bit.
Sorry, ASCII art blueprint didn´t work

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"Peace is not without conflict; it is the ability to cope with conflict" - Leo Giron

[This message has been edited by judge (edited 02-27-2001).]

 

[student]

Had the spring arm built for me some years ago, and sent the directions for the Portable Striking Post to friends in another city who practiced Oyama-style Karate.

Their only remark was that the author had an 'interesting' definition of the word Portable....

Young has some good suggestions.

student

 

[Knovice]

Thanks.