Issue 041

September 2008

Combat athletes have used heavy bags for punching and kicking for years – the use of striking posts in arts such as karate goes back centuries. Wrestling dummies have also been used extensively and they can take many forms. Some MMA devotees have been known to take down a heavy bag, pick it up, slam it down and ground ‘n pound it. This prompted many designs to be invented – there are even entire workouts devoted to ‘floor bags’ as some of them are known. 

For those of you familiar with my DVD you’ll know that I’m a big fan of the Tough Guy and Grapple Guy drills that I demo. Most of my MMA clients (and even my judo fighters) use the dummies on a regular basis. These dummies can be used and abused, without complaint, 24/7. You won’t hear a peep about sore ribs, fat lips or heavy falls, and when you can’t get a partner to train with, you can grab a ‘grapple guy’.

Dummies are perfect for ground ‘n pound drills, movement drills, isometric squeezes, and my personal favourite, ‘heartbreak minutes.’ This little gem of a drill came from Big Matt Clempner – former Olympian wrestler, judo player, police defensive tactics trainer, Sambo master of sports, etc. His list of accolades goes on; I think he’s a little twisted as this drill hurts, a lot!

Here are a few ideas on how to spice up your training with a grappling dummy.  

Ground ‘n Pound

Mount or knee ride the dummy and simply rain down a host of blows on it. Imagine you’re in the closing seconds of a championship bout, you’ve gained top position and now it’s time to finish. Use any strikes you can and throw them as hard and fast as possible. Set a timer for 1-minute intervals and rest only 10-30 secs. Repeat as often as needed. You could put in some bodyweight exercises between rounds to tax you a little more.

Position Drills 

Again this exercise is good when performed for time or for reps. All you have to do is stay tight to the dummy and move from one position to another, e.g. mount to side control, north / south to side control and then back to mount. The options are endless. It’s a good idea to have someone watch you to check your form and monitor time and / or reps, although it’s not essential. This could be paired with the above drill: so you might like to gain control, throw five shots, then move to another position and repeat for time. 

Isometric Squeezes

These are good to put in as active rest periods for 30 seconds between rounds, and you can do almost anything. Grab hold and squeeze for your life.

Heartbreak minutes

My absolute favourite of all the drills here. For the grapplers, simply pick up and throw the dummy, suplex style, as many times as possible in one minute. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat for five to eight rounds. Try to beat your number of throws in each and every round! This is the hard part. These catch up with you very quickly. Make no mistake about it – this hurts. Perform it as intensely as you can. 

For the die-hard among you, do exactly the same as for the grapplers, but each time you suplex the dummy, mount it and throw 10 hard and fast punches – quickly get to your feet and repeat for the remainder of the minute. Try to make your rest periods active, so performing an isometric squeeze on the dummy, as mentioned earlier, is a great way to make these drills even more specific. 

There is no such thing as true rest in a fight, so get your training to mirror that fact – use isometric clinches, face bars, carrying the dummy, etc. This is also a favourite of my good friend and client, Ross Pearson. No matter what shape he is in after our workouts he always likes to finish with some heartbreakers! His rest period is only 30 seconds between rounds, with either a clinch hold or isometric squeeze on the dummy or he gets stacked from a triangle. Either way, recovery is limited and this produces great gains in the area of work capacity. 

So there you have it for this month. Use this as a starting point and get going with the grapple guy drills. You’ll see massive improvements in performance and you won’t run out of training partners!

Gibson is a kettlebell and fitness instructor based in North East England. A strength and conditioning trainer to MMA fighters, he holds a third dan in judo. Any questions or queries can be directed to [email protected]. Check out his DVD ‘Train Hard, Fight Easy and Win’, available from grapplefit.com.