Since getting back into martial arts last year, I have been looking for ways to improve throws and takedowns for (Japanese) Jiu Jitsu. I am still on the very early path in Jiu Jitsu. In our syllabus, there seems to be more focus on standing techniques than ground control up to Orange Belt. With just one section of Jiu Jitsu per week, compared to six sections of Karate, I felt that some of the combos become quite fleeting if they are not reinforced in between classes. I have been trying to keep notes, for various intricate techniques I tried drawing models (below) to support written notes, but that can never beat execution on a more realistic subject.

Being close to 1.9m (6’2”) it also becomes more imperative to have really good footwork and setups to be able to accurately execute throws. So, I decided to splurge on a standing dummy. There is a wide selection out there. I was initially looking very closely at the Century Versys 2.0. This one was specifically made for throws and takedowns. My instructor has one of these and he seems to swear by it. The issue I have is that it only seems to be made for take-down techniques. Once I would be past getting good throw execution (I am currently not!), I feel the Versys would be catching dust and be “mariconed” by my wife. In fact, there seems to be a graveyard of grappling dummies out there, with “[…] suspicious garbage men moving the humanoid shape that is rolled up in a carpet into the back of a garbage truck.” Seriously, have a look at Stephan’s video and ask yourself if you will actually commit to training at least twice a week with the new acquisition before moving on here.

Looking at the wider selection there are more generic options for throws that could also be used for some groundwork and a whole section of grappling dummies that are exclusively made for ground control. I decided to go for a hybrid, a standing grappling dummy. Given the insane price for shipping a filled one, I decided to build one from an empty bag. I saw a few videos here for grappling dummy builds that used pool noodles as skeletons and padded the rest with sandbags and rags. That was my first attempt.

While the sand-filled pool noodles give it a bonier feeling than just cloth, so you can practice arm-bars and other things, they are still too soft to let the dummy stand by itself. The legs would immediately cave in and I needed a “wooden horse” to keep the dummy in an upright position. I wonder how it would take for my neighbours to suspect dead bodies in my basement when they’d see this garage setup.

So on a second try, I reinforced the inside of the leg pool noodles all the way up to, what would be, the Sacroiliac joint with one-inch PEX pipes. I separated the other quarter of the pool noodle with cloth/paper inserts and a sand backfill such that the pipe won’t move. Then I filled the pipe-reinforced section with sand too. Big thanks to 417 BJJ for the inspiration to seriously look at PEX pipes for reinforcing it.

The arms section is just a smaller diameter of pool noodles filled with sand. I initially planned to do the neck and backbone out of pool noodles too, but I feared that the weight of the dummy would then be too light around the torso.

After taping the skeleton tightly together, I filled in all the gaps with rags. The Fuji dummy is actually fairly slim. It is a workout by itself to just shove all the cloth pieces past the pool noodles to have an even in-fill. If I had to do it again. I might consider putting Poly-fil in for the hard-to-reach places.

The final result is here. I did my first workout today. Below is a selection of Ippon-Seionage (一本背負投) and various foot actions. Ignore the finish and the ground control. Any experienced viewer would probably agree that these throws and finishes need serious improvement. As the old aphorism goes: Jiu-Jitsu-kas reveal their true age before breakfast.

A few drawbacks I noticed about the dummy so far are, that the arm position is forward. This is great for throw setups but sucks a bit for finishes. With a real Uke (受け) the landing position would in many cases be a side-break-fall from which side armbar like Ude-garame (腕緘) would be easy to apply. As you see in the video the finishes suck. On the positive side, this arm position might prove ideal to later get into more ground control.

That’s my new pal. I’m committed to not letting it end up in a rolled-up carpet at the end of a garbage truck. The key here, like with other workouts is to make a plan for it on the day before and then commit to the reps and techniques until the list is worked off. Last year, I worked up my 5 am routine, (again), and I schedule some form of training every morning. So far this has mostly been conditioning and cardio, with the new dummy and some lessons from my last Karate grading those sessions will likely be more technically focused. To spice it up, put on your favorite Spotify workout tune (suggestion) and get to work. Hopefully, my throws and your techniques will improve over time in a real setting.

Published: 2022-08-01
Updated  : 2025-10-04
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