Anyone use the Century BOB?

[AdamKralic]

We have one at my son's alt practice dojo...wondering if anyone here has one?

Thoughts?

[Zaine]

I'm personally not a huge fan. I'm not a huge fan of any standing bag that is weighted to the floor by a base filled with sand anyway. I prefer a hanging bag. However, BOB's are good if you want a general idea of how an upper-body technique is going to feel like when applying it to humans. It's not going to be exact but it will help with placement being that BOB's are height adjustable (I think).

[DWx]

Not used one personally but they seem alright. Probably better for your son than a full heavy bag as he'd be able to actually see what he was striking instead of trying to visualize it.

[tallgeese]

I actually like them for certain things. What you have to understand is that they are not a heavy bag. Despite the fact they get lumped there, they serve a different function.

Heavy bags let you work combos with power while meeting resistance and working angles. BOB's don't meet with near the resistance due to their mounting. However, they excel at making you match weapons to target. They let you find the angles that your appendages need to be at to make proper contact while moving your angles around the torso.

It makes you really work precision and lets you do it in a more fluid environment. It also lets you not worry about gouging your partners eyes or making too much contact to the neck area, ect. Further, it lets you hit anatomic targets with training knives, sticks, ect. This can't be over sold. Getting used to hitting a more life like target is really important for actually hurting another human in conflict.

This is where I always cite Grossman's "On Killing" and firing rates in combat at other human beings. If you haven't read it, do so.

[Wastelander]

I really like BOB for working specific targets--because he has a human shape, you can contour your strikes (hard-to-soft and soft-to-hard) and work strikes to individual targets (eyes, pressure points, floating ribs) much more effectively. I have actually seen people draw pressure points on their BOB in Sharpie to give students a better idea of where they are so they can work on how to strike them.

[Evil Dave]

Another use for BOB is where you don't have the space to hang a full heavy bag. It could because your in a school gymnasium, a hall, other rental space, or you can not afford the space to hang a full heavy bag. Another use is if you travel with your gear, it's light and all you need is a tap to attach a garden hose to fill it up with water.

[AdamKralic]

We did end up purchasing the Century BOB. Minor assembly required...you need two people to get one of the bolts in...but doable. It is primarily for my son so we decided to fill with water. (filling with sand would make it heavier still)

We love it. I have always used pads with him prior...which is fine but sometimes I don't get the greatest view of his feet while holding the large pads...and proper footwork to me is everything.

Something that people aren't mentioning that I will: turning the BOB. You can obviously have either side in front...and this makes for great practice for open/closed stance techniques. (the best fighter my son faces is a leftie...so that in and of itself has presented a few challenges) With the Bob...it's easy to turn it so that you can have time to practice attacking different openings.

I'd highly recommend the product.

[Wastelander]

We did end up purchasing the Century BOB. Minor assembly required...you need two people to get one of the bolts in...but doable. It is primarily for my son so we decided to fill with water. (filling with sand would make it heavier still)

We love it. I have always used pads with him prior...which is fine but sometimes I don't get the greatest view of his feet while holding the large pads...and proper footwork to me is everything.

Something that people aren't mentioning that I will: turning the BOB. You can obviously have either side in front...and this makes for great practice for open/closed stance techniques. (the best fighter my son faces is a leftie...so that in and of itself has presented a few challenges) With the Bob...it's easy to turn it so that you can have time to practice attacking different openings.

I'd highly recommend the product.

Glad it's working out well for you! As for turning the BOB to mimic body positioning in different stances, I completely agree with you--for self defense combinations you really don't need to turn him much, but for sparring combinations I usually have him turned to an angle like an opponent would be. Now if only he had poseable arms!

[AdamKralic]

We did end up purchasing the Century BOB. Minor assembly required...you need two people to get one of the bolts in...but doable. It is primarily for my son so we decided to fill with water. (filling with sand would make it heavier still)

We love it. I have always used pads with him prior...which is fine but sometimes I don't get the greatest view of his feet while holding the large pads...and proper footwork to me is everything.

Something that people aren't mentioning that I will: turning the BOB. You can obviously have either side in front...and this makes for great practice for open/closed stance techniques. (the best fighter my son faces is a leftie...so that in and of itself has presented a few challenges) With the Bob...it's easy to turn it so that you can have time to practice attacking different openings.

I'd highly recommend the product.

Glad it's working out well for you! As for turning the BOB to mimic body positioning in different stances, I completely agree with you--for self defense combinations you really don't need to turn him much, but for sparring combinations I usually have him turned to an angle like an opponent would be. Now if only he had poseable arms!

Agreed. That would be great. I'd also like a bag/device that could spam different kicks...like a roundhouse spammer...a sidekick spammer. I'm a bit tall for my son to be a good practice opponent...my wife is a better size but her kicks are "wrong" They come at odd angles...aren't really roundhouses...and of course she gets tired before the lesson has been done enough times for that day. (I would too btw...not trying to put her down

I'm pretty darn handy in the wood shop...I might just have to create something using wood/springs. Hmmmm. I'm imagining a roundhouse spammer would be easier to create than a sidekick spammer.

My son fights A LOT. But as everyone knows...kids aren't equal. Many kids my son fights simply either can't spam...or don't. Not at all calling spamming a great technique...but there are a few quality fighters that lean a bit too heavy on it even at high levels...I'd like for it to be a cakewalk to deal with.

[DragonRanger_08]

We did end up purchasing the Century BOB. Minor assembly required...you need two people to get one of the bolts in...but doable. It is primarily for my son so we decided to fill with water. (filling with sand would make it heavier still)

We love it. I have always used pads with him prior...which is fine but sometimes I don't get the greatest view of his feet while holding the large pads...and proper footwork to me is everything.

Something that people aren't mentioning that I will: turning the BOB. You can obviously have either side in front...and this makes for great practice for open/closed stance techniques. (the best fighter my son faces is a leftie...so that in and of itself has presented a few challenges) With the Bob...it's easy to turn it so that you can have time to practice attacking different openings.

I'd highly recommend the product.

Glad it's working out well for you! As for turning the BOB to mimic body positioning in different stances, I completely agree with you--for self defense combinations you really don't need to turn him much, but for sparring combinations I usually have him turned to an angle like an opponent would be. Now if only he had poseable arms!

Agreed. That would be great. I'd also like a bag/device that could spam different kicks...like a roundhouse spammer...a sidekick spammer. I'm a bit tall for my son to be a good practice opponent...my wife is a better size but her kicks are "wrong" They come at odd angles...aren't really roundhouses...and of course she gets tired before the lesson has been done enough times for that day. (I would too btw...not trying to put her down

I'm pretty darn handy in the wood shop...I might just have to create something using wood/springs. Hmmmm. I'm imagining a roundhouse spammer would be easier to create than a sidekick spammer.

My son fights A LOT. But as everyone knows...kids aren't equal. Many kids my son fights simply either can't spam...or don't. Not at all calling spamming a great technique...but there are a few quality fighters that lean a bit too heavy on it even at high levels...I'd like for it to be a cakewalk to deal with.

Umm.......what does spamming mean?