I am a sucker for anything related to Kung Fu. Especially when it comes to discovering the various art forms of real fighting. I started watching these awesome kungfu videos months ago and I got really passionate about fighting. My skills have dramatically improved. The thing is, I was starting to feel a bit bored after a while. There is only so much you can do with punching and kicking nothing but air.

But check this out. I got into something pretty awesome. It is called the Wing Chun Dummy and this thing is the real deal. This is how it all works. The Wing Chun Dummy is a wooden training dummy designed to be used by martial artists to increase power, strength and overall ability in any fighting arena. If you think fighting a wooden dummy is silly, think again. If you think your hands and shins are tough, brother are you in trouble!

Basically, you just whack the heck out of this thing and act like it is an opponent. Pretty fun, if you ask me. One solid word of advice though: make sure you know how to hit this thing because, if you don't know what you are doing, it will hurt! Trust me, I learned real fast how much damage you can do to yourself if you don't learn the right way to hit a wooden dummy. It is not like it can hit back, but still, it is a hard, compact piece of wood we are talking about here. Be careful. Expect to bruise and even bleed your first few sparring sessions. I'm not joking.

So I start beating on this thing for a while and watching the dummy training DVD at the same time and within days, I start feeling stronger. My muscles felt harder, denser and better able to take punishment. I felt like I could take on anything! My endurance was amazing after only a few weeks. It was incredible. I had plenty of war wounds, namely bruises on my shins and elbows, but the increase in ability was worth it. The first time you kick this thing full power, you're gonna squeal like a little karate girl. The shin bone has no meat on it. But it gets tough, quick. You can strike much harder than you can a human in practice. Just imagine how much power you can generate in your back, shoulders and triceps...fearsome stuff.

It was also a nice change of pace from the same old kung fu training DVDs I have been watching before. Don't get me wrong, those things are great and got me to where I am today. But, after a while, it is good to step it up a notch and try new things. It worked for me. I started looking forward to training more and more each day, even with some of the self-inflicted beatings I was taking.

Another technique used on the dummy is the act of finger striking. This has always been one of my favorites. I remember watching a movie when I was a kid and this guy practiced poking this wooden board over and over and eventually was able to really smash someone with them and crush their windpipe. Now, I am not advocating hurting anyone, but I always wanted to be able to have that kind of power in my fingertips. Thanks to the Wing Chun Dummy, I have it and more.

Power, speed, technique, even toughness...all is possible by training with a wing chun dummy. The ancient kung fu masters have sworn by it for 5 centuries, who was I to argue?