Savate on the Wooden Dummy

While the wooden dummy is mainly used for trapping techniques of Southern Gung Fu systems (wing chun, preying mantis, etc) it can also be used to practice savate style kickboxing. (OK OK OK - LET ME MAKE THIS PERFECTLY CLEAR - The wooden dummy is made of wood, dummy. So, do not kick it too hard!)

In several of Bruce Lee's JKD dummy tchniques, there are instances where Jun Fan kicking techniqes are employed on the dummy. There is no reason why other kicking arts can not be applied to the dummy although it is very important that the techniques employed are done so on the basis of triangulated movement. (The dummy is designed to where the techniques utilized follow triangle footwork movements and patterns so this should not be a problem)

When it comes to using savate on the wooden dummy, a baseline techniue that could be employed are foutte/chasse of chasse/foute combinations. These combos can be two lead kicks or two rear kicks. The Fouette should target the middle "limb" (you could hit the higher ones as well) and the chasse should be aimed at the lower limb. Note: the chasse should not be used as a finishing maneuver, but rather as a quick stop hit that returns immediately to the chamber so that the fouette becomes the next offensive action.

Again, the purpose here is to move in a triangulated, zoning pattern as you kick and not to stand stationary. The goal is movement mixed with accuracy and not slamming into the dummy. After all, that would HURT quite a bit if you did that!