Guide · Gear

Grappling dummies: the honest buyer's guide

The most-bought, least-used piece of grappling equipment on earth. Who a dummy actually helps, which kind to get, and the drill circuits that keep it out of the closet.

GearBuying + drillsUpdated August 2026

What a dummy is for

A dummy solves exactly one problem: repetition volume without a partner's patience. Fifty full-motion armbars, twenty knee-on-belly circuits, a hundred back-take entries: things no training partner wants to be furniture for. What it cannot provide is resistance and timing, which is why it multiplies gym training and cannot substitute for it. If the budget is dummy-or-mat-fees, it is not close: mat fees.

Buying: the three decisions

  • Posture. Seated/kneeling dummies (arms forward, legs bent) suit BJJ positional work best; straight prone dummies suit throws and MMA ground-and-pound. For BJJ pick the grappling posture, it holds guard-passing and top-position shapes.
  • Filled beats fill-it-yourself for almost everyone; the DIY-stuffed dummy that handles like a laundry bag is a meme for a reason.
  • Weight: 40-70 lb. Heavy enough to stay put, light enough that reps stay fast. Ego weights kill volume.

The circuits that earn the floor space

  • Submission ladder: 10 armbars each side → 10 americanas → 10 kimuras → 10 chokes, minimal pauses, full motion each rep.
  • Position circuit: side control → knee-on-belly → mount → technical mount → back, 5 slow laps, then 5 fast.
  • Passing footwork: knee cuts, leg drags and long-steps around a seated dummy's legs.
  • Flow rounds: 3-minute timer, chain everything, no repeats, smoothness as the score.

Ten to twenty minutes, a couple of times a week, alongside the no-equipment solo drills: that is the full home-training stack, and it respects the recovery budget from the frequency guide.

The test before buying: have you done the free solo-drill routine three times a week for a month? If no, the dummy joins the exercise bike in the closet economy. If yes, you are the person dummies were made for.

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Frequently asked questions

Are grappling dummies worth it?

For repetition volume on techniques you already know: yes. For learning BJJ without a gym: no. A dummy is a body-shaped object with zero timing and zero resistance, which makes it perfect for grooving submission mechanics and transition flows, and useless for the timing-versus-resistance skill that IS grappling. Buy one to multiply mat time, never to replace it.

Filled or unfilled grappling dummy?

Filled, unless shipping cost forces your hand. Self-filling (old clothes, towels, shredded foam) is a weekend of stuffing that usually ends lumpy, light in the legs, and floppy at the hips, exactly where you want realistic stiffness. Factory-filled dummies cost more and start useful on day one.

What weight grappling dummy should I get?

Lighter than you think: 40-70 lb covers most adults. You are drilling technique, not deadlifting; a dummy heavy enough to fight you during positioning kills rep volume, which was the entire point. Kids and smaller adults do fine at 30-40 lb.

What drills can you do on a grappling dummy?

Submission mechanics at full motion (armbars, americanas, kimuras, chokes on dummies with collars), positional transition circuits (side control → mount → back), knee-on-belly rotations, guard-passing footwork around a seated dummy, and ground-and-pound flows for MMA-leaning training. Pair sessions with the solo-drills routine for the no-equipment half.