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OODA Ball: A New Functional Free Weight Punching Bag

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Have you ever wanted to just randomly punch something, or felt the need to get to the gym and hit the punching bag, but it wasn’t open? Well, the future is now. An all-new, fully versatile free weight punching bag is here — OODA Ball.

You can back this project on Kickstarter, with a number of different options available. The OODA Ball itself, as an early bird special is down from $164 to $109 CAD. You can get add-ons like OODA training gloves or an OODA bag.

The Future is Now With OODA Ball

OODA Ball is not your standard punching bag or even speed bag, in fact, it’s a portable ball. Yes, that’s right: a ball that works like a portable punching bag. You may think, I can grab any ball out of my garage and punch it against a wall, but that is not the case. OODA Ball is designed with a patented R.T.H.M. (Reactive Target Hyper-kinetic Motion) Technology to give you maximum control by optimizing weight, speed, and density.

You can find a wall to hit OODA Ball against. Or you can freestyle with it in the air as you’re outside at the park or in your backyard. If you really want to get your anger out, you can ground and pound OODA Ball against the floor.

It’s like riding a bike

The UPS driver dropped off my OODA Ball at my front door and I was excited to get right to work. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good wall to use it on. So the next day, I brought the portable punching ball to the gym and tried it out for the first time.

Boy, can I tell you it’s not as easy as it looks in the videos. Well, at least I didn’t think it was.

The creator of OODA Ball, Cedric Salcedo contacted me and gave a great analogy for using the fitness tool.

He compared it to riding a bike for the first time. It’s not because you physically can’t; it’s because your brain is not capable of understanding what to do. Once you understand and your brain kicks into gear, it’s like you always knew. You could not ride a bike for years, but hop back on and your brain computes, ‘Hey, this is what I need to do.’ Well, the same thing goes for OODA Ball. You will punch the ball against the wall and it may go too hard or too soft or drop to the floor.

I went back into the gym and gave it a shot again after being frustrated the first day. What I did was throw the ball with my right hand against the wall and catch it with my left hand, and then vice versa. After that, I would throw it and then punch it once, then catch it. Finally, after letting my brain and body combine for what seemed like an easy task, I was able to punch it twice, then catch. And move on from there. The learning curve could be steep if you just go right into it and let yourself get upset. However, if you take it slow and really engage your brain in what you are trying to do, you will pick it up — like riding a bike.

Who can use OODA?

OODA is not just for fighters or wannabe-at-home fighters. Anybody can use it — from functional fitness enthusiasts to fight fitness enthusiasts to at-home workout enthusiasts to outdoor fitness enthusiasts and many more.

The ball itself is 8 inches in diameter and weighs just 1.5 pounds.

OODA is an acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act.

It is the human instinctive process of continuous fast-paced decision-making. This unique non-stop flow is known as the “OODA Loop”, and is at the heart of every sport you know and love, and exactly what makes them so fun and exciting.

There are various levels to the OODA Looper chart so you can challenge yourself. As you get better, you can up the ante.

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Jeremy Brand is an experienced MMA writer and columnist. He is the founder of MMASucka.com, and has represented the company with media credentials at many mixed martial arts fights. Jeremy is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, training in BC, Canada.

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