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Remember,
training is not recommended at all for those
under 16 years of age. Those individuals
under 18 years of age must get permission
from a parent or guardian before starting
training. Always consult a physician before
beginning any exercise program. Train at
your own risk. These training methods only
reflect personal experience, and Wesler's
Karate, Inc. cannot be held responsible
for any injury resulting from attempting
to train in these techniques.
The
iron palm method is the hand conditioning
regimen that I prefer. I enjoy the set schedule
for training, the relaxed method, and most
of all, the speedy results. I also prefer
this method because it trains the palm heart,
or the flat of the palm. In my opinion,
the flat palm slap is the trademark strike
of fighting gung fu. Iron palm is the essence
of the gung fu of legend, not the watered
down version that so many modern practitioners
bring to fights, only to be crushed.
There
is no mistaking an iron palm slap for boxing,
karate, or mindless street brawling. As
for its application in tameshiwari, the
iron palm is unrivaled when it comes to
breaking solid objects. Though you might
be inclined to think otherwise, it is much
easier to break a brick with the iron palm
than it is with a punch, chop, hammerfist,
or palm heel strike. I know this from experience.
Iron palm is also noted for its capability
of breaking the bottom brick in a stack
without spacers. Such a practice is known
as selective breaking.
Ku Yu
Cheong, one of the most famous masters
of iron palm, reportedly could break bricks
selectively in a stack. Iron palm falls
short only when it comes to breaking flexible
objects (wood, baseball bats) and objects
with spacers. I explain it to people with
this example- the palm slap can move anything
it strikes one half an inch. Since cement
cannot flex, it breaks. If the object, such
as wood, can flex farther than that, it
will not break. This is only an exaggerated
example mind you, and only an example of
my personal theory at that. As
for spacers, the palm has difficulty sending
energy through "hollow" area.
There
are many variations of the iron palm conditioning
process and each usually has a set amount
of time for the initial phase. During this
first phase, training must be done daily.
After that, maintenance training varies.
The first phase ranges anywhere from one
month to three years or more. There are
also advanced levels of the iron palm as
well as internal and external conditioning.
The
regimen I use is a variation of the traditional
100 day method and combines both internal
and external training. This method produced
good results for me in minimal time. Many
others have also reported favorable results.
I will honestly tell you that 100 days is
not enough time to produce an invincible
palm, but it will create a hand that is
dangerous enough for combat, as well as
allow you to break red bricks. This regimen
conditions the entire hand.
Train
at your own risk. I do not recommend training
for those under 16 years of age.
Materials
Needed:
-10" wide x 24" long (or larger)
canvas
bag
-approx. 1" round river rocks (enough
to fill the bag half way)
-old towel
-cinder blocks (support stand)
-dit
da jow
The
method is as follows:
Set
up the cinder blocks so that you can sit
on one and the other(s) create a stand in
front of you that is about the height of
your naval (while seated). If the surface
of your stand is not level due to the shape
of the cinder block, you may have to lay
an additional concrete slab on the top for
a nice flat surface. Place the towel (in
single layer) over the support stand. This
is your striking surface.
Fill
the canvas bag with the rocks and fold the
remaining half of the bag over to create
a side that is double layered. Tape the
bag shut (masking or duct tape will do).
Place the bag on the stand and your simple
setup is complete.
**When
striking for training, it is important to
stay relaxed and allow your hand to drop
onto the surface.
Do not tense the arm or shoulder, or exert
strength while striking. Always breath out
as you strike. Exerting strength or failing
to breath out is said to stress the heart.
Granted, thousands of karateka pound on
the makiwara without regard to this and
still do not suffer heart attacks. Even
so, I choose not to tempt fate and try to
keep my arm relaxed as possible. You do
what you like at your own risk.
Apply
dit da jow to hands and massage before and
after each set
PART ONE
1.
Drop your flat palm on the bag 30 times,
shake out the hand, strike another 20 times,
shake out the hand and flex.
2.
Drop your knife hand on the bag 30 times,
shake, 20 times, shake and flex.
3.
Repeat for the palm heel surface.
4.
Repeat for the back of the hand.
PART TWO
Remove
the bag so that you are now striking the
cement/cinder support covered with the towel.
1.
Drop your knife hand 30 times, shake, 20
times, shake and flex.
2.
Repeat with the palm heel.
3.
Repeat with the flat palm.
4.
(optional) Strike with backfist 30 times
and repeat with straight fist.
Optional
training:
You
can supplement with a bucket of sand. Straight
punch the sand 30 times and repeat with
the backfist. Do 100 spearhand thrusts into
the sand. You can also rub the sand between
you hands to toughen the skin.
Some
iron palm practitioners feel that it is
unwise to train the knuckles of the fist
because of possible long term joint damage.
This is fine for strict iron palm fighters,
but if you train in any fist striking art,
it may be wise to strengthen your knuckles.
Chinese acupressure teaches that training
the fingertips can weaken the eyes. Take
this into consideration when training spearhand
but also realize that plenty of karate stylists
train fingertips and can see just fine.
Different
teachers advocate different numbers of strikes
per session. Some use hundreds or even thousands
of repetitions. Some say to train three
times a day, others say you must train the
exact same time everyday without missing
a day. Maybe these routines are ideal, but
with the method I outlined above, you can
train whenever and even miss a day or two.
The less days you miss, the better it will
be for you. You should achieve impressive
results after 100 days of training. At that
point, you should be able to break a single
patio block with a flat palm slap (use a
towel padding at first).
If
it helps, mark the days off on your calendar.
If you don't keep a record, you may not
be training as often as you think. Good
Luck!
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