Started an Iron Palm Group Here on Bullshido

**lordbd** · Posted On: 6/17/2012 8:30am

Two weeks into my iron palm training I'm feeling good and having no hand trouble. If nothing else it's helped me to get into a routine of getting up early and doing some light warm-ups and meditation in the mornings.

At this point I'm sort of falling in love with conditioning in general (maybe I have a mild masochistic streak) and I think I'd like to add in forearms and shins.

The issue here is I have no idea how to structure my conditioning for those body parts (I'm following a pretty set progression for my palm training). Anyone have advice?

**csharp.negative** · Posted On: 6/17/2012 5:42pm

Find a hung ga instructor. Hung ga is the place to be for body conditioning.

**lordbd** · Posted On: 6/17/2012 9:55pm

No Hung Ga schools near me in RIC, VA unfortunately. I should say that I get some shin conditioning in through Muay Thai. Throwing round after round of low kicks on the heavy bag where it is hardest. Probably do that about once or twice per week depending on how many classes I am able to get to.

What is your Hung Ga gym like? Sparring, internal arts, body conditioning, forms, the whole nine yards?

**csharp.negative** · Posted On: 6/17/2012 11:22pm

My school has all of that, only at the simple request of a senior student or Sifu who is always available. Generally our classes run a different theme from day to day, so everyone gets a little experience with things so they can decide for themselves what they want to focus on or take with them. Not everyone joins the school interested in being a full contact champion, so they attend only on the days we do qigong and internals, and so on. If you ever get a chance to visit New York, let me know and I might be able to point you in the proper direction.

Also, this past Saturday when I was working on my forms my Sifu decided on his own volition that I should train iron palm. I hadn't even mentioned it nor did I mention this thread to him, so it was pretty surprising. I've only done it once so far as I don't have my own bag or anywhere to do it in relative peace at my house. :P But it's a very cool practice with what I would consider a healthy level of intrinsic and extrinsic goals to achieve.

**lordbd** · Posted On: 6/18/2012 6:19am

Originally Posted by csharp.negative

If you ever get a chance to visit New York, let me know and I might be able to point you in the proper direction.

Thanks csharp. I'm applying to internship soon, and who knows where I might end up next year. If I'm in the NY area I'll check out your gym. (would you believe that I have a grandmother from NJ, and have been there once a year since childhood, but I've never been into NY? How messed up is that?).

Originally Posted by csharp.negative

Also, this past Saturday when I was working on my forms my Sifu decided on his own volition that I should train iron palm. I hadn't even mentioned it nor did I mention this thread to him, so it was pretty surprising. I've only done it once so far as I don't have my own bag or anywhere to do it in relative peace at my house. :P But it's a very cool practice with what I would consider a healthy level of intrinsic and extrinsic goals to achieve.

Awesome! You should start an iron palm training log in the Iron Palm group if you really get going. It would also be cool if you could post some details about your Sifu's iron palm regimen and lineage. If you need a bag you can get one from coiling dragon for like $25.

http://www.coilingdragon.com/index.p...products_id=17

Peace and quiet has been a bit of a problem for me too, I've sort of had to just deal with it. I'm a pretty experienced meditator so I don't have too much trouble tuning things out. The real key seems to be finding a surface to strike on that is a good height and won't wobble or break.

**Hexe** · Posted On: 6/18/2012 10:28am

Originally Posted by lordbd

At this point I'm sort of falling in love with conditioning in general (maybe I have a mild masochistic streak) and I think I'd like to add in forearms and shins.

The issue here is I have no idea how to structure my conditioning for those body parts (I'm following a pretty set progression for my palm training). Anyone have advice?

Maybe a southern mantis school?- we did a lot of forearm, hanging fist and back of hand and palm training along with the shin and thigh stuff.Moong bean bags we're derigeur - along with our training partners

**danharr** · Posted On: 6/18/2012 3:46pm

Originally Posted by lordbd

I've made the decision to swear off alcohol for the next 100days of iron palm training. Maybe it'll help me to lose a couple of pounds too.

I just want to say goodbye to a good friend of mine

I'll see you again in 3-ish months old pal.

So is Iron Palm just a temporary conditioning system or can you spend you whole life perfecting it like Wing Chun or other CMA's?

**csharp.negative** · Posted On: 6/18/2012 6:30pm

Originally Posted by danharr

So is Iron Palm just a temporary conditioning system or can you spend you whole life perfecting it like Wing Chun or other CMA's?

Like most body conditioning, it will never leave, especially forearm, shin and iron palm conditioning. After you've done the external conditioning for a long time, you can focus more on the internal aspect, such as the qi gong, because you'll never lose what you gained from the external. That's not to say you shouldn't do qi gong early in your training as it's good for other things besides conditioning, it's just you don't necessarily need to spend your entire life on doing iron palm conditioning.

**lordbd** · Posted On: 6/18/2012 8:07pm

The system I'm training suggests that you should train twice a day for a year at least, and I think once a day for another year. After that you can train as desired. Sifu Dugas makes the point that Iron Palm isn't really a martial art unto itself, but a system of internal and external conditioning that can supplement whatever you're doing (in my case: muay thai).

**lordbd** · Posted On: 6/18/2012 8:08pm

Originally Posted by csharp.negative

That's not to say you shouldn't do qi gong early in your training as it's good for other things besides conditioning

I've really enjoyed the Qi Gong and meditation aspects of the system that I do. The "internal" stuff appeals to me as a fairly regular meditator, and I had not had much experience with moving meditations before.