Conditioning the Hands Part I (Introduction)

[Ironpalm]

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[Hardball]

Glad to help but dont try it without more info. If you wanna know more by all means ask.

Yea, I heard it could be dangerous or fatal if you don't know what you are doing. I don't think I need it right now because my fist are tough from years of makawari, sand and heavy bags. Besides I know pressure points so I don't think iron palm is necessary for me.

Is there some health benefit to iron palm/iron fist or is it soley for making your strikes lethal?

[koto_ryu]

Yea, I heard it could be dangerous or fatal if you don't know what you are doing. I don't think I need it right now because my fist are tough from years of makawari, sand and heavy bags. Besides I know pressure points so I don't think iron palm is necessary for me.

Is there some health benefit to iron palm/iron fist or is it soley for making your strikes lethal?

Keep in mind too a lot of that stuff's going to play hell with your hands. Tak Kubota's starting to get arthritis and Takamatsu Toshitsugu (a late ninja grandmaster, who could tear bark off a tree with a three-finger strike and whose nails grew to 5mm thick from all the hand and foot conditioning he did) had arthritis as well.

The main basis behind hand conditioning was punching a guy in armor. I still do some, but not to the extremes that people do that will totally damage your hands later on in life. Whenever you're working out on the heavy bag, near the end, just take off your gloves and use the wraps. As your knuckles get stronger, use less and less layers over your knuckles until you're punching it full force without em. You can also try knuckle pushups. Anything more than that, it's going to be bad for your hands.

[Hardball]

Keep in mind too a lot of that stuff's going to play hell with your hands. Tak Kubota's starting to get arthritis and Takamatsu Toshitsugu (a late ninja grandmaster, who could tear bark off a tree with a three-finger strike and whose nails grew to 5mm thick from all the hand and foot conditioning he did) had arthritis as well.

Thanks you are very knowledgable. Millions of old people{non-martial artist} have arthritis and bursitis so I don't worry about that part. "I just want to be able to punch through Armor" LOL. Thanks for the heavy bag tip and I've been doing knuckle push ups for years. You didn't comment on the pressure points any insight/opinions on that?

[koto_ryu]

Thanks you are very knowledgable. Millions of old people{non-martial artist} have arthritis and bursitis so I don't worry about that part. "I just want to be able to punch through Armor" LOL. Thanks for the heavy bag tip and I've been doing knuckle push ups for years. You didn't comment on the pressure points any insight/opinions on that?

We learn a lot of kyushojutsu in ninjutsu, and while I do use them, sometimes you're going to have to break a guy's nose so strikes still have their uses. I mostly use open palms when fighting for keeps, as that way I won't break my knuckles and you still keep the power behind your blows. Pancrase was very big on that, they wouldn't allow any closed-hand striking as they didn't want fighters breaking their hands. The human head is a tough object, and one bad punch can do some bad things to your hands. That's why many old-time bare knuckle boxers often liked to catch their opponent's punches off the top of their head so they'd damage their hands and they could finish them off.

[47MartialMan]

I can attest to 2 things because I have trained both the Karate way the way way ironpalm has described. First of all I had begun punching trees and rocks to tuff up my hands when they broke and regrew I received the pleasantness of calcium deposits in my hands which made the stiff and hurt to touch (this may not happen for all). Now when I started what is reffered to as "Ironpalm" and I used the Dit Dow Jow I have had no problems with the deposits or arthritus in my hands. Before every winter my hands would swell and become painful, now they don't. Also my backhand and ridge hand has become much more effective. Punching progrssivly harder objects seems to not only condition your hands but also seems to teach you "how" to punch uneven surfaces like someones face without hurting your hands.

But given yuor age noe-wait 20 more years and then you will find out (feel) more-take it from a guy "pushing" 50.

[Ironpalm]

Ironpalm and death , arthritis.

ask jubaji and h2h they're the experts here.

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Great post!

Definitely props are in order to you, Ironpalm. I'm looking forward to a trip back home more and more!
Mahalo, Jeremy

[Ironpalm]

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[Hardball]

Now I Know Why You Call Yourself Ironpalm!!!

[47MartialMan]

then if you cant break coconuts, it should be called Wooden Palm

[Ironpalm]

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[BaguaBoxer]

Ironpalm

I would like to point out that after 6 months of the training that Ironpalm has gone through you must be careful about "playing" slapping a person even in the most unintentionally unharmful way can cause severe brusing and if you have children I don't suggest spanking them after practicing ironpalm because what feels like the same bottom smack to you will do sever damage this is personal expierence talking so please take this into consideration. As a bonus though your hands will become more sensitive to movement as opposed to the heavy bag training mentioned earlier which I also did for 3 years. This made my hands less sensitive I have noticed a marked diffrence with the toaist iron palm training.

[47MartialMan]

First of all not true. If you dont break a coconut you are said to have level 1 iron palm of 9 possible levels before moving into Sone Tan palms. Second, I didnt say I could not--I said I dont. Theres a massive difference. Most professionals wont risk breaking thier hand over silly tests, "Gee I wonder If I can break this with my hand?" Wtf does that actually have to do with martial arts? NOTHING. Its about how good you are at breaking that medium. Doubt it? Fine break a board, try some bricks, try ice, then try a coconut. Breaking one has no bearing on the next and each has a special technique to learn for that break. This is why most breakers have certain breaks they are known for. Most of them will tell you they cant do each others breaks. Breaking is like sword bending on the neck--a show. Not that its not real, just not practical use of your training time. If you're looking for self defense try to learn to hit moving targets not break stationary ones. I practice to break people so I practice the forms, study anatomy and the dimmak points. To this we add a healthy dose of adrenal stress training.

Nice post-I threw my post out there to see a response. I was playing "devils advocate"

[jubaji]

then if you cant break coconuts, it should be called Wooden Palm

In his case its probably hairy palm!