Iron Palm Training |
Of the three styles of Iron Palm
training that I know well enough to comment on we have: |
Northern Shaolin from Gu Ru Zhang - you
need at least one canvas bag (duct tape can be used for a
temporary repair) filled with (successively) mung beans, gravel
and steel shot. There are four strikes practiced - the palm, the
back of the hand, the distal edge of the hand and the fingers in
a grip. Dit Da Jow is applied after training. |
Hasayfu Hung Gar (Tiger style palm
training) from Leung Hua Chu of Hong Kong (eventually - after
Macao and his hometown of Sung Tsui) - this training adds a
fifth strike of pulling the bag after a grab. A special table
(see below) is
useful here, and there is also a pre-training herbal soak.
Otherwise, very similar to the Northern Shaolin training. |
I cannot prove that what I learned in
the early 1980s was actually from Cheng style Baguia Zhang but
it involved two jows - one warm before the practice and one
relatively cool after practice followed by an elixir that was
mixed 2:1 with water. Eight different strikes: elbow; distal
forearm; medial forearm (with the opposite palm); palm; willow
hand (jab with fingers extended); distal edge of the hand; punch
focused on the index and middle finger knuckles; and "heel" of
the hand (fingers bent with the strike points being the areas
around the scaphoid bone near the base of the thumb and the
pisiform bone opposite it). |