I see kung fu guys do this bending iron rod on their necks with a guy having the other end of the rod on his stomach. Before they do this performance, they do some sort of breathing set.
What is the training process to do this? I know it’s years of dedicated training, but what kind of training? Just hard breathing set? Like dynamic tension?
Just a trick, isn’t it? Like you could read in a book. 
qi is stronger than steel
i saw a father/son duo perform this stunt on “Steve Harvey’s Big Time Challenge” over the weekend, if that’s what you’re referring to. They prepared themselves with qi-gong breathing exercises (it could’ve been any type - I don’t know if what they did was part of a specific set - probably just something to get their qi circulating). Though this stunt is nothing new or unusual in the world of TCMA, it’s starting to get exposure in the West as more Westerners are learning qi-gong…so seeing it in shows like this elicits a huge “wow” response. There’s a video clip of the whole thing on the WB website :
http://www.thewb.com/Faces/RateIt/0,17314,215452,00.html
click on the 7th one down.
How to bend an iron rod at the neck-
walk into the gym. Find the power rack (the hard part).Set the pins at shoulder height. Put 8-10 plates on each side. Unrack the bar using a high bar position (back of the neck) and hold for 10-15 seconds. Let the bar down. Wait to stop vibrating.
The bar is now bent.
No big deal.
Andrew
its best not to ask too much about this stuff.
it always stirs people about =P
if you want to learn..just takes the right teacher and etc..
its not one of the big big secrets out there, its big for demonstration mainly
the reason I ask about this was that in our style of kung fu, we have hard breathing set, and hard gong. But I’m never quite sure what it’s for and it was never really explained. Not sure if the hard breathing set and hard gong teach those chi gong feat. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?
I hope one day I can squat enough so that the iron bar bends over my shoulders 
On a serious note, if your skill is only useful if you warm up with qigong first and stand in a certain position, it’s not really useful, is it? If it’s not ready to go on the fly in a fight, why bother training it at all?
that makes a lot of sense. But I am just curious. Like I have mung bean and gravel bag for iron palm training and dit da jow, but I don’t practice it. I just practice my basics and forms. Why? I don’t know. I doubt I ever practice those chi gong stuff that breaks stuff over body and bend iron rod, but I am curious about the training they do, because I don’t know how science can explain it or if not science, how chi really do all that crazy stuff.
you have to also look at it with an ounce of chinese medical science.
these postures you practice, are in fact hard chigong preparing you for such things. basically you are moving your chi around your body to certain vital areas.
chi is smallest unit for which all life is based on, it helps your organs work together etc.
western science has a hard time of explaining it, but just because it hasn’t doesn’t mean its not true, completely opposite theory.
you cna check some of Yip man’s research as he was a physisicst and he charted the energy flow if you want to see a western perspective.
but BESIDES all that, in terms of practicality this is what you will find:
training to bend the iron bar will help you take hits to the throat, but its not all areas of the throat. you have to train those. many do not train all of it, as it is simply not necessary. well my teacher is a northerner so maybe southern teachers might think differently.
and iron palm- this type of power is also very practical but not necessary.
every style trains some kind of iron palm, whether it be bagua or shaolin.
excessive training can even make your hands alittle… ugly! it takes a lot lot of time. . its hard to believe how anyone would have the patience to “excessively train” except Pan Qing Fu..hahah..
for some styles, this is used to help develop the feel for power. there are other ways of developing internal power, and this is just one.
*also, just having chi does not mean everything. the skill of chi is being able to control it~~ just like ‘iron fist’ said
I always warm up before I do any hard kicks, before I do any hard punches, before I do any other exercise. They could probably use it to some extent without warming up but for that kind of thing it wouldn’t be safe. I see what your saying though but I wouldn’t say it’s not worth training.
I agree with stubbs and would also note that, just like anything else, you are learning to do those things faster and faster so that you can use them instantly.
just because the demos elaborate the process doesn’t mean it’s a slow thing to do.
IMO, ‘chi’ is linked to the electrical energy in your body. Therefore it can and does move fast.
My bar’s bent and I squat bugger all. Then again, I don’t exactly have an Eleiko bar.
we’re talking about regular size ppl some could be quite old.
You guys crack me up. You talk about chi-gung , gravel bags,and this and that, and you don’t realize that this is a total stunt that anyone can do. I used to do this in High School and break kitchen knives, arrows, bend swords, anything on my throat.
ok, here’s the big secret. You are not bending an iron bar on your throat, you are resting it on your suprasternal notch, the top of your breastbone, just beneath your throat, in that hollow. You, or your assistant presses down on the bar and it will bend. The trick is to make it appear that you are pressing inwards. I know rebar is thick, but it wasn’t a two foot length, it was a very long piece, which would bend easily. The same thing with the spear, gim, arrow, whatever. You can also bend them UP, if you practice a little-meaning all of two minutes. The trick in bending it up is to use your chin. Try it, you’ll pick it up easily enough. Oh yeah, don’t forget to do lots of posturing, make some cool faces, some odd breathing noises, perhaps a section of the Iron Wire form. You might even want to talk about the deeper aspects of Kung-Fu-this is where you guys can go back to your talking bullsh!t about ch’i-gung, and impress everyone who is clueless..
now that you are enlightened!
I’m surprised Bullshido never picked up on this.
Fact remains you can do it the circus way or the chi kung way. with chi you don’t need circus tricks.
The fact remains that you couldn’t tell real ch’i-gung if it bit you in the rear.
Yes, there is real ch’i-gung. But that ain’t it, pal. I’m sorry to burst your bubble,(no, actually, I’m not!) and I know many people are looking for that magic pill, that silver bullet, and probably spend way too much time watching Dragonball Z and David carradine reruns of “Kung-Fu, the Legend Continues”.
You seem to like to go off the deep end in alot of yur posts, and like to act like a authority in all things Kung-Fu and Spiritual, but there are some of us, who actually study and train REAL Kung-Fu. We are not teenagers, who are impressed with your crap and hang on your every word. We have been there, done that, and realise that there are two kinds of people in this world;
Those who Do Kung-Fu,
and those who THINK they do.
and there’re 2 types of people who do chi kung. Those that try to achieve the potential or those that marginalise the potential - saying this and that just cannot be done.
I’m not saying that it can’t be done. I’m saying that what you have seen is not ch’i-gung. I certainly believe in Ch’i-Gung, and have witnessed, and felt, extraordianry things, and there are definately some things that I xtill can’t explain, but there are some things that are clearly not ch’i-gung. I am not trying to discourage anyone from the path to mastery or enlightenment, but instaed trying to ensure that they do not mistake an imitation for the real thing.
Don’t think for a minute that simply because it’s Chinese, or related to Kung=Fu, spirituality, etc. that it cannot be misused in the same manner that Evangelists misuse the teachings of Religion to huck innocent people out of their hard-earned dollar.
Ch’i Gung is real, but you need to seek a qualified instructor. The dangers and pitfalls of improper ch’i-gung training are most certainly real. Just because it is in a book, does not mean it is harmless for people to attempt it. Just because it is used for healing, or clearing and balancing energy pathways, does not insure that if done incorrectly will not produce disasterous results. And the person who said that the effects are gradual and therefore if you were doing something incorrectly, you would notice it is completely wrong.
For anyone who claims they know Ch’i-Gung, answer this: What is Jow Faw yup moor? This phrase, this concept alone is enoygh to prove my point.
LOL I’ve heard that all before. next time TTTH