I have read that frank Yee has shared his own personal dit da jow formula on his hung gar tapes that he made with ESPY-tv. Is it good for iron palm, breaking boards, hitting and kicking bags, and wooden dummy training? I know that Frank Yee is supposed to be a well-respected sifu.
Which formula are you refering to?
The dit da jow formula is meant for treating bruises and not be used on open wounds.
There is a cooking medicine formula for the iron palm which is different from the dit da jow formula and the preparation is different.
Please be advise that without proper personal instruction from a sifu, one should not do all those training by him or herself.
Having the formulas is fine, but nothing beat a close eye by a sifu just incase something goes wrong.
DF
I do not intend to do any iron palm training until I find a sifu, but I do not think that it is a good idea to trust any iron palm liniment, as I have read that there are many frauds on the market. Could you plese recommend an iron palm liniment that would be good for iron palm, breaking boards, and wooden dummy training?
In regards to your question. Sifu Frank Yee is a very reputable master. He is also a certified chinese herbalist. Your best bet though is to get your linament through the sifu you intend to study under. Everyone’s methods are somewhat different and everyone’s reactions to certain herbs are different. It’s better to have someone who can what your reactions and who knows what the appropriate reactions are, administer your linaments. Good Luck!!
But how can you know for sure that the liniment your sifu uses really works? i would rather have one that has been proven to work for sure.
Why are you getting ready to practice iron palm with a sifu you don’t trust?
touche’ qy!!! If you are worried about a jow just make sure you get it from a noted iron palm teacher or TCM specialist.
Peace 
Unless of course, you have a SIFU. Then you ask them. If you don’t have a SIFU that teaches YOU iron palm, don’t do iron plam.
umm hi Illusion 
That would be the same as saying how do you know your sifu is any good. If your sifu is qualified to teach iron palm he should also be qualified to administer the proper jow. Your immediate problem is finding a sifu you trust. Contact other Sifus in or associated with that lineage. Tit Jueng training and dit da jow go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. If you don’t trust your sifu’s linament don’t train in his method.
Well, how do you know that the other sifu’s in that lineage will lie, also?
I’ll say it again. Don’t train with a sifu you don’t trust. If you’re thinking of doing this training on your own, don’t. Someone who knows what to look for has to observe you. You can seriously damage your hands all the way up to making yourself sterile. Be very careful. gung hay faat choy.
I really appreciate your concern, and I have no desire to do the training without an instructor. I just want to know of a good jow that has been proven to work. Brian Gray said that you should not trust any jow that has not been proven. He said that if you have blind faith in Qusaimodo, then you deserve what Quasimodo does to you.
I understand what you mean completely. But if you don’t speak the language and haven’t studied Chinese medicine, there is no way to know for sure if what you’re getting “really” works. One thing is for certain. You should (at the very least)be able to trust your Sifu’s opinion over some stranger on the internet. Gung hay faat choy!
Well, some sifu are nuts who do not care about the safety of their students’ well-being, so I do not think that it is a good idea to be too quick to immediately have blind faith in a sifu, either.
Just as it is the Sufu’s perrogative and duty to be sure of his student’s integrity, so is it the student’s job to be sure of the qualifications and integrity of his Sifu. Gung hei faat choy.
Humblewarrior- i guess your best proof would be to make sure that the sifu who is claiming it can break. No sifu will show you iron palm without showing you that they can break. You have to model their movements in the beginning anyway. I think this pretty much breaks the skepticism in my book.
Peace
humblewarrior:
obviously you have a problem trusting your sifu. You are not showing him respect by asking these questions. If you cannot trust him, then you should not be studying under him, therefore find a new Sifu whose abilities you can trust and learn from him, but don,t ever disrespect your Sifu while studying under him. But you should respect all Sifus of respectable styles. There are some to be wary of.
illusionfist,
i would like to point out that there are many schools which incorporate breaking. (lots of karate and tkd schools) and the teacher may break bricks… but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t doing damage to his hands.
it is known that many karate ‘masters’ don’t do breaks in their older age due to arthritis, and damamge done from their earlier years of breaking.
how often do you see people breaking, esp with their fist, where the break relies entirely on dropping your body weight onto your fist, aligning the fist with the shoulder… (totally brute force.)
this is not good. i’ve even seen karate people break their hands doing breaks. (one guy hit wrong and pushed his ring and pinky knuckles halfway up to their wrist. and he still kept his game face… but that doesn’t mean what he was doing was good.)
not showing pain is for some reason a big part of karate.
breaking should just be about dropping your hand, dead weight, totally relaxed, and breaking. (dropping your hand in front of you, not locking out your arm…
(i’m sure you know this already, i guess this is for those who might not.)
There are also many fraudulent breaking methods out there. As far as being disrepectful to your sifu is concerned, I think a good sifu should repect your concerns about the safety of your own personal well-being. I also think that a good sifu should also not make you do body conditioning methods that are not safe. Hey, different students have different needs. For example, a sifu could not honestly expect someone who is elderly to do what a younger person does. Also, someone who has a physical disablility cannot be expected to do the things that a healthy person can do. I have read that a person who has a history of heart problems should not do any iron palm training. Is it really disrepectful for a personal with heart problems to refuse to do such training? Give me a break.
what if I get some books on Chinese medicine? then I will at least have a better idea of whether or not the jow works. I think that it is better to not trust a sifu than it is to become permanently disfigured.