What types of hard qigong exercises do you do, and if you also do internal qigong exercies, how do you rate one against the other in terms of benefit and effectiveness?
example, if you do both internal and external iron shirt training, which do you prefer and which seems to have the most benefit to you?
I train in both Hard Qigong and Soft Qigong (Dayan Wild Goose Qigong). Both are for health, but for different reasons. Hard Qigong is what i have done the most though.
Bear with me as i am only a beginner with these 
My system contains both internal and external elements. It strengthens the ‘bone, muscles and skin’ as the saying goes, bones (Internal) HAVE to be first. If your inside is not strong, then how can your outside be strong?
Once you are healthy enough, you start to train externally. Right now i am using bricks and a handy wall or tree trunk. Later on i will be using a big hunk of wood and other stuff…
Training hard qigong makes me feel very clear and open very quickly. It also makes me feel a lot stronger and have better posture
Sot Qigong makes me feel relaxed, my body becomes healthy and looser, my mind calmer… pretty much the same effects but without the MA side of things
Both are good, both sides of the same coin. i feel lucky to be able to learn both skills
david
I know that one shouldn’t practice soft qigong without proper guidance…Does that apply to hard qigong also?
The hard qigong method i train actually has internal and external elements which are balanced. Breathing techniques and meditation are VERY important to balance your body with all the movement and external conditioning you train. Actually it seems that the external stuff i do is more to teach your body how to use the breath and qi properly, not just conditioning…
I would say to do any type of Qigong, infact ANYTHING at all that you don’t already know how to do - you should seek someone qualified for instruction… One thing i can’t understand is why people assume because Qigong doesn’t seem to have much to it that they can pick an Internal skill up from books and videos… if only it were so simple 
apart from that i don’t know much…
david
Any exercises where you are conditioning through the use of force/striking and metered breath can be termed “hard”.
Any exercises where you are not exerting force but using metered breath can be termed soft.
many exercises link the two practices and many exercises distinctly seperate them. Chinese Martial Arts definitely has the greatest amount and variety of hard chi gongs and soft chi gongs.
peace
Theres a popular saying that Hard Qigong develops the ‘bones, muscles (tendons?) and skin’. This tells you that you have to build from the inside out… It’s like: what’s the difference between a healthy tree and a rotten tree? You can’t tell just by looking on the outside, but one is solid, the other is hollow. I know which i would rather be, no matter how long it takes. Theres no rush
Developing your health and the correct attitude is the most important thing imo, no shortcuts but with practsie you get benifits
david
I chin ching (muscle and tendon changing sutra) is wai dang (hard) chi kung. I practice the 49 postures. San he chien (three measures fist) is also wai dang chi kung, ‘iron body training’.
Tai Chi chuan could be thought of as soft chi kung…I practice chi kung postures derived from Tai Chi, as well as the forms themselves.
Hua To 5 animal play combines hard and soft. I haven’t practiced these, yet. ‘dead’ animal play is hard, with less movement, more dynamic tension. ‘live’ animal play is soft, with active movement, and not as much tension.
Essential to chi kung is proper breathing.
The benefits of anything are what you put into it…proper instruction is important too. Especially for chi kung, it is hard to tell if you are doing it properly when reading it from a book.
I practice the I Chin Ching exercises which I learned in my old 7* Mantis class. I’m going to teach it to WaterDragon, he says there are throws hidden in the movements. But I don’t know if this is the same I chin ching exercises that are commonly talked about - what we do has a little bit of body tapping, but mostly is like specialized calesthenics with specialized breathing. FWIW, it is a great warmup and also trains some useful movements.
-FJ