This guy named Brian Gray..
How good is he or how well does he know this almost impossible Iron Palm.
Does he have any good evidence or pictures? Videos? Anything?
if i told you my opinion, would you take my word for it?
check out gene chicoine - he is far more impressive than mr gray.
What are you looking for with Iron Palm? Training? Instruction?
yea i guess training, instructions…more info on it i guess
What has worked form me
What I can recommend as far as training and instruction comes form my teacher. I first started with iron palm 20 years ago. It has worked for me. Here is a link to an article printed in the last Wing Lam catalog:
http://www.wle.com/resources/articles/73IronPalm.html
Good Luck,
-Mark
Iron Palm Training
Does anyone train in Iron Palm? If you do, what form of training do you do and who is your Sifu. I train under Sifu John Newberry, Hes a Master of Iron Palm skills under the Iron Palm International Org. He has some cool photos at www.prayingmantiskungfu.com. He trains useing the bag method and makes his own kickass dit-da-jow.
Training Soon
We do basic iron palm in class.
we work on palms backs of hands against backs of hands
A drill that works on forearms and lower legs(its a drill done in pairs)
I realised that class work isnt enough on its own so i asked my sifu about training at home and he’s going to set up a private home lesson for me to learn bag methods (build up to mungbean filled bags). Hes keen to teach because it does take time to develope iron palm and he says people tend to over train it to compensate for starting it late in their training (eg 500 strikes palm/backhand/knifehand)which does more bad than good. He reckons on about a year to notice a great difference. i ve used da jit dow in class and was a bit sceptical,( i’m from a biology background),but it does seem to prevent bruising and has got some anesethetic properties.
I cant get your link to work and i’m keen to find out more on iron palm.
Any suggestions greatfully accepted 
do without doing
lets try this www.prayingmantiskungfu.com see if this works. Let me know, Have a good one
thats did it
yes it works lots of stuff that looks interesting
contact spear fighting, i assume you ban all head strikes in that one
do without doing
I am not training in the Iron Palm as of yet , it’s kept pretty secretive at our school. I am not shure but I believe it is taught as you make your move from Assisstant Instructor to Instructor. There are two types of typical Iron Palm Skills, those are internal and external , the external takes a shorter time to acheive, however it has no healing possibilities like the internal method offers.
E-Mail me at tenguangelhunter@aol.com and I will be very happy to give you the link to our school , however I don’t wish to post it for the many without permission from my Sifu.
Iron Palm Training
I performed a search and got a lot of hits on Iron Palm. Most of these threads where in the internal MA section though, and didn’t really go over the basics. I have read a bit on Iron Palm training, basically, I’ll outline what I have read and what I think and hopefully those of more experience can add or correct me.
What I have read is that Iron Palm training is recommended to pretty much anyone in training above the age of about 10 years old. It is designed to turn your hands into weapons, ie. stronger, more solid hands which are more damaging. You start out with a beginner bag containing beans, until they are crushed powder (3-6 months), then move on to an intermediate bag. Then obviously to an advanced bag and after a couple years of training every day, you only need to train a couple times a week to maintain your hand strength.
I also read that after each session you rub your hands for about 5 minutes using a mixture of dit dot jow which reduces bruising and helps tighten the skin.
The training itself is done from horse, and left and right bow stance, change stances as needed. The strikes are: palm strike, then backhand strike, followed by a chop or knife hand, then a tiger claw (some kind of claw, may have misread). The strikes are performed in that order for about 5-10 minutes the first little while then you keep going until you can continue for approximately 45 minutes to an hour and switch bags once the beans are dust.
It is discussed as an external and internal form of training. The article didn’t say that only advanced students should train in iron palm, so I wonder if you can train almost exclusively external or what. If any of you could correct where I’m mistaken or add some info that would be great. Thanks.
there is alot more to it than that. Applying the Tiet Da Jow alone requires specific technique, not simply rubbing it in like cologne. You are not just “hardening” your hand, but also learning to develop more power in your strikes, and the hand is getting strengthened accordingly. There are advanced striking methods which cannot be taught from a book or a website. Improper practice can permantently injure your hands and health. I personally dissagree with teaching a ten year old. We won’t teach anyone under the age of 25, hand conditionoing due to the fact that the bones aren’t fully developed, and calcification between the phalanges of the joints can occur causing arthritis. Find a qualified Sifu.
you can also use pots of loose material instead of the bags. it puts your hands in more contact with the mung beans/gravel/iron. its a real pain in the @ss since the mung beans fly just about everywhere.
Don’t get caught up in external/internal. Also don’t train with the little information you have. You really need a teacher on this one. Practice something else like working on your stances.
Thanks for the responses…I asked my instructor about Iron Palm and he just grinned and said, “all in good time…”
So I guess I’ll learn it eventually.
Iron Palm
Is there some kind of generic ointment i can use while developing iron palm? by generic i mean something i can buy without looking hard. There is a large china town in my area.
go to a teacher who practices iron palm, and ask if you can buy some of his jow.
i have tried several different recipes from various teachers, and have settled on one from a wu mui sifu and herbalist.
i like it because it was the least sticky of the bunch, and it smelled the least offensive.
there were others that may be a little better, but they were more expensive, and/or really stunk. (odor.)
dit da jow ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY
You should never train anything like that without dit da jow. as a general rule, you should put rub it in whenever you do any kind of striking. (i.e. punching the bag, rub into knuckles). this will help to prevent damage and strengthen the bones and tendons. also, if you sifu has told you to train iron palm, he or she should have already spoken to you about how to take care of your hands. anyway, you can find a good one from a local chinese martial arts club. there are different kinds. the one my sifu makes absorbs quickly, doesn’t have an overpower smell (relatively), and works really really well.
why is it that the karatekas can work their iron hand techniques without dit da jow and not suffer any adverse effects?
NO adverse side effects??
Roughnready,
Look at many karate teachers and you rarely see people in their 70’s, 80’s or 90’s compared to the Chinese martial arts. The beating of your hands without using any medicine is something you do at a great risk to your health. There are many acupuncture meridians which run through your hand. The knuckles used in karate(the first two on the hands) also have the large intestine and heart meridians occupying the same territory.
Many karate people die of degenerative heart problems among other problems. I wonder why when they are beating their hands against hard objects and neither doing the internal exercises to increases energy flow to the hands and using the medicine which is the key to help eliminate the blood clots which can form and then break off and go to your heart,lungs, brain and kill you.
Also no karate master I have ever seen on this continent or in Japan had the power capabilities of some of the Kung fu masters I have witnessed demonstrate.
A good jow used for Iron Palm has more resins in it and will always be more sticky than one used for injuries. Unfortunately for all us students, no odor usually means no power. The best jow I have used made my friends gag, you get used to it as your olefactory senses kick in after the first two times you use it.
You need to get the medicine from your Sifu or from someone who knows Iron Palm training. Do not use any old jow as they are designed for different purposes.
In Boston,
Dale Dugas