Chinese Iron Palm
- Part One
by Mark Jensen -- Student, Wing Lam Kung Fu
Introduction
I had been a student at Lam Kwoon for about six months
and one day was practicing Hung Gar's Gung Gee Fook Fu
(Tempting the Tiger) form when Sifu came up to me to give
me a lesson. This lesson was different, though, because
instead of making corrections to my movements, he had
me stop and show him my hands. Before I came to study
with Sifu Lam, I had studied an Okinawan form of Karate.
In this system we were taught to do our hand training
by punching a makararwa, which is a flexible board with
a rope tied around it. He looked at my hands, which were
all bruised and swollen from my last practice, and shook
his head. "If you keep this up, by the time that
you are fifty you will not be able to use your hands,"
he said. Of course, this really concerned me, particularly
since I play the guitar. I asked him what I should do.
He gave me a bottle of Dit Da Jow, showed me how to apply
it and told me that when my hands heal, we would talk
again. In about a month's time, Sifu then introduced me
to Chinese Iron Palm.
A Little of the History
Throughout the history of Chinese martial arts, the practice
of hardening the body, hands and feet has been an integral
part of basic training. Kung Fu practitioners needed some
way to improve their power, their ability to withstand
blows, and their ability to inflict great damage on their
opponents, all without causing any damage to themselves.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and this is why
"Iron" training evolved.
Until the early part of this century, practitioners of
Iron Palm were not as eager to show off their skill as
today's Iron Palm practitioners are. Their life depended
on their skill and they did not want to reveal their "secret
weapon." The premier reason why public Iron Palm
demonstrations are common today can be traced back to
the Northern Shaolin Grand Teacher Ku Yu Cheong, one of
the most famous Kung Fu masters of the first half of the
Twentieth Century.
In China prior to World War II, martial arts were neither
as important nor as popular as they once were and an effort
was being made by the Chinese government to revive their
popularity. The government sought to rid themselves of
the "sick man of Asia" stigma by recruiting
well know martial arts teachers and deploying them throughout
the country to promote and teach their arts for health
and fitness. After moving to Guangzhou to teach, Ku Yu
Cheong chose to advance the Northern Shaolin system by
taking part in demonstrations showcasing the differences
between the Chinese martial styles. To prove himself and
gain students, he gave many performances, most of which
included demonstrations of his Iron Body and Iron Palm
techniques. One of the most famous pictures of Ku Yu Cheung
that survives today shows him breaking a stack of 10 bricks
without any spacers between the bricks.
While in Guangzhou, Ku Yu Cheong taught many students.
One of his top students was Yen Shang Wo. Yen Shang Wo
moved to Hong Kong to teach the Northern Shaolin system
along with Iron Body and Iron Palm. From Hong Kong, the
art migrated to North America via Yen Shang Wo's students,
one being Sifu Wing Lam.
Iron Palm Equipment
When I began my Iron Palm training I had to make my own
training bags because Sifu did not yet sell any Iron Palm
training equipment. The student starts off with a beginner's
bag made of thin canvas material that is approximately
10 x 10 inches in size and filled with Chinese mung beans.
My wife made me an empty bag and I went off to the oriental
food market to purchase the beans. I kept asking for "monk"
beans so they had not idea what I was talking about. After
relating this to Sifu, at the next class he provided me
with all the mung beans I needed for my bag. When it was
time to change to the intermediate bag my wife again made
me another bag and I purchased the required gravel from
pet store. The intermediate bag is the same size but is
filled with gravel that is approximately 1/4 inch in size.
From there the student moves on to the advanced bag, again
the same size but filled with 1/4 inch iron or steel ball
bearings. Buying the ball bearings was the biggest challenge
for me. I finally found some being sold as ammunition
for slingshots in a sporting goods store. I bought all
they had and asked the manager to order more. He must
have thought I was crazy when I told him what I wanted
them for. Because you want them to rust, the ball bearings
have to be iron or steel and not lead, stainless steel
or chromed steel. Over time and with use, the rust formed
on the balls will get absorbed into the hands of the practitioner,
giving them a heavy, iron-like quality.
The Four Types of Strikes
Iron Palm practice consists of striking the training bag
four times with one hand, using four different strikes.
The same strikes are then repeated with the other hand.
The body is held in a stable stance, most commonly a bow
stance or a horse stance, and is externally independent
from the striking motion. Only the arm is used to "whip"
the hand down onto the bag.
The first of the strikes is the Palm (zhang) strike,
an internal strike in which the student whips his palm
down onto the bag. The hand is held with the fingers straight
out and the thumb slightly bent and held close to the
index finger. The palm of the hand should be slightly
concave so that when contact with the bag is made there
is a small space between the bag and the hand. The second
strike, also an internal strike, is done with the back
of the hand (zhang bei-back of hand). The hand is raised
and held in the same manner as in the first strike, but
contact with the bag is made with the back of the hand.
The third strike is made with the side of the hand (pi)
and is similar to the Karate chop. This is an external
strike in that much more muscle is used. As the hand is
approaching the bag, the wrist joint is used to snap the
side of the hand down onto the bag. The last strike is
the Tiger claw (hu zhua) strike. This strike is an external
strike for the sole purpose of conditioning the tips of
the fingers and building the strength of the hand.
Training Practices
The length of time that a student spends on the first
two bags is three to six months each. Once the student
reaches the advanced bag, they will stay with it for the
rest of the time he trains. When you start with a new
bag, start training with short sessions of five to ten
minutes gradually working up to 30 to 45 minutes a day.
At the beginning of each practice session, the student
should warm up first with a beginning and then an intermediate
bag before going to the advanced bag.
After every training session the student should rub his
hands with Dit Da Jow, a Chinese herbal solution used
to toughen the skin, dissipate any bruising, and neutralize
any effects of the iron's poisonous rust. The student
rubs the Dit Da Jow into their hands for fifteen to twenty
minutes after each training session. The medicine is rubbed
on one hand by the other in a circular motion for about
five minutes. The student then rubs the hand with a pushing
motion toward the arm. This is done to ensure the circulation
of blood in the hand is moved back toward the heart.
Conclusion
At this point, you might be asking yourself "Why
would I want to spend 45 minutes everyday beating my hands
against a bag filled with steel balls?" This is a
good question and I can only speak for myself. There are
many reasons why I practice Iron Palm. I have always believed
that you need some kind of hand conditioning so that you
will not break your hands in a real physical encounter.
In the beginning, this was the paramount reason why I
trained Iron Palm, but over the years, it has become secondary.
I also enjoy the meditative aspects of training--and the
concentration and dedication required to train everyday
gives me great satisfaction. But still this is not what
drives be. During a good training session, when I can
feel the "glove of Chi" around my hand, I sense
a feeling of energy being thrown from my hand as it strikes
the bag. It is like a yoyo going down and then up. I become
aware of the distance that the energy travels and I start
to play with it, trying to control it. It is a feeling
in my hands that I have not obtained from anything else
until it started to study Baguazhang. This is why I train.
If practiced correctly, Iron Palm can become a very rewarding
part of any Kung Fu practitioner's training system. But
I must stress that it should be done correctly. If not,
if the timetable is rushed or if there is not enough time
for any injuries to heal, then permanent damage may result.
So be careful! For myself, the knuckles on my right hand
are larger than those on the left because of my previous
makararwa training. After 18 years of practicing Iron
Palm, my hands look and function normally and I still
play the guitar as well or better as I ever did. This
is one of the hallmarks of this method of Iron Palm training--the
hands are not disfigured at all. It should be noted at
this point that this article has been presented as general
information on the subject. If the reader chooses to add
Iron Palm to their training, they should do so under the
instruction of a qualified teacher, though seminars, and/or
training tapes, and always follow the instruction to the
letter.
Mark Jensen is a long-time student at Lam
Kwoon, training in Hung Gar, Baguazhang, and Iron Palm.
