Iron Shirt Qigong Questions

[The Shaolin]

Hello everyone. I have a few questions about iron shirt qigong training:

1. Does the iron shirt qigong only harden the torso area? Will it help with my iron palm training as well? If not, does anyone know where I can get more information on qigong for iron palm training?

2. Can someone compare and contrast iron shirt and iron thread systems of qigong? I am looking into two books, one of them detailing iron shirt and the other detailing iron thread. I know iron shirt is more popular, is this because it is easier or produces results more quickly?

3. Is fifteen minutes every morning enough time to slowly become proficient in iron shirt? When will I start to see some minor results at this rate?

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps out this novice to qigong. I do have an instructor, and he also helps me alot. Hopefully I can get some useful information from all of you!

 

[blindsage]

No Iron Body training of ANY kind should be done without the guidance and training of a qualified instructor.

 

[Xue Sheng]

No Iron Body training of ANY kind should be done without the guidance and training of a qualified instructor.

What he said times 1000

 

[The Shaolin]

Of course, of course. As I said in my post, I do have a qualified instructor who is very knowledgeable and is certified by the World Chinese Martial Arts Association and the Taipei Chinese Kung Fu Association. He really is excellent at kung fu and has taught me alot. I was just planning on reading Mantak Chia's book and (under my Sifu's guidance) supplimenting my training at the kwoon with extra qigong every morning. Surely this is acceptable? Now, if anyone has any answers to my original questions, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Mider1985]

Hello everyone. I have a few questions about iron shirt qigong training:

1. Does the iron shirt qigong only harden the torso area? Will it help with my iron palm training as well? If not, does anyone know where I can get more information on qigong for iron palm training?

2. Can someone compare and contrast iron shirt and iron thread systems of qigong? I am looking into two books, one of them detailing iron shirt and the other detailing iron thread. I know iron shirt is more popular, is this because it is easier or produces results more quickly?

3. Is fifteen minutes every morning enough time to slowly become proficient in iron shirt? When will I start to see some minor results at this rate?

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps out this novice to qigong. I do have an instructor, and he also helps me alot. Hopefully I can get some useful information from all of you!

Qigong hardens whatever you focus it on you make your palms harder by slapping it against water or our fists by punching a wall with a big stack of paper in front of it sometimes people knick there heads against sand bags or stand on there necks to be able to get there skulls harder and necks stronger, it takes years and ALOT of training to get your body to be stronger your gonna have to train ALOT and make sure you only do it with your instructor. Its not an easy art AT ALL. I was told by the YMAA that they only allowed there studends in like the seventh year of training to even consider training in qigong and only under the leader of the YMAA who is a very old gentlemen by the name of Dr Yawn Ming

 

[Mider1985]

Ive never heard of iron thread ive seen alot of Iron Techniques though were they stand on there necks with help and there necks get strong and they can hang themselves for 10 minutes at a time. Or like i told you above they hit there heads against bags of sand for hours and they can break stuff with there head like thin sheets of metal, they can break stuff iwth there palms including coconuts cause they splash there hands against cauldrens of water or in america they use bags of beans then later gravel then later metal.

And only 15 minutes a day? Nah just to get your fists stronger or head stronger i think you have to continiously hit your head over and over (dont do this with out an instructor please) for HOURS a day and for years.

 

[blindsage]

Of course, of course. As I said in my post, I do have a qualified instructor who is very knowledgeable and is certified by the World Chinese Martial Arts Association and the Taipei Chinese Kung Fu Association. He really is excellent at kung fu and has taught me alot. I was just planning on reading Mantak Chia's book and (under my Sifu's guidance) supplimenting my training at the kwoon with extra qigong every morning. Surely this is acceptable? Now, if anyone has any answers to my original questions, I would greatly appreciate it.

You say you have an instructor, that's great, but you are asking questions that you should be asking him. If he doesn't know the answer then he is obviously not a qualified instructor in the methods you are attempting to pursue and therefore should not be trying to. Knowing one type of Iron Body or one type of qigong does not qualify an instructor to guide a student in the study of another type.

 

[The Shaolin]

Maybe you're right, blindsage. I was just thinking that I would ask some other sources, mainly because I have been badgering my instructor with so many questions as of late! But he tells me he doesn't mind so I will pose my questions to him next time I see him. Thank you everyone. And thank you, too for your input, Mider. I don't expect to have the same level of mastery in the iron body arts as the Shaolin monks, but I do believe that through constant practice over the course of a few years I will be able to achieve enough skill in iron body to be beneficial. For example, I know of students who practiced Iron Palm for fifteen-twenty minutes a day every day, and after 100 days they had a pretty decent iron palm skill.

 

[kfman]

Hello everyone. I have a few questions about iron shirt qigong training:

1. Does the iron shirt qigong only harden the torso area? Will it help with my iron palm training as well? If not, does anyone know where I can get more information on qigong for iron palm training?

2. Can someone compare and contrast iron shirt and iron thread systems of qigong? I am looking into two books, one of them detailing iron shirt and the other detailing iron thread. I know iron shirt is more popular, is this because it is easier or produces results more quickly?

3. Is fifteen minutes every morning enough time to slowly become proficient in iron shirt? When will I start to see some minor results at this rate?

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps out this novice to qigong. I do have an instructor, and he also helps me alot. Hopefully I can get some useful information from all of you!

Iron palm and iron body are part of that Five Family style. It takes two people for iron body. The practitioner applies fit da jow over his body. Then does an eleven move form where he gets hit with a 1x2 stick everywhere for a year. Then graduates to getting hit by the other person doing iron palm. No hits to the head, throat, armpits, kidneys and groin. Dit da jow applied after getting hit. I did this years ago. It really works.

 

[geezer]

Iron palm and iron body are part of that Five Family style. It takes two people for iron body. The practitioner applies fit da jow over his body. Then does an eleven move form where he gets hit with a 1x2 stick everywhere for a year. Then graduates to getting hit by the other person doing iron palm. No hits to the head, throat, armpits, kidneys and groin. Dit da jow applied after getting hit. I did this years ago. It really works.

In what way does it work? What results did you gain? How did you test it for effectiveness? And, were there any short or long term side effects?

 

[kfman]

In what way does it work? What results did you gain? How did you test it for effectiveness? And, were there any short or long term side effects?

The results were being able to take hits. When I got hit with a punch it was like an irritation. No special test. It definitely makes you feel stronger with no side effects. It increases bone density.

 

[mograph]

If we're talking about strengthening bones, I'd echo caution with regard to this process. While it's well-known that osteogenic loading (okay, not necessarily known by that name) is weight-bearing on bones, cause the growth of fibres inside the bone, and the loading is usually longitudinal to the bone. For example, you strengthen your leg bones by standing, walking, and running. It's also possible to strengthen bones by weightlifting, which suggests to me a bone loading in the form of torque (essentially, the bone bends slightly, depending on the exercise).

However, according to this Wikipedia article, the internal bone structure grows at the site of the loading. While the load might be distributed along the bone in the case of longitudinal or torque loading, whacking ourselves might only stimulate growth at the site where we do the whacking.

In other words, I think we need to be careful where we do the whacking, to ensure the growth of internal bone structure evenly along the bone.

Anyone who know more about osteogenic loading, please chime in.

 

[geezer]

If we're talking about strengthening bones, I'd echo caution with regard to this process...

Honestly, I doubt that there is much scientific data on the effects of "iron shirt training" on the body. These traditional practices are usually cloaked in secrecy and their supposed benefits are expressed through the language of traditional Chinese medicine practices and attested to anecdotally.

That is not to say that they don't "work" on some level, but rather to say that if they work, the mechanism has not been analyzed and documented scientifically ... i.e. you'll find no controlled experiments and peer-reviewed articles.

So, yeah. Caution is in order.

 

[geezer]

No Iron Body training of ANY kind should be done without the guidance and training of a qualified instructor.

Qualified instructor? As I have gotten along in years I've become a lot more skeptical about what constitutes a qualified instructor in such dubious and esoteric practices.

It reminds me of an an acquaintance back in my school days who once said something like, "I only get my psychic advice from a qualified astrologer."

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Qualified instructor?

If you have sparred long enough, and your opponent has kicked on your legs all the time, I believe within 1 year of time, your leg may lost some sensitivity and won't feel much pain if your opponent lands full powerful roundhouse kick on your leg.

IMO, the iron shirt training can be obtained through full contact sparring.

 

[geezer]

IMO, the iron shirt training can be obtained through full contact sparring.

In that case, the "qualified instructor" is the proverbial "school of hard knocks"!

 

[Mostly Wu]

In the club I went to, once you reached a fairly high level, you were taught a bit about receiving blows to the body, and had an option to go further. Blows to the trunk, for the most part. A bit to the thighs, and butt.
I know that you can take blows to the neck, also, but because making a mistake there can be catastrophic, they avoided that area. Head, Groin, below the knees, off limits.
I don’t think it was Iron Shirt, persay, as it was soft style. More about breathing, and the ability to manipulate certain muscles to redirect or trap the oncoming force.

Training with metal spear points, or having boards or pieces of concrete broken against your body was not in the curriculum. I have seen it done, many times. I do wonder about the effect on your body over time of some of the actions, such as breaking a brick with your head.