• Archive through September 30, 2003 September 30 - 11:34 am [20]

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I can't bare it! This pitbull dialogue is great. I happen to share my home with the sweetest dog I have ever had or known. She is a chocholate colored pitbull with golden highlights, weighs about 50 lbs and is all muscle and bone and good attitude. She loves other dogs, people and children. She even watches a local covey of quails with interest but no malice. Don't tell me about instinct. Just like Kung Fu, it is all about training. I worked hard since we adopted her at about half a year old to make her disciplined and gentle. But if another dog attacks her first, she will defend herself and quite effectively. She is my sourse of inspiration for martial arts. I would introduce her to any serious martial arts student as a peerless teacher. She is also my pushhands partner and sparing buddy. Her name is Shadee (translation: Happy in Farsi). Sincerely, Mark C. Angel, fellow Sun Style practitioner.

Any of you guys considered dog boxing (Gao Chuan).

No, but I'm considering throwing you in a pit with a pitbull.

here is a website of a school in sydney, australia which teaches 'steel body'...i'm guessing it is the same or at least similar to 'iron shirt'.

http://www.yangmian.com/courses.asp?#SteelBody

have a look at the videos.

what do you guys think?

I practice iron skirt training, is that anything like iron shirt? I've also heard of hair shirt training as well. What's that all about?

Hair-shirt training is even harder to find than Iron-shirt training as it is an old "hidden system" in Christianity for teaching humility and reflecting on your sins. So as you can imagine, almost no one practises this anymore.

Of more relevance to martial arts, some of our European ancestors also practised a form of "hair-shirt" training in which they wore the furs of animals as part of becoming those animals when going into battle. In fact, some sources quote the origin of the word "berserker" as being from the old Scandinavian words for "bear" and "shirt".

I was just kidding around, but excellent historic background on the hair shirt, Mike. Must be real itchy and scratchy--driving one to complete insanity. As a Christian, I consider that act an abomination because it is in a sense saying that Christ's laying his life down for us on the cross and the shedding of his blood was just not good enough for the hair shirt wearer. But you know, whatever now days. We are in the end of times.

Anybody familiar with holding the abdomen in breathing when doing standing postures where your abdomen expands from all sides dring the inhale. I'm curious as to whether this can be good for your health.

JB

I would highly discourage this form of exercise on a regular basis because it would cause hypertension and raise your blood pressure. I would say that it is not good for your health. But if you want to prepare the body for fight or a physically and mentally demanding endeavour, this may very well give you this boost you need.

the stuff i found most interesting is the two person body conditioning exercises they do, which obviously they relaxed in - except during impact i guess. this is the stuff with the shoulder, side of the torso and back of the torso conditioning stuff. i guess it also teaches one to be able to use those parts as a weapon. anyway, i just mentioned it as i have seen nothing about iron shirt outside of that website and was curious to see if people who do practise it on this board have any similar experience in training....or any thoughts they could shed.

http://www.jukoryu.com/TV/sudo.mpg

can someone just explain to me what iron shirt training is? i am so confused, what does this "iron shirt" even look like, how do u train in it, what is the point of it???

sorry 4 all the questions, thanx

A simple method is often done while shifting the weight and swinging the arms from front to back through the rotation of the spine. The impact of the closed hands on the torso is said to toughen the skin/flesh and stimulate the flow of qi to the surface.

Variations of this are done lightly in gigong for health to stimulate the kidneys and qi (i.e., Hawker Beats his Drum). More vigorous versions are done with greater impact and speed and use particular ways of breathing each time a hand makes contact with the torso.

Other methods involved hitting the limbs and torso rhythmically or having someone else do this with gradually increasing force -- either with a hand or a variety of objects (i.e., sticks of various diameter or pebbles in a leather bag).

In modern terms, a martial artist is better off learning boxing or any contact sport in some ways. Many of the traditional methods you come across are rather extreme and pose a risk for the naive westerner being exploited in physical, emotional or financial terms by an unscrupulous teacher.

did you not watch the clips? look up^

sì señor, but what is an iron shirt exactly? what does it look like up close? things like that

thanx again

the term "iron shirt" is a descriptive term, more of a metaphor, and is not to be taken as literal.

you will see the word "iron" or "steel" in front of words such as, hand, foot, body, etc. pretty much, "iron shirt" means a very hard, tough torso resistant to pain and somewhat impermeable to blunt force. It does NOT mean that the guy is wearing an iron shirt. lol. iron hand would mean a very tough hand, and etc.

or example, one may train his "iron hand" by plunging his hand in various formations (spear hand, fist etc.) into a bucket of sand or marbles, or punching a bag filled with pebbles or iron bb's, causing microsopic breakdown of the bone and tissue, and desensitization of the nerves on the striking surface, when this tissue heals, it heals stronger than it was originally, therefore enabling the practitioner to smash through such things such as rocks, wood and even bones

thats why those guys in the clips above are hitting themselves, it is to obtain similar results.

it takes a while, and it also takes close supervision to prevent overwork and injury, its very possible to obtain the opposite effect of what youre trying to do and even permanantly injure yourself.