Ancient Chinese Secrets

[Scowl]

A long time ago someone told me about the kind of physical conditioning that was required to truly master the different forms of kung fu, or at least a few of them. For example, in Mantis style one must practice bending the wrists for a number of years until the hand can bend down and grab it's own wrist. Also, fingertip strikes must be practiced on progressively harder materials until a strike is able to break solid stone.

Some of it sounds pretty far out there, but lot of it does seems to make sense. As another example, to increase jumping ability one must practice jumping in and out of a hole dug in the ground with weights tied to the lower legs. Gradually the hole will become deeper and the weights heavier.

The guy who told me this was a real martial artist, so it's not like it was just some random karate fanboy talking out of his ass.

I was just wondering if anyone else knew anything about this stuff. I've never seriously trained in any MA, so maybe it's just my lack of knowledge, but over the years I've never heard anything like that from anywhere. I'm not one to spread around mystical Chinese hocus pocus, but I've really been wondering about this, lately. Anyone know anything about this?

He also spoke of using chi, but I won't get into that unless anyone has a particular interest in discussing it.

[ZhuBaJie]

here is a demonstration of the power of kungfu.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fIZaw09ZzdA

[evil_FUX]

Depending on the method of training you should be careful. There's one kung fu actor, he's pretty old now and i forget his name, but he starred in some famous movies back in the day. Anyways, he is notorious for his, lack of a better term, iron fists since he'd punch a metal plate with each fist about 1000 times a day. Problem is that his hands and bones are so used to doing that, that apparently if he tries to punch anything other than that metal plate (training wise) he'd totally fuck up his hands.

[Subwaybrum]

"oldschool" chinese wrestling (shuai jiao) training tools:

Chain
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FSXSF0GO_34

Stone Key
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hMlVUcNQIhE

Long Bag (about 8 or 9 kgs)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_KJG0tFJe4g

Ningzi (about 15 to 20kgs)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xL4PY38ZNvE

Pi Tiao
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fNVmmNU5dwU

Pole
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NyR5gIqgHC0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dC39RHujog

Dummy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3eb740pyiE

:D:D:D:D

[Kuroyama]

Some of the training makes sense, some of it is harmful to the body. I wont offer an opinion on which is which. I did meet some homeless guy in the park who offered that he had practiced kyokushin karate. (I practice taiji and xingyi in the park. So, peeps wanna come up and mention that they study/ied ma as well.)

Funny thing about that karateka was that "as proof" of his training he offered up his mangled hand which he claimed he had done through training to toughen up the fist.

It just seems to me that training your body to become a lethal killing machine makes sense...300 years ago if you were going to protect your village or guard caravans for a living. But in todays society... it seems to me that no matter how hardcore your training, you ought to be able to do more civilized things like type, wield a pen, drive a car... otherwise it just seems self destructive.

[minbo]

Physical conditioning resulting in physiological changes is the norm for any hard core athletic ability. I know that you are talking about more than simple muscular improvements, cardiovascular improvements, increased flexibility, building complex reflex actions for striking and blocking, but those would be a basic examples. Then would be the mentioned hand conditioning to improve striking ability, or shin for some kicks/blocks. what this will do is deaden the nerve cells and build up callouses so that you don't hurt yourself as much. On the flip side since you are numbing your hands/shins/forearms, they would be less sensitive which would not be very desirable for some occupations, such as a painter or a surgeon altering sensitivity of hands. As well, repeated strikes will alter the bone density. The bone has a sponge like structure. As you repeatedly train to strike objects, the spaces slowly collapses and fills in as the bone heals, increasing bone density and reducing the opportunity of breakage.

As with anything, the body is in delicate balance. Muscle is expensive to build and maintain, which is why we are not by default big muscular beings. Balance sensitivity to numbing extremities so you can exert more force. Increased flexibility is tempered by increased possibility of joint issues (dislocation, ligament strains, etc).

[nottyboy]

The bone has a sponge like structure. As you repeatedly train to strike objects, the spaces slowly collapses and fills in as the bone heals, increasing bone density and reducing the opportunity of breakage.


I remember they mentioned something like this on a martial arts documentary that was on either Discovery or the Science Channel. They said something about creating micro-fractures in the bone that would heal up and make it harder (that being the reason why some people could break bricks, etc).

There's gotta be a link to that somewhere.

[w1063790]

I remember they mentioned something like this on a martial arts documentary that was on either Discovery or the Science Channel. They said something about creating micro-fractures in the bone that would heal up and make it harder (that being the reason why some people could break bricks, etc).

There's gotta be a link to that somewhere.

You mean like this guy?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulXzfJq3Dd0

[nottyboy]

You mean like this guy?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulXzfJq3Dd0

Wow, that's a serious claw. I've never seen anything like that. :)

I don't think I noticed anything like that in the documentary I saw, but I may have missed it.

[ZhuBaJie]

You mean like this guy?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulXzfJq3Dd0

my right hand is big like that. and i don't know any kungfu............. :D