Iron shirt

[Chris]

Hey guys, I'm interested in starting iron shirt training, and im gonna ask my sifu bout it on tuesday, but im just wondering what in general it involves. I know Dave's done it, and anyone else, im just interested in general techniques, what sort of hours are involved...


And coincidentally, that guy David Willie(?) is a twat...

Cheers

[dave]

hard qigong training is good stuff... really makes you healthy and strong

there are different methods of iron shirt training i have experienced and seen. Which style do you train? Some are forms based, like sam chien (sanchin), the start of the tiger and crane hung gar form/iron wire etc. Even theres a book on hard qigong by Dr. Yang jwing-ming which has a form too.

others are more single exercises based, with lots of meditation (this is what my style does).

Usually once you get more experience you will be introduced to using training equipment like bricks, wood, iron bars etc to train yourself... but that usually takes a while so dont rush it. Also they may have certain rules to follow like doing the same training for 100 days or so, as well as other things. Some skills i have seen also use chinese medicine and other things. At first you will find it very hard going, but the stronger you get the more you feel better after training.

"iron shirt" generally relates to just the torso, whereas some skills train all over the body. Right now for example im training mainly my torso, neck and head.

Like i said - different schools do different things so the best is to ask your sifu and take it easy - step by step.

Speaking of which i better start training again

dave

[Chris]

ok, im now officially dissolusioned... my sigong had no f***ing idea what i was talking about when i said iron shirt or iron jacket... even though we do bloody iron hand!!! Guys i really need some support here, dave suggested a book... any other ideas... dave what did you say your qigong was called? nd also, you said there was a branch in new zealand?

Cheers

[Maestro]

ummm

umm is he chinese or something? or is he perfectly capable of understanding you just he doesnt know the techinque?

if he is like chinese or something and is hard to understand show him the love edit and say..I WANT THAT!!

=)

[dave]

first of all - i wouldnt advise learning qigong from a book, especially something like steel jacket/iron shirt or whatever. If you do things wrong there is a very high chance you will injure yourself.

as far as i know the person who teaches in NZ doesnt teach hard qigong, only the wild goose... its not taught in class anyway though.

i wouldnt worry too much about it though, just practise what your sifu can show you and get real good at that. Most forms and partner training helps build up the body and condition it anyway, especially if you do a lot of sparring too.

different skills have different names, iron shirt, steel jacket, golden bell cover, hard qigong... all different names for slightly different skills...

dave

[arhat]

I used to...

...train the wild goose in High School, then the Wild Turkey...glad to see the knowledge spread to NZ.

[dave]

dave

[Chris]

ok for a start, with all the crazy names and chinese names and just multitudes of names out there, i honestly dont know if arhat is being serious or not...

And dave, we do have a thing called wooden man, which is a qigong exercise which i suppose might be similar to iron shirt, not having seen the forms performed myself. Anyways, I'll take your advise, and maybe i'll be able to find a teacher in nz, it's just very difficult in a country where qi=flying

oh wait... qi=flying unless someone could relate it to rugby

[shaolinstylee]

qi=flying unless someone could relate it to rugby

man you really are in NZ... lol
here is your relation... qi developed training iron vest to increase your ability to take a hit while playing rugby...

[dave]

speaking of which

http://www.yangmian.com/sports/rugby.asp

also some of these are cool tricks, but some are pretty neat too...

http://www.yangmian.com/videos.asp?#SteelBodyVideos

these guys are in sydney australia as far a si know - but didnt get to see them when i visited

dave

[arhat]

the iron throat

...is not that advanced- the guy holding it presses it down, basically doing the bending as the throat guy walks forward...that's a common trick. Have him put the steel bar butted up against his foot and then do it. Completely different and you can't fake it.

Wild Goose/Wild Turkey- Booze brands.

[dave]

agreed, ive seen that kinda thing before too. I remember seeing a demo with the spear thing, they used a double ended spear on a 2 1/2 inch thick waxwood pole. A point in both their throats then walk forwards. Was a kinda cool difference to the usual one ive seen.

I didnt know they were booze brands as im not a drinker

I thikn the link about using their skill for rugby is interesting though - but the machine they use looks real weird and something i have never heard of before. Kinda interesting, especially as in some of the clips the wood etc doesnt break (so they hit again) and u can see the guy really smacking his partner etc

dave

[arhat]

the punching vid with the whoosh! was pretty cool...

didn't see the rugby stuff but why not? isnt there an NFL guy who trains gong fu, and uses it too on the field.

I always said if I was a Highschool wrestling coach I'd ask MAs to come in.

[daodejing]

Yeah that happens arhat, most of the competitive guys in my judo club left after the age of fifteen to become state and new england champions in their wieght class for high school wrestling. I dont know why, apparently they liked being on a much easier competition circuit.

I suppose I was the only one who got the wild turkey bourbon joke...... Maybe thats cause of my practice with drunken form. But i still prefer a good beer. Bourbon is nasty stuff. Should be obvious it was a joke, as wild turkeys are native to america and not asia, I dont think anyone has yet devised a wild turkey qigong form. With the possible exception of native american shamanic excercises. Maybe there is some old school turkey gong out there, assuming the US army didnt kill all the practitioners 100 years ago.

Oh well, as KRS One said, "There can never be justice on stolen land."

[agreenknight]

Ever read the Tracker? I know of some training like that if anyone is interesting, I can give the web address.