Can you train yourself to take a hit?

[Yung Apprentice]

Can someone condition themselves, to take a strike better? Or have a stronger "chin"? If so how?

[Dale Dugas]

Most of the southern Chinese systems utilize a few different types of training to do this. Many styles will have the beginners slap their hands and then slap them up their arms, across their chests, and have them slap all over the front of the body.

More advanced training can use "socks" full of different mediums(Mung Beans, Rocks, Steel Shot) to hit the front and the back of the body.

I use a piece of oak that has been cut into fourths to let the wood give. I hit all over my whole body. I utilize both an internal dit da herbal medicine as well as external dit da jow. If you hit yourself and do not use the medicines, you will have detrimental health effects. This is more an internal/external formula as I have specific qi gong to practice alongside the hitting.

Other systems will have you practice Iron Shirt/Iron Vest, an internal method. Some of these sets use qi gong exercises to pack the Qi/Chi into the fascia and enable one to absorb blows from people.

In Boston,

Dale

[lowsweep]

Yes. If you are talking about chin then i assume you mean mostly head shots. Work out your neck with weights. It has been proven that neck strength is directly related to the force it takes to knock out a boxer. If you spar more, you will get used to taking shots and not mind so much. Look at the boxers; theres no one alive who can take a full cross from Mosley and be back fighting within half a second without serious training. If you want to take body shots, a good drill is to take a 12 pound medicine ball, lay down, and drop it on to your stomach from a few inches. Slowly drop it from higher and higher. I found that within a couple weeks of doing it every other day I could give the ball a toss with my arms outstretched without feeling pain. Try the drill while flexing and while relaxed, you may take shots both ways. In boxing, we are taught that if you have to take a shot, do a crunch movement as it hits you to flex and absorb the blow while you breathe out. It hasn't worked well taking kicks for me, though..
good luck, and try some bobbing and weaving, slipping, and other stuff. getting hit hard sucks.
adam

[GLW]

There are some areas of the bod that you don't want to take a hit to..but in general, YES.

The area of training for this in Chinese Arts if refrred to as Pai Dar in Mandarin and Pak Da in Cantonese.

Literally, this means Slap Hit - and encompasses using hand, arm, leg, and bod stirkes usually with a partner to get used to and leanr how to withstand strikes.

There are also solo methods of Pai Dar....

The difficult part is tht when you do it, you have to commit to a very strict regimen to get the best benefit.

[David Jamieson]

Absolutely!

There are gongs (breathing and visualization techs)principles and physical techniques as well as the tactile hands on training that happens only with sparring.

But definitely you can train to better withstand a strike and to recover quicker as well.

keep yer mouth closed and your teeth together :D
roll with it but don't let it snap you.

cheers

[Shaolin-Do]

Or head butt their fist.
Break it with your massive forehead power.

:eek:

[Former castleva]

To a limited degree.

And you don´t see master X smacking washboard abs and femurs,if you get what I mean...

[chen zhen]

Originally posted by Shaolin-Do
Or head butt their fist.
Break it with your massive forehead power.

:eek:

I guess you refer to a specific movie-scene, involving a Japanese general..;)

From my limited experience, I know that the abs are easier to condition to take blows, than other places on the torso. It's also one of the main areas boxers/kickboxers point their attention, when it comes to conditioning.

[HuangKaiVun]

The old traditional streetfighting kung fu methods will teach not just some sort of Iron Body, but also how to massage and remedy hits afterwards.

In my experience, a lot of the most effective bruise-treating measures are pretty much variations of Chinese medical meridian theory and Western pharmacology.

For example, certain brands of Fukien White Crane will feature the use of the "vibrating palm" to massage inflicted areas. A romanticized version of this was featured in the movie "The Karate Kid".

[Samurai Jack]

I think your time might be better spent learning to AVOID being hit! Failing that, work on rolling with the punch.

[Laughing Cow]

Have to agree with Samurai Jack.

[HuangKaiVun]

But if you are attacked in a real life scenario you WILL get hit, no matter how skilled you think you are.

That's why Iron Body and healing practices exist.

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by HuangKaiVun
But if you are attacked in a real life scenario you WILL get hit, no matter how skilled you think you are.

That's why Iron Body and healing practices exist.

No disagreement there, both are needed naturally.

But even Iron Body and similar skills will not protect you from multiple strikes to the same area.

[dezhen2001]

indeed :)

but hard qigong sure as heck makes you healthy - its the best training ive ever done (for me)

dawood

[Ka]

Start playing Rugby
If you make it to first grade you will be considerably fitter and be able to take all sort of hits.

[GLW]

Pai Dar training is not simply so you can take punishment...although that IS a big part of it.

You also learn WHERE to strike because you must know where to toughen as well as where toughening will never work.

You then learn distancing - in the partner versions and targetting.

Finally, you learn to overcome fear of getting hit so that you can relax and let your training come out.

If you are used to being hit, you eventually get desensitized to it. That is not to say that you don't care about being hit or that you will take stupid chances. It simply means that the fear of the pain that so many people have it overcome little by little by having experienced a great deal of it in training.