Materials for Hand Conditioning?

[fidon]

I was just wondering what peoples thoughts on the materials that i should use for hand conditioning? I know that people have been using Mung Beans for conditioning, but doesnt this break down over time? I was thinking that maybe corn kernels (the one used for popcorn) could be used? Corn seems to be tougher and harder to break.

[David Jamieson]

mung beans are used because they have healing properties associated with them. They are a small, hard, lentil like bean.
The healing properties they have are a cooling effect as they reduce heat. Of course, this is an overall property when the beans are taken internally with food, but with IP it is residual to the exterior of the hands.

I think that Corn would break down faster in the bag, and it would offer no healing properties.

The mung beans bag, graduates up to sand/riverstone/iron shot as you progress through IP training in some systems.

Bag work on a heavy bag, knuckle and finger pushups will also condition the hands further.

Use a dit da jow after sessions and a good hand massage to get the jow into the hand.

cheers

[MonkeyKing]

get a five gallon bucket, fill it with sand, and start punching, finger jabbing, etc then graduate to rocks.

I use a larger bowl filled with creek pebble. Also a larger bowl filled with marbels is good too.

All these materials are good for different aspects of conditioning, the rocks hurt like hell, the marbles not as bad, the sand really helps the skin to toughen a little quicker in my experience.

Course the good ol slatted board is great too for firmness, it'll really make you want to tighten your hands up, especially on chops since your little finger will have a tendancy to 'smack' the board.

[Kristoffer]

Monkey King is right

I use big logs of wood to condition. Trees can be good too. I'm currently working with bricks and my hands and elbows are getting hard like hell. I love it, it doesn't hurt as much as for 3 years ago :)

[GeneChing]

Here some more mung bean bags (http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/2040.html) and you'll need an order of herb soak (http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/2041.html) to go with that. :cool:

[Shaolin-Do]

lol...
Where ya been gene?
You've missed numerous opprotunities to push off MAM products... :)
Its aight... Im a sales rep. too... hehehe

I have 2 big nice pots filled 1 with sand 1 with riverstone... The sand is not good for finger strikes, as it eats your cuticles off your fingers... chicks dont dig that... But if your not touching wimmins ever, go for it. :)
For finger tip conditioning, I set my fingers against the rocks, and drive them straight in. Striking them from a distance hits the pressure points on the tips of your fingers, can be detrimental to your heart. Sand makes the palms very very leathery.

[GeneChing]

Glad you've been representing www.MartialArtsMart.com 's best interests. Thanks!

I've been pretty busy lately. We had a few local tournaments, which meant visiting masters that needed to be interviewed. I've also been working on some product development projects. And of course, summer is here, so I've been doing a lot of work for the Free Clinic plus yardwork on my home, my attention has been away from this.

No rest for the wicked.;)

[MasterKiller]

How often do you have to replace those mung bean bags?

[themeecer]

Originally posted by Shaolin-Do
I have 2 big nice pots filled 1 with sand 1 with riverstone... The sand is not good for finger strikes, as it eats your cuticles off your fingers... chicks dont dig that... But if your not touching wimmins ever, go for it. :)


Correct SD. Actually I use my hands differently. My right hand is for killing and my left is for holding my woman. Sometimes I mix them up and have to go find a new woman. :D

We use a slotted 4x4 post as well, then work up to heated bowls of gravel and then on up to metal filings. We use wieghted weight bars for conditioning the forarms and shins. There are different schools of thought on technique, but some of them, including ours, will allow you to develop the hands without changing their appearance. This is important for me because I'm a magician. Also any loss of manual dexterity in the hands is unacceptable. We have had surgeons go through our training without any ill effects. On the other hand you have practitioners like Master Pan that follow the other school of thought. He looks like he has huge warts on his knuckles. But to each his own.

[norther practitioner]

I'm a magician.

You're s**ting me..... no wonder you believe in all that SD stuff...:p



I just hit one of those pads on the wall a lot... it has helped my hands, however they are not iron palms of death.






















:D :D

[fidon]

Yeah, our school just got several conditioning bags made up all full of mung beans, however they are all made out of that leathery/plastic type material similar to the ones for punching bags. The main purpose for this was hygene, and its easier to clean compared to an canvas bag, so i guess the usage of mung beans is kinda negated cause it cant seep thru. Anyway is it suppose to sting the fingers that much when you hit the bag with your palm?

[neigung]

Originally posted by fidon
Anyway is it suppose to sting the fingers that much when you hit the bag with your palm?

well, you just hit something didn't you?
of course it will sting and turn your hands red etc.

[MaFuYee]

i use a canvas bag filled with bb sized steel shot.

i got the bag in chinatown nyc, and i ordered the steel shot through "bucks run" - a hunting equiptment store.

needed 20 lbs of steel shot to fill a small 9x7.5 in bag. (measurements of just the portion of the bag that gets filled.)

i believe it cost me approx $15 bucks for each 10 lb bag, plus shipping... i can't remember exactly how much i paid... it was a while ago. - and i paid maybe 11 bucks for the canvas bag.

[Shaolin-Do]

Keep in mind however, that even if your hands are like rocks, with weak wrists you will still hit like a biotch.
:)

[Laughing Cow]

Material for hand conditioning.

Water.

Cheers.

[The Willow Sword]

for my hand conditioning i like to use a mild aloe moisturizer with essences of myrrh and ylang ylang in it.
mung beans are just tooooo rough,,,they chafe.:cool:

[themeecer]

Haha, you just reminded me of the scene from Ocean's 11 where Bernie Mack is shaking hands with that car dealer. I loved that scene.

[Xebsball]

Having conditioned hands is very important for fighting

please read my latest thread and show some support against the injustices the moderators have been doing towards me, thank you

[GeneChing]

This is a forum. You have no rights. If you want rights, build your own forum.

Mung beans are actually supposed to be good for the skin - that's why we use them. Although individual reactions might vary, the whole point of using mung beans as opposed to soy beans, refried beans or whatever, is that it helps condition the hands.

[Chang Style Novice]

This is a forum. You have no rights. If you want rights, build your own forum.

What a great idea!;)
(http://peoplesforum.com/cgi-bin/forum?13@19.MaePaFMIGxj.335@.4d9bfc06)
And any kind of bean can be refried. I presume it's the size, hardness and shape of the mung beans that makes them ideal? I certainly wouldn't expect much absorption of their nutrients through a canvas bag and skin! It seems much more effiecient to eat them (although refried would mean a lot of lard - you're probably better off boiling 'em.)

[Mr Punch]

I use refried beans for conditioning.

And no, they're not too soft, I don't take them out of the cans.