hit in the ribs

[anerlich]

The more publicised disciplines in the west are Systema and ROSS. Both of them incorporate the "Shock Absorption" drills and principles to absorb incoming force.

I found Scott Sonnon's tape series "Shockability" deals with some of the issues discussed above very well. Scott is the head ROSS guy in the US.

[Gangsterfist]

There are litterally 1000s of recipies for jow. So you may check them out, some are warm and some are cold. Most of them use some type of alchohal like gin or vodka or rice wine.

I will apply jow to my hands, knuckles, fingers, wrist and forearm after doing bag work or working out. A few months back sifu almost broke my wrist teaching us some chin na. He applied jow to it and massaged it, and my wrist felt like normal the next day. So I have been using it since. I always try different types of jow. The menthol one you are talking about I know what it is, but cannot remember right now. My sifu has showed me that before, and he says he likes it as well.

Just be careful because some jow I have found to be worthless, and others to work well. If you get into iron palm training email or PM me first and don't go off and buy those iron palm kits or liniments that say it will make your fists like iron.

That is actually a common misconception about iron plam. It became known as iron palm because of how the training tools made your hands look. Not that it turns your palms into iron. You first start off hitting sand, then gravel, then steel pellets. At the last stage of iron palm training the steel pellets would eventually rust and the rust would flake off and seep through the bag and get on your hands. This would make your hands "look" like iron. That is where the name came from, not because it makes them as hard as iron. That is a huge western misconception. There are a lot of marketing ploys done in the martial arts world just to sell products. Remember we are all consumers now. So don't believe all the hype of a product until you test it yourself. Ask your sifu or fellow class mates, or talk to a traditional chinese herbalist (if there is no communication barrier) about products first. A lot of them out there are just marketing ploys to make a buck off of you.

However, I am glad to hear you are feeling better. Keep that rib safe for a while and let it heal, and go easy on yourself.

[foolinthedeck]

thanks again,
G especially, that sounds like good advice for everyone. further more gangsterfist: would u agree that any jow that comes in a plastic bottle or that costs too little is worthless? i am impressed by the design of the bottle i have, it implies quality - if its a rip off then they have expended alot of effort into making that bottle for nothing!!!

sounds true what u say about 'iron' too...

[yuanfen]

foolingthe deck- and gangsterfist---

the fact that it is delivered in a plastic bottle is no indicator of the quality of the jow.

Real issue is 3 fold-- who makes it ,(do they know what they are
doing), is it the right jow for the right problem and hopefully no mercury or other bad stuff in it.

NTC started a nice thread on jows- you might want to track back-and find that thread-there was some discussion on ingredients.

My last batch of jow was made by a LA Chinese herbalist who knows what he is doing- but it was shipped to me by a senior CMA person (non wing chun) in plastic bottles-less likely to break enroute. Then I transferred the two quite different jows into glass jars. I also took a different internal jow....in order to work on an injury from the outside and inside.

I do NOT sell jows. Best to find a good TCM practitioner.

BTW- an unsolicited opinion- accidents can happen but IMO a sifu should have enough control of his/her motion and power to not really injure a student.

joy chaudhuri

[Gangsterfist]

Joy makes a good point. The jow I am currently using comes in a plastic bottle and it works pretty well. The one I buy at the asian market comes in a glass bottle and is cheaper but does "look" cooler because its from asia I guess. They both work.

There are a lot of jows out there that work well. However, I would say for every type of good jow, there are at least 3 to 4 of the same type that do not work as well. I went to a chinese herbalist/doctor who actually spent 20yrs in china learning this stuff. He also does acupuncture and teaches a few internal chinese martial arts. I have used internal jow as well for internal healing. Some internal jow is also used in iron shirt training. I, myself am new to this stuff, but luckily I know a bunch of martial artists I can trust and they pointed me to the this doctor guy.

I have not seen many scientific documents on how jow works, I only know from experience. The internal jow I was taking came in a pill form, and you are suppose to take 2 with every meal. The doctor told me to take them because I was eating too much black pepper, garlic, and jalepenos. Which was actually true, and he could tell that by monitoring my bodies circulation. I was complaining about tension in my back and it looks like my diet was definately aiding the tension.

Oh and that wrist breaking sifu comment, I was not kidding about that or overexaggerating. He had me in a wrist lock and clenched it too hard by accident, it flipped me over and I saw a white flash and then a really sharp pain and some swelling in my wrist immediately afterward. Luckily enough he realize what he had done and controlled it so my wirst just slightly popped out of socket instead of breaking. It hurt pretty bad, and I was amazed how well the massage w/ the jow healed up my wrist. Next morning no swelling, no pain, just slightly stiff, pretty much normal.