Originally Posted by
MadAx
- Roller bar method on forearms with a broom stick (10 min)
Do not do it this way.
Bone conditioning and the ability to deliver and receive strikes without pain comes from impact against the bone making it more dense (Wolff's law).
By just scraping a broom stick on the surface you are going to deaden the nerves but you won't actually get any of the conditioning effect because there is no impact. So you'll be able to withstand more contact without pain, but you might end up getting hurt in the process because no conditioning has taken place.
Two better methods are:
1) get an "iron body bag." I don't know about martialartsmart's (sorry Gene) but I know Wing Lam makes good ones. The beginner one is filled with mung beans and is like $20. Hit yourself in the forearm with it 15 times a day total, inside, top, bottom, outside. Start soft, and don't try to go too hard. If you bruise it means you went too hard, and don't train the area around the bruise until it is completely healed. Over the months you can increase the force with which you hit yourself. After 6 months when you are hitting yourself pretty hard, you can start to increase the reps one per week if you want.
The key is slow progress. Slow.
2) hit your forearms together. Be aware of how you're doing this. Outside-to-inside will hurt a lot more than bottom-to-inside. Keep it consistent.
Or you can do both, warm up by hitting your forearms together and then use the bags.
After each session spend 5-10 minutes massaging your forearms. Rub them together, rotating your forearms at the elbow as you do so so all parts of them rub up against all parts of the other forearms. Do not skip this step. Use dit da jow during this step if you have any.
Some of your forearm hair may come out over time from the friction of the massage 
>> Also I wanted to ask you a few questions on dit da jow.
> I understand the purpose and benefits of DDJ, and I get it at nearby Chinese grocery store. However, these are sold in plastic bottles. I have seen on the internet warnings about that, is that so dangerous?
I think it depends on the ingredients. Certain ingredients may leach things from the plastic into the formula. Hopefully if it comes in a plastic bottle they don't have any of those ingredients in it. Wing Lam's comes in plastic bottles and everyone swears that it is some of the best on the market.
> Last question on the frequency of applications: I understand that the bare minimum is to apply at least before and after the training. Would it be a good idea to apply some during the day too? Also, considering my routine, should I apply some on the days when I do not train?
When I did iron forearm training (Wing Lam style) I only applied the jow after the training session right before the massage. I did this at the beginning of my training so it would soak in or whatever during the rest of it (about an hour or so), and then I took a shower afterward.
To be honest I never noticed anything from the jow. I used it because "you're supposed to," and everyone always talked about how great WL's jow was, but sometimes I would put some on one bruise and nothing on another bruise and there was never any difference in how quickly they healed. And if there was, I would've noticed. I wanted to believe it worked so badly. I was one of those "TMA is awesome and too deadly for the ring and I can beat MMA people" type of guys (until I got schooled by MMA noobs, but that's a different story). I wanted to believe that TCM was better than western medicine and that jow was secret healing potion that non-CMA guys just weren't enlightened enough to know about. So if there had been the slightest difference between using it and not using it, I would've noticed.
But regardless, forearm conditioning is real and not some mystic TMA nonsense, and the scientific methods behind why it works can be explained. And do the massage, too.
So did the jow help? I dunno, maybe.
Would I use it if I was going to do forearm conditioning again? I dunno, maybe.
I'd leave out the qigong component, though. I don't think you need that in order to get the conditioning. I know you didn't mention it, but it was part of the training I did. It was maybe a good warm up but that's it. There was no mystic power flowing through my arms helping to protect me from strikes (even though I believed there was at the time).
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Advice on knuckle and forearm conditioning
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