The First 100 Days Of My Iron Palm Training
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I have been training iron palm for over 100 days now. As you probably know, iron palm is a kung fu training program designed to toughen the hand so you can hit harder without injuring yourself.
There seems to be some special significance about 100 days when it comes to this. I have even seen programs called things like “iron palm in 100 days” that are supposed to teach you a quick method that will have you breaking bricks like a pro in only a few months.
My experiences have been a bit different, but I’m also taking my time and going slower rather than faster. I know that you can injure yourself if you try to progress too quickly (I’ve even done it before) and so I started very slow and soft and am slowly increasing over time.
I’m beginning with an iron palm bag (a canvas bag) full of mung beans
I’ve been keeping a log of my training. Here is a summary of the first 100 days or so.
The first 10 days were me just getting started and getting used to the program. I started doing each strike only 20 times with each hand. I let my hand fall onto the iron palm bag rather than hitting it by using muscle force. I know there’s a traditional reason to do it this way, but I’m just doing it to take it easy.
By the 30th day it had become a part of my routine. I no longer felt like it was something that was new, but instead was just another part of my training. My hands started to feel different, too. For lack of better description, they felt like they had more “energy” than before. It’s entirely possible this was just in my head, since I had been spending more time thinking about my hands, too.
By day 40 I had increased the repetitions to 25 reps of each strike with each hand. Training was fun and I looked forward to it.
While doing the qigong portion of the training on day 47 I experienced some strange sensations in my arms that felt like rushing waves. I’m not sure what to make of it, and while I know a lot of people would say it’s the qi flowing through my arms, I’m not so sure I believe that.
That same sensation happened again on the 51st day.
By the 8th day I had increased the reps to 35 of each strike per hand. I’m feeling like I’m making progress at this point, and I don’t feel it as much in my hands when I hit the bag.
Day 100! I feel like I am through the beginner phases and on my way to good conditioning. Eventually I will move on to a bag full of gravel which is like an intermediate bag.
I didn’t see 100 days as the goal. I saw it as the beginning. I’m now ready to take my training to the next level.