Hand conditioning and toughening & MA

[Bruno@MT]

While conditioning is necessary, it should not be taken to the extreme imo.
When Takamatsu sensei was a youngster, he conditioned his hands by stabbing his hands in a bucket of small pebbles, or so the story goes. He reportedly needed pliers to cut his fingernails.

Even he argued that that sort of extreme conditioning is no longer necessary, because the kind of combat where that conditioning pays off no longer existed, and with people living to a relatively old age, the damage got to be a serious hindrance.

Personally, I prefer hitting a heavy bag or makiwara style target. That way, you get conditioning and punching practise in one.

 

[Brandon Fisher]

I highly recomend makiwara training for conditioning and for perfection of technique. There are draw backs if you take it to fast or the extreme on conditioning though. Take a look at these videos:

Hanshi Tetsuhiro Hokama, 10th Dan Okinawa Goju Ryu

Conditioning - Uechi Ryu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep2r...AD798A14C&index=5&playnext=2&playnext_from=PL

Hope this helps

 

[prokarateshop]

A lot of these techniques seem very extreme. I think if you training correctly, your entire body will be conditioned

 

[Brandon Fisher]

The ones I posted are very extreme

 

[HG1]

Is hand conditioning and toughening necessary to develop the natural weapons? And if so, what are some good ways to obtain this hand conditioning and toughening? Is it a good idea to strike a steel bar for thirty minutes a day with the side of your hand as one MA teacher I know does? Is it good to thrust an open hand into a bucket of rice and later a bucket of gravel as some so? What are good, safe ways to condition and toughen your natural weapons if this is indeed desireable? All opinions appreciated.

Why not shoot a message to Dale Dugas. He's a super nice guy & an excellent source of hand conditioning information.

 

[tomlaat]

Hey colleagues.

There is this movie on youtube where this guy is doing a workout on a pallet, it’s called “pallet destruction” www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cbzDoEymcg, did anyone hear of this training?

His foot beats a sledgehammer, anyone?

Thanks, Tom.

 

[Chris Parker]

Hi Tom,

I don't really know that I would go so far as to describe the clip as "training", what we're talking about here is conditioning the striking surfaces of the body so as to not damage them when striking, as well as hardening them to do more damage, whereas our young lad in the clip seems more to be exploiting a structural weakness in the pallet construction, is wearing heavy-heeled boots, and is kicking/stomping in a very non-martial arts way (very off balance, and honestly he can get more power if he gets his mechanics right...).

So while he certainly seems to be having fun, it is a fair bit removed from the concepts we're discussing here. And as to the "beats a sledgehammer and shotgun" comments on the clip description, well, I'm not convinced that is tested. I just think they put it there cause it sounds cool.

 

[Bruno@MT]

His foot does not beat a sledgehammer.
He just kicks the euro pallet to bits with his heel, which is honestly something that anyone can do if he wears hard heel boots or hiking shoes. I've done it myself, though I didn't bother to snap every single plank.