Like the horse stance, iron palm is a basic staple to all martial arts. It does not matter which are you practice – it could be karate, jujitsu, aikido, taekwondo, kuksulkwon, kung fu, wing chun, MMA, okinawan karate, tai chi, the list goes on and on and on.
Iron palm training goes beyond mere technique. The training exercises develop and condition the body on a level that goes beyond mere muscle development. Your tendons, ligaments and connective tissue will strengthen. Your bones, particularly those in the hands and forearms, will become stronger and more dense. Your joints will strengthen.
Correct iron palm training teaches a series of meditation exercises that train on how to quickly and effectively tap into chi and cultivate it. Chi – the life force energy of the universe – is the true driving force behind iron palm. Iron palm begins external and becomes internal, meaning you develop yourself on a physical level but then go beyond all that and develop strong internal energies that then power your iron palm.
Iron palm trains one how to bring chi into the body, circulate it, and extend that chi out of the hands and fingertips. This alone is why iron palm is a staple exercise regardless of particular arts or disciplines.
Iron palm acts a compliment to any system or style. It doesn’t take away from it, it only adds to it and gives greater meaning and depth to it.
To master any martial art, one must have an understanding of chi. Chi is quite often either overlooked or misunderstood, or else treated as something distant and mystical. Nothing could be further from the truth. Chi is practical and it is quite possible to learn how to tap into it, harness it, and render it useful not just for iron palm but for all of martial arts practices.
If you are not practicing iron palm, you’re missing out. A complete iron palm curriculum teaches iron shirt, iron palm, chi kung, sitting, standing and moving meditation, hand conditioning, body strengthening exercises, all of which leads one to have an intimate experience of chi. It is through these experiences that one learns what chi is and how to control it and use it. The learning is through direct experience and not through some unlived philosophical theory. It’s direct, practical and it works.