A special feature in the Martial Arts of Shi Gaoshen is the Iron Palm training, part of iron skills. Until this day this practice a part of almost all the schools descending from his teachings. Many of Shi Gaoshen’s students carried nick names referring to the skills in Iron Palm training. A person well trained in this art is able to break slabs of granite with a single blow of his palm. Again it is Master P’ng who was most famous for this skill. Mainly due to the publication of his ‘Lohan Kung Fu” book.
During a demonstration in Singapore 1967. Notice that there are no spacers between the bricks.
Also noteworthy is the late Jurg Ziegler from Switzerland. He holds the
world record brick breaking. He was able to break 44 bricks in 65 seconds! Weltrekord- und Europarekordhalter im Backstein-Bruchtest (44 Ziegelsteine in 65 Sek. zerschlagen mit seiner “Eisernen Hand”, 2500kg Widerstand je Ziegelstein – EMPA getestet). In the second picture you can see him standing on eggs, while demonstrating his Iron Palm, breaking a brick without holding it with the other hand.
The following is a partial description of how to train “Iron Sand Palm”. For informational purposes only: do not under any circumstances try to do these excercices without supervision of an authorized instructor! When trained improperly it can cause permanent damage to tendons and muscles! I, or anybody else, can not be held responsible for any injuries when you do decide to perform these exercises on your own.
‘The Method of Practicing “Iron Sand Palm”
Iron Sand Palm, or Iron Palm, is a master skill. Though the method of practicing may be different from those of other Martial Arts, the results are the same when practitioners succeed. The most important thing is to practice a pair of hard and powerful palms.
The preliminary practice can be divided into three steps. Each step takes two months. After those three steps, practitioners should continue to practice, because the more you practice, the more palm power you will get. When you succeed, you can break a block of stone or a stone tablet with your palm.
After the first step of practice, try breaking the “size 2” red bricks; after the second step, try breaking “size 1” bricks; after the third step, try breaking special bricks or rocks. When you practice, the bricks or rocks should break at the sound of striking. If your palms feel pain when you break the bricks or rocks, that means your palms haven’t “matured” yet, and you still need hard practice. Therefore, you should test your workmanship after each step of practice in order to know of it is up to the standard. After practicing this skill, your palms will be thicker and more powerful than unpracticed palms.
The practitioner should practice twice a day. He should also rub medicinal liquor on your palms after practice, this in order to recover the normal activities of your palm muscles, and prevent the palms from swelling and being congested. Usually the medicinal liquor stimulates the circulation blood, and causes muscles and joints to relax, reduce swellings and for relieving pain.
In the first month of the first step of the preliminary practice, your should use every part of the palm to beat a hanging sandbag, advancing step by step. Each part of your palm should beat the sandbag 200 times every time you practice; at least 600 times a day. In the second month you should hit the bag harder. Don’t forget to rub medicinal liquor on your palms after practice.In the first month of the first step of the preliminary practice, your should use every part of the palm to beat a hanging sandbag, advancing step by step. Each part of your palm should beat the sandbag 200 times every time you practice; at least 600 times a day. In the second month you should hit the bag harder. Don’t forget to rub medicinal liquor on your palms after practice.
In the third and fourth month, which belong to the second step, you should use a hanging bag that contains pebbles of big steel balls to practice. Then use the same method as you did in the first step. Still, you should the bag harder every day. In the fourth month you should be able to find that the skin and muscles of your palms gradually become harder and thicker.
In the fifth and sixth month, which is the third step, you should practice as you did before repeatedly every day.
After that beat a rectangle or square rock. You should beat the rock 100 times; that’s one session. Practice one session with each side of the palm. Then repeat this until you did this 6 times. The knife hand should be practiced 4 sessions more every day. In the sixth month, when your palm is thick and powerful, you should pay special attention to the movement of your fingers.
After each everyday’s practice, you should swing your hands in order to make the muscles more power and prevent your palms from becoming apathetic.
Translated by my student at Anshan Iron and Steel Institute 鞍山鋼鐵學院) Splindar Tian.
A similar description can be found in Master P’ng’s book “Shaolin Lohan Kung Fu”.
Left: Tan Chin Hock from Canada breaking a pile of bricks on his forearm. Right: Christian Arnoux from France breaking granite.
The late Kan Ban Chuan demonstrating Iron Skils.
The author breaking a brick.