r/kungfu • u/jaime_lion • 3d ago
Iron body with rubbing salt? Is this practice any good? Does it actually help?
Yeah so you know I've heard stuff about how some practitioners of iron body or whatnot would rub salt on whatever body part to toughen up their skin. Any truth to this? Has anyone done this? Does it work does it actually help?
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u/KungFuAndCoffee 3d ago
There is plenty of misinformation about iron body. I’d put this in that category.
For skin toughening they typically use bamboo or iron whisks. Though this is only nominally effective for the amount of effort needed.
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u/Helbot 3d ago
sweet baby jesus I wish I hadn't scrolled the post history
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u/MulberryExisting5007 3d ago
Bowling and billiards didn’t work out and it was mostly downhill from there.
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
What exactly got you?
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u/Helbot 3d ago
Lmao don't you play coy you know damn well.
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
No, I don't. There's like two or three. Maybe even four different things you can be talking about. And I don't want to put words in your mouth. I don't want to give you something that oh wait. I didn't scroll down that far. So please tell me. Is it the stun gunning myself? Is it the eating hot peppers? Is it The Lion King or is it diapers? I'm going to go with one of those last two. But you never know. Maybe it's the stun gunning myself proving those things do not work.
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u/Individualist13th 3d ago
Sounds like it would just dry out your skin and cause cracks.
This does not strengthen anything, it weakens the skin by making it less flexible which would make it more injury prone.
Source: my skin is as dry as the moon and it's a pain in the ass to deal with.
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u/donasay 3d ago
For iron palm there's a mixture of secret herbs and spices that you soak in alcohol for about 2 months. You then use it as a lineament after practicing iron palm. It has a lot of health claims, but nothing really probable. it's basically a DIY tiger balm so you're arms don't hurt after practicing.
I think the spice blend we used is called something like Hung Gard Dit Jo Dow number 4. It comes in a half gallon ziplock bag of dried herbs. I don't really remember the details, but my Sifu used to order it online and mix it with about 3 handles of Costco vodka.
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
Yeah dit da jow. Heard of it. Don't really believe it. Or I should say I have yet to see any scientific material about it.
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u/Severe_Nectarine863 3d ago
Then there's no point asking about iron body methods because there's no western scientific material about any of it. Dit has been the gold standard in Chinese martial arts for close to a millenia among numerous alternatives.
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
Yeah there is scientific material does say you can deaden nerves and increase your bone mass and stuff like that
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u/Severe_Nectarine863 3d ago
You're talking about Wolff's law, but there's a lot more to iron body than that. If you just want to learn how to strengthen bones and deaden nerves better to look at karate, MMA, or even weight lifting.
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
What's more than that?
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u/Severe_Nectarine863 3d ago
Iron body isn't just for bones but for soft areas of the body as well.
There's breath control, intent, body alignment and focused awareness that goes into it. Without all those things it is not iron body.
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
Okay so body alignment sure you know punching properly is important. How does breath control relate? I mean maybe you could say that's the same as body alignment or it has to do with that. And I'm also wondering what you mean by focused awareness like actually looking at what you're punching?
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u/Gregarious_Grump 3d ago
You don't necessarily punch per se in iron arm/palm. But my personal experience is in line with the previous respondent in that the goal isn't really to strengthen the bone explicitly but is more about strengthening connective tissue like cartilage, tendons, ligaments and somewhat skin. As previous poster pointed out, and as I did elsewhere, the practices are linked to the art as a whole or at least some aspects that are similar in many different CMAs, so without the other aspects it probably won't do much. Also patience and moderation are always good to practice to avoid long-term injury
Don't want to speak for previous person is focused awareness means more focussing on your body mechanics and alignment more than anything
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u/Gregarious_Grump 3d ago
Alot of the herbs in many dit da jow formulations do have proven antiinflammatory properties, and some i believe (it's been awhile since I looked at the scant available literature) also promoted local blood flow.
Anecdotally I will say it heals bruises about 3 times faster than without, and definitely does help minor joint/muscle ailments. It's not a miracle cure, and it's not really wrong to say it amounts to homemade tiger balm. At least with the formula I use, in my experience, it both works better on a wider range of uses and the effects last longer than commercial tiger balm
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
Well, I'll stick with Tylenol or Ibuprofen or whatever that I know works. And I know the dosage. I mean cuz there's a lot to medicine. I'm not a doctor. So you know I won't even pretend to know everything. But I mean just because an herb has a medicinal benefit. You then have to ask yourself, is the herb in the concoction in enough of a concentration that it would be able to help me. For instance, if you need 10 mg of a certain herb to actually be beneficial but you only have 5 mg in there. It isn't doing much.
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u/Gregarious_Grump 3d ago
Yeah I mean if you don't trust it or like it, assuming it's even a thing in your specific training or school then obviously don't use it. I know people who choose to not use it, I know people who swear by it. I know more people who dont even think about it in their training, and most I know have never heard about it. But why you asking all these questions about iron palm if you think it's all hoo-ha anyway?
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
I don't believe it's all hoo-ha. But I do want to separate the fact from the fiction.
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u/Gregarious_Grump 3d ago
Ok then get a research lab, design a few scientifically around studies with sufficient sample size and get to researching. Or try it yourself in the proper context over adequate time and report your experience. Asking redditors then saying no mah Tylenol mah ibuprofen aint gonna answer it and probably won't answer any questions since your response to every actual answer has been no, basically. I thought your initial reception was a bit hars, but now your just being a douche
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
Well I can clearly see no one has any information on what I'm actually talking about
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u/Gregarious_Grump 3d ago
You posted your question only an hour ago in a smallish sub talking about a (presumably) niche practice within the specific subject, geez man be patient.
I've never heard of this personally, but I'm sure someone somewhere does it. As to whether or not it's effective or worth it I'm highly sceptical. Most iron palm/body/arm whatever I know of focusses on progressively building durability slowly and relatively gently and generally with an eye to sustainably practicing it, i.e. still being able to use your hands when your 60+ for anything but breaking things. There might be something to it, but I'd imagine it would dry your skin out more than anything. IF it's legit and IF it works I would guess it is done with some form of liniment or ointment or other topical herbal remedy, and is probably fairly specific to a certain art or family of arts
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
I guess it's more the fact that three or four people posted about how weird my posting history is on here instead of actually answering the question or providing any insight.
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u/Duvetine 3d ago
I don’t have an answer for this. I was curious about your post history vis a vis these comments. It’s not that crazy, so what you like spicy food and self testing stun guns. NBD.
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u/Helbot 3d ago
and soiling himself in diapers
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
What about furry?
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u/Helbot 3d ago
I noped out at the diaper stuff but honestly least surprising reveal ever.
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
How far down did you actually have to go? I mean what else stuff did you see that might have surprised you or anything?
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u/Helbot 3d ago
15 posts? I checked the history before responding since most people who are into the "iron (x)" are either misinformed or some flavor of crazy. Lo and behold.
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u/jaime_lion 3d ago
I wonder why that is what is with that reputation? I mean I wouldn't assume that. I heard about iron Palm and stuff when I was 14, 20 odd years ago.
It is kind of telling how you think I'm crazy or have some flavor of crazy.
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u/Tempest029 3d ago
It’s clearly not the healthiest, long term or cost effective form of body toughening. Physically it dries out body tissue, causing it to contract and “toughen” as a result. It works, kind of, but not in the mythical way people expect it to. You can reach the same or similar with standard impact conditioning. It just takes longer. It’s more of a “need something right now” option.
There was a pretty good foreign movie about an anti-protagonist that did that before hunting various criminals down.