Iron Palm - 100 Days

Iron Palm
in
100 Days

Day 1 (8/13/2012 @ 4pm)

After reading Nei Gong Zhen Chuan, I was suddenly compelled to break out my collection of Iron Palm training gear. 

Preparation

Stand

About a year ago, I was fortunate to stumble upon 2 large Oak tree sections, when combined equaled the perfect height for an Iron Palm training bag. 

Conditioning Medium

Since then, I have acquired enough chick peas to fill a sand bag. 

Linament

I also have been brewing an ancient Shaolin Dit Da Jow recipe since May 2005.  Thats 7 year old, potent formula.

Day 1:

At approximatly 4pm, I decided it was time to start training.  I started with Palm strikes using my right hand.  I held my left hand, clenched in a fist with the palm up at my side.  I took a slightly wider than shoulder stance to activate my quad muscles.  I struck 100 times with each hand and repeated with the back of the hand.  As I looked around the yard, I saw a cinder block and the makings of stand.... 5 minutes later, I have the cinder block setup and ready to break.  This voice in my head says "Shit, I am a Former Marine, I don't need to wait 100 days, I'll just break it now.".  10 minutes and 5 attempts later the cinder block looks untouched.  My hand... different story.  My right knuckle is swollen, wrist is purple and palm is black n blue.  Luckily I have my trusty Dit Da Jow... I dip my hands in the 7 year old brew and massage deeply.  The pain begins to fade, but the bruises don't.

Day 2:

I woke up today with swollen, sore hands... not painful swollen, just thicker than usual.  My purple wrist wasn't so purple.. it was a faded greenish peach color and my palm was a little deeper purple.  I have a lump on my right wrist on the right side along the fore arm blade.  Its tender, but not colored.  Oddly, I feel as if my hands are stronger already.  A few of my wrist muscles and muscles on either side of my elbow are sore, like i worked out.  My wrists feel thick and warm.  I am very motivated to continue today.  I have 2 kids so I decided to do this at 10pm every night.

1st - I massaged my hands with Dit Da Jow

2nd - I did Qi Gong for 2 minutes, concentrating on my hands

3rd - I did 100 strikes for each hand and hand strike types:

100 Right Palm

100 Left Palm

100 Right Back Hand

100 Left Back Hand

100 Right Knife Hand

100 Left Knife Hand

100 Right Finger Tips

100 Left Finder Tips

4th - I re-applied Dit Da Jow and massaged hands and wrists

5th - I did a set of Xing Yi Q'uan - 5 fists

My hands have no pain or discomfort.


Day 3 - 8/14/2012

My arms are sore between my tricep and outer elbow on both sides.  My forearms are also sore as if I worked out.  The bruise on my right hand: lower left palm heal is gone including the tenderness.  The bruise on my right wrist, below knife hand has turned red and is less tender than yesterday.  Alright, now on to the routine.  I started at 10:40pm and began with the recommended Opening Exercises.  I applied some Dit Da Jow and massaged my hands and wrists.  Tonight, I focused on the Dan Tien and Palm cavity during striking.  I focused on a unified upper body movement to deliver soliid strikes for the entire set. 

1st - I massaged my hands with Dit Da Jow

2nd - I did Qi Gong for 2 minutes, concentrating on my hands

3rd - I did 100 strikes for each hand and hand strike types:

100 Right Palm

100 Left Palm

100 Right Back Hand

100 Left Back Hand

100 Right Knife Hand

100 Left Knife Hand

100 Right Finger Tips

•      -Hurt my right pinky knuckle, under nail.  It gave way during the 1st 10 strikes and required some serious concentration to keep it tight.  Its funny how the body will learn from pain... it didn't take long before my pinky found the correct tension.  That shit burned everytime it bent backward.

100 Left Finder Tips

4th - I re-applied Dit Da Jow and massaged hands and wrists
5th - Performed closing exercises - Qi Gong

My hands feel great and powerful.