As Hung Gar is noted for it's powerful blocks and punches, it stands to reason that practitioners must have strong Arms and Fists to get the most out of the techniques and Forms.

While repetitious training with punch bags and such like will,over time,lead to a certain amount of strenthening of arm,legs and fists, to really toughen them up something extra is needed.

In our Club, as is most Hung Gar Clubs, we mix the range of Conditioning Techniques to get the most out of each one.

One of the most basic techniques for conditioning the knuckles is doing Push Ups while having the knuckles of each hand on the ground.We do this on a rough concrete floor as we find it conditions the knuckles fairly quickly.

Another technique we use, not just for the knuckles, but for arms, palms and side of hands also, is what we call the "Sticky".

This is a large tree trunk suspended from the ceiling around which rough rope has been tightly wrapped.Each person spends from 15-30 minutes on this alternating from Fists to Arms to Palms to Side of Hands to Back Hands.

We also condition the Hands by plunging them into a bucket of Rough Gravel using the various Hand Techniques, ie Tiger, Snake,Leopard,Crane,Phoenix Eye and Praying Mantis.Again each Student does this from 15-30 minutes.

We also condition the back of the Hands by striking them continuously off a v-shaped piece of metal that is held in the other hand.

We also use "Sticky Junior", which is a smaller tree trunk wrapped in rough rope.This is used specifically for Palm Strikes and Tiger Claw Techniques.

After this we have a Metal Pole attached to a wall which is used for Three Star Striking Techniques or Da Sam Sing.This involves striking the forearm as shown in the diagram below.When we use this we finish by swinging the arms in a wide circular motion 15-20 times to get the blood flowing and to loosen the muscles, tendons etc.

Da Sam Sing would usually be performed with a partner, but due to other Students using other forms of equipment at the same time, we often use the pole also.

We also condition arms by using 10 iron rings, five on each arm, while performing Sets.

Leg Conditioning is also important for being able to withstand kicks to the shins and also for using them as an offensive weapon.For this we use either the "Leg Sticky"(surely no explanation needed at this stage), or Five Sided Chopsticks banded together.The reason they are five sided is because we find that they dig right into the shin bone when used and are very effective for conditioning the shins.

This is a short look at what we do to condition Arms, Hand and Legs and does not take into account the amount of physical training we do to also strengthen our bodies.

As always, each Student finishes by using Dit Da Jao or Chinese Herbal Medicine and rubbing this vigorously and deeply into any areas they have conditioned to offset any negative health implications from this intensive conditioning.

HEALTH WARNING AND DISCLAIMER

Do not attempt to do any of these Conditioning Techniques unless you are under the tuition of a Qualified Kung Fu Practitoner and have ready access to Dit Da Jao as you will in years to come suffer all sorts of Bone ailments otherwise.Clonmel Hung Gar Kung Fu Club accepts no responsibility for injuries caused by misappropriate use of this information.