Expert: Randolph L Martin - 10/14/2009

Question
Hi, I am 18 and live in america.  I have been interested in learning kung fu for several years but had no way.  I am extremely interested in iron kung fu I would like to learn iron palm and iron stomach.  I know with iron palm hit a sack of beans but I don't know what else to do.  I was hoping you could give me instructions on what to do for both irons.  Also I need to know the herbal side of it.  I know for iron wrists you soak your arms in some herbal tea, but I don't know how the tea is made.  I was hoping you could give me directions on what to do.  Then with kung fu in general I was wondering if you knew where I could train or if there was a way I could train at home.  I live in Wisconsin and If you know of good places in the area I would like to be able to email you for more details.  I am very interested in learning and am prepared to take as much time as necessary.  I am not afraid to chi ku.
Thanks for answering,
Nick

Answer
Nick,

First off Nick, email me at scorpioet2@neo.rr.com and we will discuss this further. I have specific criteria that must be met before I will consider releasing such information. And its not about money for, although it would be nice... :-)

As to a school in Wisconsin: I suggest that you contact some other teachers/schools such as Dr Yang Jwing Ming, Sifu Adam Hsu, or any other well known and respected teacher. I am sure that teachers of their caliber may direct you towards a competent school. Or you can call my teachers school in Texas and inquire if any of Master Hu's students are near your area... 713-777-4546 Hu's Martial Arts. he has students all over the country and he is well worth investing your time in.

As to the dit da jow.... you should research that, each teacher has their own recipe and they guard it carefully. Some may have poisonous herbs in them and some of the "store" bought recipes may be watered down or useless. I know of only one place that possibly sells good dit da jow, although I have never tried it. Wing Lams School....wle.com  The liquid should have herbal residue in it, and it ought to be stored in a bottle that protects against sunlight. Most use a grain alcohol as a base and it is not wise to drink the stuff regardless of what herbs may be in it.
So again....research is imperative. Knowledge is power and understanding leads to true learning.

So read the below info, understand what I am saying, and dont think I am being rude or pushing you away from this.

You are asking to learn something without having a qualified instructor present to assist you.
With Iron Palm skills this is essential. This is not something you can learn from a book or just
by me describing it to you. I have tried this in the past, and it has become a highly involved
and time consuming process because of all the feedback required to teach it this way.

In addition, this approach leaves open to many avenues for errors and chances for the student to hurt themselves. I cannot go with this approach any more. I must see the student in person and train them in person with constant supervision and monitoring so no sch errors or injuries occur.

This training is NOT like the stuff you see on You Tube. It is a far cry from those attempts. I have only seen one school on there that appeared to have proper training, and the video was just demonstrations only.

I have an in depth program that requires at least 2 yrs minimum of hard work and the 1st year does not even involve any bag or phone book striking. There are body conditioning requirements to meet so that your body is not damaged during the latter training and so that you do not exhibit any ailments or problems in the near and far future. A lot of people seem to think that Iron Palm is just going out and striking bricks and boards repeatedly until they can break a lot of them. Some describe so called training methods that are totally inadequate for this type of training and thus sets the potential student up for future injuries.

True Iron Palm training develops a very unique power (one that I was lucky enough to experience for a few years.) It is not something to take lightly. Misuse can seriously injure or kill others.
I've cartwheeled people across the room, bruised arms and legs and knocked others to the floor from this specific training just by what I thought were simple taps. The real thing is a really dangerous thing to learn cause of the repercussions and injuries that can result both to you and any other person that you might touch. And I stress "Touch!!" I know this may sound strange and outrageous, but from my own personal experience, I fully understand why my teacher told me to never strike anyone. (all of my strikes and such I described above occured during sparring practice at times when I wasnt thinking about what I was doing - hence my present caution.)

I am telling you all of this not to turn you away from such training, but to enlighten you on just what it is you are asking for. Remember that saying, "be careful what you ask for...."

What I want you to do now, is to do some "serious" research into Iron Palm Skill. not this You tube stuff.... serious legitimate information that you can verify and research. LEARN about it, try to understand why Serious/legitimate teachers are reluctant to teach such things to anyone but their most serious and long term students (if they even teach it to them at all.) As an example: My head teacher, Master George Hu of Houston Texas was once asked by one of his higher up students to learn Dim Mak. I was told that Master Hu got VERY angry with him and would not speak to him for over a month. He told him ' You dont need to learn that."

So write to me and I will explain some things for you. I know nothing about any Iron belly skills, although I was shown by Master Hu how to create an Iron Shirt in about 10 seconds. (makes you wonder just what some of these people are trying to sell out there for hundreds of dollars eh?)

FYI for anyone else reading this:

1. I will not teach this via email or correspondence. That is impossible to do. No one can
  learn any form of martial arts training by email or letter. It requires hands on experience.
  I provide information and knowledge.
2. I must first get to know your character and who you really are before I will consider
  releasing any part of the information I have.
3. I may provide such training information as I feel may assist the person in learning
  how to distinguish between the real stuff and the fake (by training themselves properly in
  certain aspects of this skill)
4. The first year of any training I have involves serious physical exercise and there is no
  bag or phone book striking at all.

sincerely,
RLM
PBICMHC