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Yang Mian™
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STEEL HAND Steel hand training develops the hands, fingers, wrists and arms so they can deliver devastating blows without injury to themselves. In addition the blows are administered at high speed with relaxed arms that give an impression of being made of flexible rubber. There are plenty of martial artists who can break tiles, bricks, boards and other hard objects. Yang Mian™, however, claims its practitioners can go beyond the usual limits of these demonstrations. There are not many people around who can break a piece of river rock with the tips of two normal looking fingers. Yang Mian™ technique differs from other systems in the way its power is delivered. In demonstrations most hard objects are broken with fast slaps rather than the follow-through strikes and punches that are common with other styles. Yet another difference lies in the fact that little muscle power is used. Yang Mian™ strikes, slaps and punches are done with relaxed arms, as already mentioned. In action, the arms appear to be as resilient as rubber and almost as flexible. Two sources of inner power are involved: spring power and the use of centrifugal force. Master Yang emphasizes the necessity of inner spring power to generate and transfer the force of steel hand fighting. "Imagine winding a powerful spring," he says, "and suddenly releasing it. Spring power expressed through your body accelerates arm novements to a very high speed. Add the power of centrifugal force to the steel hand at he end of the arm and you have a multiplier effect when the hand hits the target. "Spring power is an internal release of energy which the student soon discovers for his/herself. Its potential is within all of us. But we must learn how to recognise it during our practice. "The relationship between spring power and centrifugal force is not easy to describe in words. To appreciate the speed and impact generated by steel hand you have to see it for yourself." He makes the point that all steel hand work is directed towards serious self defence. It is not a sport. "It is no use having hands and arms like steel unless they can be delivered to their targets at high speed and from any direction. Because the hits are so powerful and the direction of delivery so flexible they can hurt any part of the opponent's body. This means an opponent's entire body is one large target. By all means, hit the most vital or easily damaged parts. But you can also hurt him by hitting anywhere else as well. Master Yang has sand "What you touch you damage", and that's the way it is." There are other martial arts that keep the use of physical strength to a minimum. However, nearly all of them will resort to pure strength in real-life self-defence situations. Yang Mian™'s relaxed form of delivery is maintained even in combat. "It is easy to underestimate the striking power of a relaxed delivery of strikes, blows or slaps. The same thing applies to the circular and curved delivery of steel hands into their targets. There are other martial arts which employ circular movements of course, however, even a 'straight' punch in Yang Mian™ has a small circular, or curved, aspect to it. It is launched outwards from the body employing spring power and in the typical Yang Mian™ rubbery, relaxed manner. It is like a steel fist being catapulted into a target." Because such strong claims are made for the Yang Mian™ System's training programme, it is only fair to ask in what way it differs from iron palm and hard Karate styles. "Once developed steel hand will be retained for the rest of your life. You will still save the power even if you stop training after you have achieved it. This is because it is developed in what we call a 'living way'. "In the first place, there are no liniments or special medicines required in our training. All developments occur at a gradual and steady pace without injury or calluses developing. Tissues, bones, sinews and so on, are all able to reach extremely high levels of strength, flexibility and tolerance of impact without external aids. All strengthening and development takes place internally because of special exercises. The centrifugal force generated in these exercises floods the body with oxygen increasing its endurance and freedom from illness It also frees up energy channels, stimulates blood circulation and increases the effectiveness of the lymph system and immune response. It also generates rapid healing if one is accidentally injured. So you can see why we can claim to build the power of steel hand technique from inside the student. Hard forms of hand training do not have these Yang Mian™ methods working for them.'' Whilst Yang Mian™'s steel hand development occurs much sooner than by methods such as iron palm, Master Yang emphasises, "training requires discipline. I do not want to give the impression the training is easy. It is not recommended for the weak minded. It is for people who want to get something really substantial from their martial art. Discipline comes into your homework. You are given a specific standard of time to work at home.Apply yourself and your goal will be reached." Despite the internal development methods employed, Master Yang prefers not to train people in the full technique until they are about 16 or 17 years old. He explains that the natural maturation of the hands is not sufficiently advanced in younger people for complete safety "There is also a steed for strength of character," he says. "We require all students to take an oath that the power developed will only be used in a responsible manner." There is no sex discrimination involved. Women are welcome to train. Their hands will still feel and look quite normal after training. Nor is there any upper age limit. His oldest student at the moment is 72. He trains just as enthusiastically as the rest of the group. Master Yang insists you do not have to leave your present martial art to learn steel hand. "It can be incorporated into any fighting system without loss of loyalty to your style, club or teacher."
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