Shaolin Grip Skill: Impossible?

[Volko Krull]

Hi folks,

haven't posted on here for a long time. Today I read a wikipedia article about skills of the Shaolin

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_72_Shaolin_martial_arts). Section 14, "Lifting a thousand jin",

essentially implies that there have been Shaolin monks who held 50 to 60 lbs block weights in a pinch

grip for an hour straight. I say this because it doesn't make too much sense to lay down a standard of

mastery if nobody has ever attained it.

Now: Is this even possible? Has anyone you know of come close to this? I don't know what kind of

block weights the Shaolin use in their training but I suppose that they are have straight side as opposed

to a blob.

Let me know what you think about this.

Sincerely,

Volko

P.S.: I certainly seems possible for someone who's able to do this to "injure an opponent simply by

grasping [him]", as the article states!

[bwwm]

An hour seems too long, but if they were stone blocks with some texture, and given that these guys had a lot of time on their hands, it's certainly plausible.

I would have never guess people could control their own body temperature using only their mind, but monks have done that too.

[Guest Squat More]

I am going to venture in saying that if someone can hold an inch Dumbbell for time or close a gripper that rates 175+ lbs that someone could kill a person by crushing their throat. Tommy Jennings and John McCarter can crush soda cans, imagine what they'd do to a persons neck... scary and interesting at the same time.

[jchapman]

Could someone hold a 60 lb dumbbell for an hour, yet alone a block weight?

[John McCarter]

I am going to venture in saying that if someone can hold an inch Dumbbell for time or close a gripper that rates 175+ lbs that someone could kill a person by crushing their throat. Tommy Jennings and John McCarter can crush soda cans, imagine what they'd do to a persons neck... scary and interesting at the same time.

Thanks for saying that man, wasn't thinking you would mention my name, gave me a good laugh. I've actually thought about the same thing and what could happen and it is scary.

Could someone hold a 60 lb dumbbell for an hour, yet alone a block weight?

I would have to say it can be done, but there would need to be a reason for doing something like this for that long. You would need a lot of free time to put in the work. Build up slow and move up when the time calls for it.

[climber511]

Atomic Athlete sells a book called 72 Consummate Arts Secrets of the Shaolin Temple. It's an interesting book. It shows many skills from simple to complex - and gives time frames for many of them to achieve proficiency. "One must seriously spend ten years to attain this art" is just one of many comments in the book. I think the value of this particular book is probably not in the skills themselves but in the idea that mastery takes time - often a lifetime. On page 125 is "Lifting up thousand Catties Arts" - I have no idea what a Cattie is but one sentence says "Step by step he will be able to pick up and lift 50 - 60 catties of stone and sustain it as long as he likes, say, at least an hour". This stone is cone shaped at the top. Maybe this is what is refereed to in Wikipedia?

I wonder if many of these things were ever done but dedicating many many years of one's life to the practice of a single thing would no doubt yield some serious results. The things we are becoming comfortable with in grip strength today were unheard of in the past and is only the beginning of where things will go given time.

A Google search showed a "cattie" anywhere between 1.5 and 1.66 pound or so.

Edited September 4, 2013 by climber511

[Stephen Ruby]

I am going to venture in saying that if someone can hold an inch Dumbbell for time or close a gripper that rates 175+ lbs that someone could kill a person by crushing their throat. Tommy Jennings and John McCarter can crush soda cans, imagine what they'd do to a persons neck... scary and interesting at the same time.

I doubt you need that much strength honestly especially for the neck. I watched on deadliest warrior and they had clay edgin tear apart a gel dummy that mimicked a human body-to show if zombies could tear through flesh since they were supposed to be stronger then average- and well he destroyed that body with the help of a few other strongman but he did easily the most damage. And this was the abdomen and chest area which are much stronger areas of the body.

http://www.spike.com/episodes/q7bq0v/deadliest-warrior-vampires-vs-zombies-season-5-ep-310

About 29 minutes in you see him and a few others tear through human flesh

[Mike Sharkey]

Iron Palm.

[Mephistopholes]

I think it could be done.

But note, I think the key here is having ALOT of free time.

You know how much time training it will take for you to work up to that hour-hold? Lots and lots and lots of time. But that doesn't make it impossible. Just means that you have to live under the right conditions to be able to afford that sort of time. And you know who has that sort of time? Monks. They got all the time in the world...

[Mephistopholes]

I am going to venture in saying that if someone can hold an inch Dumbbell for time or close a gripper that rates 175+ lbs that someone could kill a person by crushing their throat. Tommy Jennings and John McCarter can crush soda cans, imagine what they'd do to a persons neck... scary and interesting at the same time.

I doubt you need that much strength honestly especially for the neck. I watched on deadliest warrior and they had clay edgin tear apart a gel dummy that mimicked a human body-to show if zombies could tear through flesh since they were supposed to be stronger then average- and well he destroyed that body with the help of a few other strongman but he did easily the most damage. And this was the abdomen and chest area which are much stronger areas of the body.

http://www.spike.com/episodes/q7bq0v/deadliest-warrior-vampires-vs-zombies-season-5-ep-310

About 29 minutes in you see him and a few others tear through human flesh

Yeah I agree, I don't think you really even need to be that advanced in terms of grip strength to, say, crush an esophagus. You just gotta really want to do it. I can't do those things, but I'm fairly sure I could crush an esophagus If I had the proper motivation. I about broke a guys hand once by squeezing it. He had it coming. Haha.

But I've tested my grip strength on my own body, such as on the wrists, temples, and neck just to see what it feels like when I put a bit of pressure on (not squeezing real hard, just getting the feel for it)... And yeah, causing that sort of damage with just grip strength feels very possible.

[MadMardegan]

I think you mean trachea man, and yeah I have no doubt that you guys could easily crush someone's thyroid cartilage and collapse their trachea.

[Mephistopholes]

Hey, I'm not a physician. Haha.

The Windpipe. Whatever that is.

[MadMardegan]

Hey, I'm not a physician. Haha.

The Windpipe. Whatever that is.

Ha, sorry if it came across as condescending dude.

Windpipe is as good a word as any!

[Mephistopholes]

Haha no not at all man. No worries.

[bwwm]

When I go to a grip contest and find out people's backgrounds, I have to say I feel a lot safer than I normally do in other environments.

At my work, my coworkers would probably just run and scream from any imminent danger.

Edited September 4, 2013 by bwwm

[Electron]

When I go to a grip contest and find out people's backgrounds, I have to say I feel a lot safer than I normally do in other environments.

At my work, my coworkers would probably just run and scream from any imminent danger.

Any of their backgrounds include shaolin grip monks?

[ChrisJames]

There's an article in a old Milo magazine where they ask Bill Pearl who is the strongest person he has ever seen. Without hesitation he said it was Doug Hepburn . He says amongst other feats of strength he witnessed Doug do , that Doug could bend a 50 cent piece in his hands. Whilst being in Dougs company when he was "bouncing" at a club, he got into a fight with one if the patrons. Apparently he gripped the guy and threw him up over his head and through a set of double doors. When examining the unfortunate fellow, they found holes where Dougs fingers had bored straight through the mans clothes and skin !!

[J.Burns]

iron palm is also a great metaphor of this men literally open palm smacking a solid brick in half.... imagine a what a simple slap to the face is going to do to you. Conditioning any part of the body is possible through repetition and contiuous action

[Mike Sharkey]

iron palm is also a great metaphor of this men literally open palm smacking a solid brick in half.... imagine a what a simple slap to the face is going to do to you. Conditioning any part of the body is possible through repetition and contiuous action

its not ever metaphor. they condition their body parts for years to make it as hard as iron. there is a practice of making the shin incredibly hard by hitting it with progressively harder material. they start with a sock of mung beans and beat their legs for an hour a day with that for a year, then switch to a sock full of sand, then pieces of rock or metal. after a decade, the body becomes harder than steel. you need a lot of time on your hands, but the stuff you can train the body to do it pretty amazing.

[The Mac]

I'd love to see someone who had developed their bodies (or parts thereof) to be "Harder than Steel". It would be simple to prove - get out the old Magnum and shoot them in the shin.

People CAN do incredible things - but let's be realistic......

[Stephen Ruby]

I'd love to see someone who had developed their bodies (or parts thereof) to be "Harder than Steel". It would be simple to prove - get out the old Magnum and shoot them in the shin.

People CAN do incredible things - but let's be realistic......

Thats not really a fair comparison due to the velocity of the object. If guys now can warp thick CRS around their windpipe-done at the last arnold- then you can condition parts of the body to be quite strong. I can imagine after years of significant effort that the conditioning your body could develop would seem unreal. Steel is much heavier then bone so I think I remember reading that bone can be stronger then mild steel on a per weight basis. I'm not engineer but I think I've heard they can make bone or wood appear stronger then mild steel.

Though yes some steel their would be no comparison though as you can do things to it to make it significantly stronger then bone could ever get too given our understanding now.

Edited September 6, 2013 by Stephen Ruby

[bwwm]

When I go to a grip contest and find out people's backgrounds, I have to say I feel a lot safer than I normally do in other environments.

At my work, my coworkers would probably just run and scream from any imminent danger.

Any of their backgrounds include shaolin grip monks?

I wish, then I could train with them.

[rico300zx]

Do the monks still do these feats I wonder?

[bwwm]

Do the monks still do these feats I wonder?

Probably nobody lives to tell about if they find out.