Steel Body is a technique which uses the body as armour, making it impervious to blows and kicks and useful as a variety of additional weapons.
Technique
No part of the body is excluded as a tool of combat. Once a student has developed this Steel Body skill it will remain with them for the rest of their life.
The technique controls the body’s internal pressure and muscle reaction and passes into the subconscious or automatic mind springing into action whenever it is needed. A high standard can be achieved in a matter of months.
This system is a suitable addition to other martial arts styles. In doing so, an increase in speed and lethal effectiveness is achieved in both attack and defence.
Many martial arts enthusiasts will have witnessed demonstrations of people being on the receiving end of powerful kicks and blows from fists, timber or metal without injury or pain. Commonly known as Iron Shirt, this name is given to these sorts of abilities by some styles of Kung Fu.
Qualities
The term Steel Body is used in Yang Mian style to single it out from Iron Shirt. Steel Body has a double role. Steel, especially spring steel, has qualities iron cannot duplicate. For example it has flexibility. It can be made to yield to a force without breaking and then rebound with energy added. Steel will stay intact after being struck in ways that would shatter iron. It was no accident that ancient swords made of bronze gave way to iron when it was discovered. And it was a similar leap forward when iron swords were replaced by those made of steel.
Evolutionary progression was what Master Yang had in mind when he designed the Yang Mian technique of Steel Body. It goes beyond the concept of an iron cover for the body and reaches into another level. It is a way of training which makes the body as resistant and resilient as steel in its immunity to blows, strikes or kicks and at the same time provides a weapon in itself. Steel Body can strike down an opponent in its own right, independent of whatever the arms, hands, legs and feet are doing at that time.
It can also be used to temporarily disable an opponent, or, it can serve as a firm warning to someone not to press a situation any further.
It goes well beyond using a hip or a shoulder to knock a person off balance or shock their system. Steel Body enables the martial artist to attack in ways that arms and legs cannot block. It makes body contact of any kind dangerous by using techniques unfamiliar to an attacker.
To understand Steel Body as body armour imagine kicking a car tyre.The sort of resilient strength and rebound effect that you encounter is the way striking someone with Steel Body feels. The force of an attacking blow can also be multiplied and made to rebound back into the opponent causing injury to the fist, foot or other body part being used. When it is used as a weapon, being hit by Steel Body is like being hit by a sledge hammer with a surface of a car tyre.
Theory
The technique of Steel Body cannot be learned from a book or a description. It has to be learned from a teacher who has already mastered it. However, some of the theory behind it can be described to give a rough idea of what is involved.
There is also the ‘Blood/Air theory’ used to explain the changes that take place in the body as a result of training. Approximately 75 percent of the human body consists of liquids. A human body contains trillions of cells. Each one has its own liquid environment.
Imagine that amount of liquid being compressed by a strong flexible and elastic membrane of muscle. In addition, air is also internally compressed as in the rubber of the car tyre. This combination of internal forces, under conscious control, is the basis of Steel Body technique.
The buildup of air pressure within the body and the increased flow of Chi adds to the amount of internal force which can be generated and controlled by the fighter. The combined blood/air pressure is brought under conscious control so that it can instantly increase and decrease at will. One moment your body can be relaxed and pliant to touch and then instantly transformed to become a resilient form of armour when attacked. Or it can suddenly explode like the airbag in a car, increasing its surface area with great power and speed.
The forms of muscle control involved have to be consciously practiced at first but they become instinctive over time. When that stage is reached Steel Body just happens as an automatic and instant reflex whenever it is needed.
Training
There is a natural progression in Steel Body training. Lessons begin with students learning special methods of muscle control. Steel Body muscle control is like learning to wiggle your ears. Some people can do it instinctively but most others need to find out how to consciously tune into the muscles and influence them. At first nothing happens. However once the link up between conscious mind and body muscles is established it is easy to do and after a while becomes automatic. From moving ears to moving body muscle mass, to manipulating body pressures, is a simple progression that only requires proper guidance and practice.
There is no damage to the student’s own body during training, each step follows a natural progression to which the body quickly adapts.
Using Steel Body as a weapon is a more advanced stage of training. It combines muscle control with the ability to focus the internal pressure in any direction so that a body part instantly expands with force and inner power. It is a little like the famous ‘one-inch punch’ coming from the torso rather than the fist. However Steel Body doesn’t require the body to use that space. No withdrawal is necessary. A Steel Body blow can be delivered like an airbag explosion while in close body contact.
Progression
Once students have come this far they are instinctively controlling internal power the instant they come into contact with another object. They are now ready to progress from body contact with resilient objects which have some give and take to tougher targets.
Common sense might suggest that deliberately striking something like a brick wall with parts of your body would be the strongest test, but this is not so. The greatest test of Steel Body is to come into strong contact with another Steel Body exponent. A brick wall does not hit back. Therefore advanced practice has students colliding with each other because this combination delivers the greatest shock waves. Energy is instantly redirected back to the other person with additional force added. That is why a blow to Steel Body can injure the attacker but not the original target.
Some of the value of Steel Body in other body-contact sports will be obvious, especially to martial arts people who are also football fans.
18 years old is the minimum age limit to Steel Body training. Young people have bodies still reaching maturity and might be susceptible to the degree of impact in training.
Archival article written by Master Yang’s student, John Gibbons
