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Hardening Your Anatomical Weapons It is traditional for each Shao Lin exponent to devote a considerable portion of his training time to the use of special exercises that are designed to harden and make exceedingly durable certain portions of this anatomy. No matter what the exponent’s degree of skill with technique, if he is to effectively apply his art in self-defense situations, he often will have to rely on the natural parts of his body as substitutes for weapons. This is especially the cast when his assailant is also well trained in some art of combat. A fully trained Shao Lin exponent is capable of generating tremendous force when his fist, open hand, forearm, elbow, knee, or foot strikes a target. In order to protect himself from possible injury while practicing such strikes, the exponent must toughen his anatomical weapons. When the target is some vital part of an assailant’s body, the Shao Lin exponent can easily inflict extensive damage on the assailant, even to the point of completely breaking the large bones of the latter’s arms or legs with a single blow. Such drastic measures, however, are reluctantly taken by a Shao Lin exponent only if he fails to subdue an assailant by some less injurious means. All the special exercises that are designed to toughen one’s anatomical weapons must be used in compliance with a qualified instruction’s advice; incorrectly applied, these methods can seriously cripple the exponent. After undergoing training to toughen his anatomical weapons, the trainee must also apply certain medicines to those areas. In addition, he may drink herbal teas. The medicines and teas offset the chances that there will be injurious effects from hard training, but such medicines and teas are compounded from secret formulae known only to qualified Shao Lin instructions. Thus, trainees are not advised to undertake any Shao Lin hardening methods without the guidance of an instructor.
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