in order to condition striking surfaces, it takes patience. it does
not happen imediately. conditioning happens over time. now i'm
sure we all can agree on those key points.

the journey to get the conditioning depends upon the martial style
and how our instructors schooled us.

initially, my background was hard moo du kwan tkd/hapkido. my
master was an old school South Korean "ROK" infantry or for those in
the know a "ROKI". he was the one of the most unique individuals i
have ever met to this day. the man convinced us to run in 6" of
snow for 10 min. of warm up, barefoot, in dead of winter. this was
a drill 2x/wk.
we learned about conditioning quickly.

more on topic, he showed me how to condition all the striking
surfaces of my hands and feet, utilizing a 3 piece "makiwara" system
if you will. basically it breaks down to this...1st get a 5ft long
1x6, 3 freezer bags, duct tape and finally a gunny sack or similar
material.
in the 1st freezer bag place 1 1/2 lbs of sand, 2nd freezer bag fill
with 1 1/2 lb of hard beans, 3rd bag fill with 1 1/2 lb of rock used
for the surfacing of a driveway. seal the bags with tape, wrap them
individually in the material and nail them seperately to the 1x6.
hang the apparatus at striking height. work firstly with the sand,
begin striking, continue at a reasonable rate for "you", after a
time the sand will become novel for the practioner, at this time
move on to the next bag with the beans. after a time, the beans
will be pulverized and then it is time to move on to the rocks.
ideally, the rock will also pulvarize, though difficult in practice,
it is possible.

please remember, this is practice for an advanced martial
practitioner. this is not meant for the "beginner" in any art.

treating the knuckles etc, when bruised or injured, i have found dit
dow jow to be very useful, also "tiger balm" has helped.

respects,

panginoon guro mike