I am training a style of martial arts which has a mixture of chi kung, kung fu, tai chi and iron palm, but it doesn't employ any sort of kicking. i want to learn how to conditioned my shin so i can deliver really powerful kicks without injuring myself, like iron leg. i seen a video on the net on how to condition your legs for iron leg. check it out and tell me what you guys think. do a google search and type in bruce wen, he has a demo on expertvillage.
he tell you how to condition the whole leg, what do you think??
I think there are several components that need to be worked on to condition the leg. There are many specialised methods from various systems. But, sticking to the general, your approach should contain the following ( not saying if you don't do one of these you can't kick, just that all these combined, should develop a solid kicking skillset ) :
Stretching and Flexibility
Tendon Strengthening and Muscle Development
Cardio & Stamina
Heavy Bag and/or Thai Pad and/or Focus Mitts
Shadow Boxing ( including kicks of course )
Sparring
You could of course, add Chi Kung into the mix. Almost all exercises can be practiced as Chi Kung provided you know how.
Something, that may help you. Conditioning in terms of toughening of the skin, bones, strengthening the tendons, etc. ( that would be Jing right ?, though it's been a while and I'm rusty on the CMA terms ) is certainly important. But, people can focus too much on that aspect of conditioning. But, many times when people injure themselves while kicking, it is because their allignment to their opponent ( and target ), was incorrect.
For example, If you want to kick with your left leg ( shin ) and give it more power through positioning, if you line up your right leg with the target and kick with the left, you will not generate maximum power, and with the incorrect body allignment that is created, you will have a good chance of hurting yourself. If you take your right foot in line with a point that is "through" your intended target ( for example, if I want to shin kick with my left leg into his right ribs, I would line my right foot up with the space next to his left ribs ). It really makes a huge difference in power. Of course, you have to use your whole body when you kick, not just the legs etc.
I am suprised you do Kung Fu, but there are no kicks. Has your Sifu given a reason why there is no kicking ?
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"To alcohol ! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" - Homer Simpson
his said to me why do you want to kick, its useless. using your hand in all direction and angles like a chain with a sledge hammer on the end of it. it is pretty effective just using your body and hand. but still i would like to condition my shins so i can do low kicks around knee height...
What about knee attacks. Do you have any of those ?
I personally know that high kicks work. Every move, whether with hands or feet, can be countered, and has weaknesses and openings. Many people believe in only low kicks. I won't get into that, since I believe in personal preference.
My main problem with using only the hands, comes in with defense. If someone does a low shin kick to the side of your knee, and you lower your hands to block it, besides that you can hurt yourself ( maybe even a fracture if the kicker was skilled ), there is a huge structural problem lowering your hands away from your face to stop a kick. Firstly, you will probably need both arms to stop the impact, now he has both hands free and yours are occupied. If you go low enough with your stance to keep the hands up while defending, you open your head up for strikes from above ( and maybe even get kneed ). Lowering the hands to block kicks is a common mistake ( and I did it for ages thinking it was ok ). Now if I do that, I end up with shellshocked arms and a punch combo in the face.
Your hands cannot be all place at all times, good to have some backup. Also, the legs have power, why not use it ? I believe, in a fight, you should use every single tool at your disposal.
The hands can intercept many angles, but if a kick comes low, I intercept his shin with the point of my knee or shin ( which takes minimal movement on my part, which equals speed ), if high, my elbow tip.
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"To alcohol ! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" - Homer Simpson
True... but my hands are very conditioned and can smash almost anything put in front of me, and trust me if you get hit with on of my hands flying at a very fast speed, its not a pretty sight. when i first started training with my instructor he said come on try and attack me. he didn't seem to have an type of style or stance and i though easy i did 1 and a half year wing chun i am fast. but when i came in for the punch, he smash my hand down with a half closed fist very fast and relaxed.He laughed...
I had several bruises on my hands from that session, i fixed them up with jow, but still it was very shocking what he could do, and he said it wasn't full power other wise he would of broke my hand!!!
Ive been training a while know and now know the full power you can deliver once your hands are conditioned!!
he showed me a various different combo's, one was a combination of how to smash the head, groin & knee cap all in a matter of seconds.
its quiet dangerous when delivered.
And the best thing about these movements is you don't seen them coming because there deliver so fast to the target.
even if someone kick you, he said your hand is now a sledge hammer, use it like one, smash everything it front of you with speed and accuracy.
But i still think learning how to kick is a must. like bruce lee said its better to use every tool available in a combat situation, never limit yourself.
There are lots of people who do not use High Kicks in combat, but practice them for stretching and flexibility. If you are very flexible, people will find it tough to guess whether a kick is coming in high or low, since they can be thrown from similar hip movement.
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"To alcohol ! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" - Homer Simpson
I'm a little worried about your instructor, or else you heard him wrong about saying kicks are useless.
Like Doughboy said, high kicking is more about flash than substance and has many disadvantages against an opponent. But there are many other leg techniques that are highly useful across a variety of situations. Low kicks can be harder to see coming. A waist-high straight kick can be both offensive or defensive -- pushing an attacking opponent away.
Kicks do take more effort so if you are not in good condition and you try to rely on them in a fight you'll be out of breath in no time. But if you're not in good condition you'll be out of breath quickly even using only your hands. So that point is somewhat moot.
I'm not sure how long you've been training, so I'll err on the side of your sifu at this point and assume that he's not teaching you kicks because you need to improve your stances and conditioning. Basics are far more important than "iron" anything or pretty kicks. Practice those and don't worry about being the baddest mofo in the room.
__________________ "Pain can be a great teacher of compassion and humility."~ Unkotare-san
"Whatever the case, it proves that countless disasters can be prevented by simply assuming everyone you're working with is a moron." ~ Adam Brown, 5 Tiny Mistakes...
I personally love the stomp kick from Muay Thai. If you are not very flexible it can push the opponent back, but with flexibility you can strike with the heel of the foot and push.
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"To alcohol ! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" - Homer Simpson
First off, Bruce Wen is a Modern Wushu practitioner, I don't think very highly of his skills or training exercises/regimen.
Second, agree with a lot of what has already been said, Doughboy gave you some excellent tips for training the legs.
Third, to train in upper body Striking and avoiding lower body leaves you an incomplete Striker, you have half the skills at your disposal and lack fully body power, if you can not use your legs/hips to issue power with your punches, then they are weak and useless. One way of gaining that power is in learning how to use the legs and lower body for torque and power generation, kicking is a big set up for such skill development.
Four, here are some vids/info that give some good tips for kicking and conditioning
The old saying I like telling people is that "every step is a kick". So unless you are standing in place, you can deliver a kick. I believe traditionally, kicks were not thrown above the waist though, as that height was considered "master" level.
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"I see no virtue where I smell no sweat"
"Arm yourself because no one else here will save you" - Chris Cornell
I do understand the logic for kicking only low. The way I was taught with Shaolinquan. Was that in combat face to face, it would be mostly kicks below the waist ( occasional to the ribs ). But in other circumstances, like he is jumping off something high at you ( maybe a bad example, but I'm tired ), you may need to be able to kick high. So the flexibility was trained, but rarely used in sparring. If you are on the ground sitting and your opponent is standing, you can use the mechanics of a high kick from there ( Cam did it on one of his fight clips. Bas Rutten also teaches it like that, and trust me, you can kick someone hard from there ).
The reason I have changed my point of view, is simply because high kicks are giving me good payoffs in free sparring. It also makes it more complicated for my opponent, since most low kicks can be blocked by the same response ( I didn't say all ), if my opponent sees I only give low kicks it makes things a bit easier for him. I do think it can work though. I know a few good fighters who only do low kicks. But one of my favorite setups is as follows. Blitz him high with a boxing combo. If his hands go up, fine, I let the punch jolt him a little, then as he's trying to find his footing, come with a quick left to right straight to the chin ( also ok if blocked since it's a feign, though should be thrown with power ), I let the right straight stay out for a moment longer than I normally do ( generally not a good thing, but it's the setup here ), and follow up straight away with a right high kick through the left side of his head. My hand creates a blind spot in that moment where he cannot see the kick coming if he just shells up into a defensive mode to protect from the punches.
There are lots of other great uses for high kicks. I do believe in personal choice, and a fighter can still put together a pretty powerful arsenal without high kicks. Getting kicked right in the head like that can be devastating if it connects properly. Just watch the CroCop vs Gonzaga fight for an example of it's power.
Even if you don't like high kicks for combat, you will need that kind of flexibility in your legs for groundfighting. I was on my back with someone in my guard practising escapes and reversals for over an hour the other day, and I now have pain/stiffness in muscles I never knew my legs had in 'em. If I didn't practice high kicking leg flexibility, I think I would have pulled something or torn something for sure. I was on the verge anyway.
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"To alcohol ! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" - Homer Simpson
), if my opponent sees I only give low kicks it makes things a bit easier for him. I do think it can work though. I know a few good fighters who only do low kicks. But one of my favorite setups is as follows. Blitz him high with a boxing combo. If his hands go up, fine, I let the punch jolt him a little, then as he's trying to find his footing, come with a quick left to right straight to the chin ( also ok if blocked since it's a feign, though should be thrown with power ), I let the right straight stay out for a moment longer than I normally do ( generally not a good thing, but it's the setup here ), and follow up straight away with a right high kick through the left side of his head. My hand creates a blind spot in that moment where he cannot see the kick coming if he just shells up into a defensive mode to protect from the punches. 
