what is iron skin and body etc

[GTF]

i have been hearing alot about iron skin, body, head, forearms and fist and things to that extent both on this forum and at my kung-fu school. i was wondering if any one could actualy tell me what it is for and a little about it pleas.

[Goju_boi]

well a friend of mine that practices northern shaolin told me some things about it.He said that it's so that your body gets callus on it so your body becomes rock hard.With this u wont feel as much pain when hit and if youre really callused up u wont be hurt that bad when stabbed.Also if u hit somebody they will feel as if they have been hit with a rock.And to get there he said that u practice hitting objects and u get hit with sticks to condition your body

[Hudson]

Iron palm, fingers, forearm, jacket, etc; are all practices that focus on toughening the body. You don't really need to get hit with sticks to do iron body, you simply swing your hands in a way that they hit your chest and or back. Iron finger/palm exercises usually involve hitting something in a certain way, like buckets full of dry ice. Iron forearm can be trained by hitting your arms against different targets, increasing in density the further you train. You can also get other things, there's a wooden device that looks like a rolling pin used to toughen the shins.

EDIT: Dry RICE, not dry ice. DO NOT HIT DRY ICE!