I want to "harden" my body in a way. Im 5'9 150lbs. I lift weights everyday, Im pretty fast and decent at fighting but I want to be able to take hits better. My friend who takes karate and is a current blackbelt beats himself with a stick every day till he bruises and hes tough as **** . I want this, Is there any easy/athome practices I can do to improve taking hits.

why don't you get tips from your friend if he is tough, and for some reason hits himself with a stick.

Instead of beating yourself you could spend that time training more to avoid getting hit in the first place

You can strengthen your hands and feet by useing a makiwara. While you can build your body up to take damage to a point, you cant strengthen your groin,temple's or solar plexus for example, the only way to protect these places is not get hit. As someotherguy said, better to learn to evade attacks, best block---dont be there. That goes for both the attack and the situation. When it comes to your friend hitting himself with a stick-----not good. You may want to ask some Kung Fu stylists about iron shirt methods.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Legend of the Hungry Wolf:
why don't you get tips from your friend if he is tough, and for some reason hits himself with a stick.[/QUOTE]

He, he haw haw!!

I take Kyokushin and we beat the carp out of eachother. in order to condition and take a hit you have to get hit.

I want to condition my upper body and lower body to take hits, is beating yourself with a stick the only method?

In my opinion either you can take the beating or you can't its strictly mental. you gotta be able to ignore the pain receptors and all the important messages they are sending your brain about the damage to your body. someotherguy is right, don't get hit and you wont have to worry. and besides karate teaches you enough to get your arse kicked. at least it wont hurt so bad, cause your already hittin yourself. that is retarded, omg i can't beleive people are hitting themselves, wiht sticks. what has this world come to.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by redz:
I want to condition my upper body and lower body to take hits, is beating yourself with a stick the only method?[/QUOTE]

ha ha. beating yourself with a stick! That's priceless! Bloody brilliant! Spar. Learn to take hits. A stick is an impact weapon anyway. It's a completely different kind of pain than a punch. I agree that it's all in the mentality, definitely. Your hear about boxers that have spirit. All this means is that when they get hurt, they have the courage to carry on. you can harden yourself up to a point, but if you haven't got guts, then you haven't got a chance