Originally posted by Tigrentera
Until you have crossed hands with a high level internal practitioner you cannot know the difference between external and internal ways of fighting.
I’ve crossed with internal guys - dunno what caliber they were as compared to other IMA guys though, and I’ve met Dr. Yang jwing ming, so I’ve at least seen it, if nothing else.
You cannot divine the difference simply by observation. You can’t say Muhammed Ali “looks” internal because “internal” means inside where you cannot see it. By their very nature internal arts are “esoteric” meaning only the “initiated” can understand them and apply them.
I’ll give you that, as I’m not an internal guy. There is an accomplished internal practitioner on this forum named shooter, whose taiji guys compete in local mma events. he has stated that judo guys use peng and other energies characteristic of internal arts.
The point of stating this is not to exclude people or make other people feel like there fighting art is not sufficient.
No worries there…
[b]So how are internal arts physically different?
To use an analogy, high level internal makes your body like a huge water balloon (we are something like 90% water after all.) But its not quite that simple. In addition, it is like a water balloon that can alter the tension of its own skin. So in one instant your body can be like a plastic bag filled with water (low pressure) and in the next second it is a raquetball filled with water (high pressure).
When your body is like a plastic bag you absorb any incoming force. Your opponent cannot find your center because as soon as thinks he’s found it, it changes.
When your body is like an inflated raquetball it is hard and if someone pushed on you they would spin the ball to the side and deflect the force.
So in internal arts you are constantly confusing your opponent. You can feel him but he can’t feel you. You suddenly feel solid but as soon as he pushes against that solidness he realizes that it wasn’t solid at all. The harder he pushes on one side of “the ball” the harder the other side comes flying at him.[/b]
Once again, I encourage you to roll with a high ranking bjj guy. This is no different from them…
I hope my analogy is making sense.
It was an excellent analogy.
[b]In so called external arts your body is more like a tether ball. Your spine is the pole and your arms are like ropes, your fists the ball.
But in addition you can change the tension, elasticity and length of the ropes.
You generate power by pushing from the ground.
This twists the “pole” the pole drives the “ropes.”
You can generate more power by suddenly changing the length, elasticity and tension of the ropes.
If you start the rope long and loose and then stiffen and contract it as you twist the pole you can generate huge speed on the “balls.”
Of course, there are over 300 styles of kung fu. I am simply comparing the two that I know.[/b]
Sticking with a boxer, where do you see the internal quality? rooting? coiling? add the internal aspects you see to the external example you just gave.
