Jon, of coarse I have never crossed hands with Lam Sai Wing or Hung, but my Gung Gar is from Grank Yee, pretty much the leading authority on Hung GAr in New York’s Chinatown.
I know he and his students insist it is internal, as did my sifu. And, when learning it I would tell people its a form for building internal – though I never felt it.
Felt what? What I’m feeling now studying internal systems.
Maybe I was doing it wrong? Or maybe dynamic tension is not internal.
In fact, dynamic tension is in direct conflict with internal and, I’ll go so far as to say low level gong-fu, in that if you feel your own power, you are retianing that portion of it instead of transmitting it to your foe. Not in a shooting chi out the butt way, but if you feel your strenght in your own arms you are holding back so as to feel your power instead of passing it. King of along the lines of karate guys snapping their punches to get that snap sound from their gi, to suggest speed, nit knowing they should be throwing it out with the mass of their arm and the focus should be on the shoudler to elbow part of their arr, not the elbow to wrist.
Hung Gar is a fine system. A great system with a great heritage! I do not mean to put it down in any way shape or form – BUT IT IS NOT INTERNAL. I do not even like the external vs internal arguments, because the so called “internal schools” are very external in that they are strong as hell.
Internal to me is the subtle things. I’m sure when you look at guys doing karate, you’re like, “They got it all wrong. It can’t be like that, it has to be like this.”
Its the same way with internal. It’s no mistake that the internal masters all mastered external sytems first and progressed to what they would without doubt say a higher level. My master stduied with Yip Man in Hong Kong, was a training brother with Bruce Lee.
How many people would market the hell out of that. Yip Man, Bruce Lee! He looks down on Wing CHun as a low level art. It is very basic, good for learning the core principles of trapping and disecting lines, but WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too busy with the hands: “I’m on top (fuk sau)” "No, you can’t be (taun Sau), now I’m on top (fuk sau). "O, no you’re not (bong sau).
Internal would look at tan sau as a punch to your punch from below (while keeping the door closed with the other shielding hand), hitting your arm and then sliding inside, then continuing the momentum to a massive strike on your chin or collar bone – all one motion.
Fuk sau would be the same punch from below of your attack that slid to the outside, but instead of this weak-a$$ outside to inside motion it would become a drill fist and the wedge would send your arm in and down while maintaining its force in ad up to the kill zone.
Looking at it, they are very different. The arm never extends, maintains its shape, let’s you come in, and drives it power off the back leg to move you and then uses the shoulder power for the kill.
Subtle, very affective. The internal energy could never be explained here, one has to feel it for themself. But, I have never heard a Hung Gar person explain chi properly, or really claim to have felt its affects.
Maybe it is different with you. I hope so. I have no arguments with anyone or any system, just concerned with my training. I’m here to discuss and add my OPINION.
In the end, talk, or in this case, typing, is cheep. We are martial artists, and in the end there is only one way to determine who’s method is superior.
One thing I liked, but now find faulty with Hung Gar, is its reliance on strength. It’s a big man’s system. Too reliant on opposing force, bone to bone. That is certainly not internal. Who can fight the bigger man that way? Who can fight when they are old, rely on brute force? Who is the strongets man alive? The fastest?
Not me, so I do not train for that advanatge, knowing I will not always have it. But, at 5’11" 210lbs, I do often find myself with it, but still, I fight everyone as if they are biger than me. I fight everyone the same way.
Attack their attack to be connected (keep my door closed), read them, and then fill their empty space with my power, while emptying the area they are trying to fill with their power. A lot is based on the saber, draw cut. Draw cutting plane allows to blades to hit, but one cuts back and down getting ontop while maintaing a strong shape (elbow to shoulder shaped as if chugging a beer, but elbow down, and onw the way of putting the beer down) that push cutting plane, same shape but incorprated with a forward blasting step (HSing-I chicken step), and …
I don’t want to continue. Those that study internal will know what"m talking baout. Those that don’t will just nit pick it and that’s not my concern. Is it really ijn our intrest to share technology?
but its definately something