All Internal Arts "High Level"?!?

[CrazyDan]

Ive heard people say that internal arts it may take years before you can actually apply what you've learned in an actual confrontation, you agree with that or not?
I know internal arts are usually referred to as a "soft style" martial art, but is there such thing as a hard style internal martial arts?

[Fu-Pow]

I don't see you could apply them right away as most of the movements are practiced slowly.....I think Taiji speed training come later....

Fu-Pow
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"If you are talking about sport that is one thing. But when you are talking about combat-as it is-well then, baby, you'd better train every part of your body" - Bruce Lee

[RAF]

Historically, a lot of high level internal martial artists started and practiced in systems that we now refer to as external.

It seems that indeed it takes more time and those who are exclusively in the internal arts started when they were very young.

Hence it may take ten years to master, but if you father is Yang Lu Chan and you start them at 8 or 9, then at 20 you are pretty deep into the system.

Probably doesn't hold in all cases, but I kind of see this pattern.

[HuangKaiVun]

In Seng Men, we go through a period of solo set and then two man training. We also have to "switch sides" on our sets with solo and two man training.

After you do all that (not much - we only have ONE short solo set 36 moves long and the two man is off the solo set), you'll be a pretty good fighter if you learned your sets right.

In China, my sifu's training brothers were winning streetfights having just done one side of the solo set training with two man.

[ELFdisciple]

My kung-fu is an entirely internal system, and the application of its techniques have been difficult. Its not a matter of understanding what is happening, its a matter of DOING it properly. Any fool can throw a punch and hit someone, but who can throw a guy twice his size across the room without even straining a muscle?

I have seen my instructor perform something called 'bodyguard', it is a style that is for the inheritor's of our art only. It is an entirely internal style that can shake the entire building when he practices it. It sounds external, but if you could see it, you would know that it is not.

ELFdisciple

Direct Disciple to the 37th Patriarch of Emperor's Long-Fist Kung-Fu

Practitioner of:
Internal Iron Palm
Genki Ryu Do Karate
White Crane and Spirit Dragon SCA combat

[denali]

I wonder what happens when he practices outside...

[Sil Lum Palm]

Royal Bodyguard... Sifu teaches it as well to the most advanced students.

copied from CFCWA web-pages for info purposes only : Royal Palace Ba Gua, also called the Gong Ting style, has its roots in Emperor's Long Fist Body Guard System (or Wei bing) dating back to 960 A.D. Sung Dynasty. It wasn't actually exposed until Ching Dynasty at the Royal Palace Court. Credit is given to Tung Hai Chuan who learned from a Taoist hermit in the mountains. He was a eunuch waiter in the palace and he caught the attention of the Emperor by jumping over a crowd. The Emperor demanded to see what he was doing. He demonstrated his Ba Gua and the Emperor ended up making him the Chief of the Royal Palace Bodyguards. Thus he was persuaded to teach the Manchus of the Ching Dynasty. Then when he left and went civilian Ba Gua became known by different styles.

Xing Yi is the closest to "hard" as you can get compared to the other two "chi three". It has a militaristic approach that is somewhat like this : plan mission, seek , destroy at all costs. Xing Yi makes strong advances and only retreats to set up a better attack. Xing Yi Quan students learn to utilize thier "hard" chi , where Ba gua and Tai Chi seem to fuse "hard" and " soft" chi together.

[shaolin white crane]

Internal martial arts do requirer a extensive training before it can actually be use in combat, mainly because of the levels of techniques used. First you must understand proper body aligment and breathing, then you get to the training of the forma and so on. The thing is that internal uses more that brute force: in Taijiquan we first yield to the attack ( the soft overcomes the hard) follow the attack, and finally find an opening to attack (the hard overcomes the soft), in bagua the use of angles to get to a misaling body is letal and finally the focus of intention and lineal energy of xingy. This is not something you get in a couple of lessons but will help you overcome oponents far more stronger than yourself.