Originally Posted by taai gihk yahn
perhaps, but I think that he is also buying into / perpetuating a particular conceit on the part of "internalists", who seem to have this need to characterize what they do as being above such base methods as using muscle power - it's one that has rather deep roots, unfortunately; and I have experienced it before elsewhere; problem is, they can be clueless about anatomy and kinesiology: for example one person I knew, very high level bagua, tried to [make his point about not using muscle power by having me feel his tricep while he held his arm out extended at 90˚ from his torso - he was like "look, no muscle power"; of course, I didn't have the heart to tell him that triceps have nothing to do with holding the arm out that way one it is already extended - but I suspect he was showing what he had been shown by his sifu...
anyway, I don't think that, just because they demonstrate skill in their given area of expertise that it should make an allowance for him being intellectually sloppy in another area - consider the inverse: someone with expert knowledge of neuromuscular physiology drawing incorrect conclusions about "internal" practice - how forgiving would you be of that...sword cuts both ways...the interesting thing then is, what happens when you come across someone high-level competent in both areas...