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Originally Posted by
Pacman
right. 'complete' is not to be taken literally. of course if there was no tension at all you would fall to the floor like a wet towel. when i said 'complete' i meant as much as possible. the degree of relaxation sought by internal arts is in general much higher compared to others. i have met some sifus and when they do chi sao their arms feel like rubber. people said when sum nung did the wooden dummy form or when he fought, his arms looked like whips.
This is nothing special -- this is what all athletes do. It has nothing to do with "internal" or "external", what you are calling "relaxation" comes from FAMILIARITY, from doing it so much that your body naturally uses just what it needs to get the task done.
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if you read my post i acknowledged that other athletes desire the same things, but the methods of training are different. i explained that specifically.
Yes, and that different (internal) way of training doesn't work.
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this is where i disagree. im not saying you can learn how to box without boxing, but you can't always learn everything by just doing that activity.
Sure you can. You learn and develop any physical skill by doing that skill -- not by doing something else. You learn and develop the ability to ride a bike by and through riding a bike, to surf by actually surfing, to swim by actually swimming, and so on.
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here is a very easy to understand example and point
tension, mental and physical, is natural under stressful situations like fighting. 99/100 people when put into a fight for the first time will tense up. physical tension slows you down physically, tires you out quicker. mental tension slows your reaction time and more.
the tense state can develop into a bad habit even if you are aware of it, although most people are not.
so it is helpful to do forms of trainign other than pure fighting to improve this.
Forms, drill, ets. can't and won't help you develop the ability to not tense up when fighting. The ONLY way to develop that is by familiarity, by fighting. The more you fight, the more you become accustomed to it.
You believe this "internal" training works NOT FROM EXPERIENCE but from theory, from imagining that's how it should work.
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its like boxers (your favorite) using a speed bag to improve hand eye coordination. sometimes you want to focus on a specific area of fighting training and not just jump into the ring over and over again.
The speed bag is for conditioning. It's common for fighters to do lots of conditioning exercises since that's what gets their body prepared for the sparring.
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all i can say is that i disagree. just look at your favorite UFC guys. bj penn and anderson sylva look pretty relaxed to me physically. of course i cant tell for sure but from their facial expressions they look more mentally relaxed than others.
compare them to someone like forrest griffin.
there is a difference
internal stylists just stress the importance of a relaxed mind and body more than others and train for that specific goal. you can disagree to its usefulness but you CAN relax
All good fighters, just like all good atheltes, look "relaxed" since by being highly skilled, their bodies have learned when to turn it on and when to turn it off. This is nothing special. Good, athletic training develops that.