Originally Posted by
anerlich
There are as many different definitions of "internal" as there are people claiming to know something along these lines.
Some see it as nothing omre than correct alignment and structure for transmission of power, or its absorbtion/dissipation.
My Xingyi instructor saw it as movements and practices which adhere to the principles of TCM - Xingyi is based on five element theory, BaGua on the 8 trigrams, taiji on Yin and Yang. He claimed that for this reason styles other than these three cannot be internal. I have seen arguments that the 5 elements can be mapped onto WC movements, and therefore WC can be internal, but IMO the arguments are unconvincing.
Performance in any physical endeavour has to comply with the laws of physics and biomechanics first and foremost, as much as some seem to claim and wish it to be otherwise.
There seems to be an opinion helde by some that Iron Palm training is closely related to Qigong. Not really. Iron Palm, from what I've seen from several sources, involves striking bags and surfaces of varying hardness at varying intensities, coupled with the external application of herbal medicines to assist recovery and achieve the desired effect. Other than the herbs, the recipes for which are usually jealously guarded (meaning there is little comparison of efficacy and thus no guarantee of it, and concepts such as scientific testing and double blind trials an utter pipe dream), there is little mystery here, your body is adapting to imposed demands.
There is plenty of material on point hitting and the alleged affects thereof on the web - Erle Motaigue's site has a huge amount of stuff, some of which stretches credibility. Renzo and Carlos Gracie Jr were dead keen to fight him during an Australian visit some years ago after he insulted Gracie Jiu Jitsu in a mag article, but he surprisingly declined.
William Cheung does, or used to do, a seminar on dim mak. Like many, I have a copy of Yip Man's alleged notes on the subject. After the seminar, he basically says unless you can actually fight without it, it's a waste of time, and if you can fight without it, then its value is still questionable.
Nothing there you won't find in a basic TCM seminar (notes in my .sig)