Originally Posted by
Jimbo
That first metaphor doesn't mean that the "best fighter" has never fought/sparred/tested himself. Quite the contrary. It means that by knowing himself through experience and the consequences of real violence, he has confidence and thus no more need to prove himself, or to fight unnecessarily. He has nothing LEFT to prove.
Your stance on this is similar to someone who interprets the old saying, "Maximum effect with minimum effort" as meaning that hard training is detrimental, so you must train without breaking a sweat. You might be surprised to learn that many people believe just that. Minimum effort does not mean minimum training, but quite the opposite. Because of long, hard training and experience, one becomes able to apply less effort and still have a maximum effect.
As to your second metaphor, emphasizing the combative aspect doesn't mean that one forgoes all the other aspects of MA, just the direction of one's emphasis. If you want to develop the combative aspect to the fullest potential you can, you MUST do it while young. You cannot start doing it when you're old. There's PLENTY of time as one ages to delve deeper into other aspects of training. One's training necessarily evolves throughout one's life.