There's three parts to this post.

1. I've read most of this guy's books. Ok, I browsed through most of them. He puts Southern styles down all the time always explaining how the "internal" styles are better because they don't use physical conditioning and strength, but the mind and energy instead. Does his argument have any meat to it? Is physical conditioning such as hitting the wooden dummy really that bad for you?

2. Is Robert W. SMith any good? I mean, the dude only studied in Taiwan for about ten years. HOW MUCH COULD HE HAVE LEARNED? Has anyone ever seen him in action or does all his fame come from him being one of the first Americans to write about Chinese martial arts?

3. In a couple of his books, he talks about masters wh lives past 70 years old. What about the ones that didn't?? These "great" masters who mastered all that internal bs...they all looked like crap in those pictures! Internal bs? Maybe. Does anyone know how those "great" masters measured up to great Southern masters?