What is "Internal" power

“Internal” martial arts today are more popular than ever, if it is not “internal” it is not worth practicing, at least that is what large number of people who follow and practice these arts say. But what internal martial arts really are? What “internal” really means? Is it really so much better than “external”? There is a myriad of definitions and seems not that every teacher but every single practitioner has its own explanation of the matter. To make things even worse, people include mysticism, religion, obscure theories about nature and human body and in some cases even magic. Sadly, many practitioners of “internal” arts believe in them but not actually understand or even seriously practice their arts.

So, let’s bust few myths and explain what internal arts really are

1.    Internal arts have nothing to do with Qigong ! Qi does not exist, period. How do we know it doesn’t exist? Simply, science is not able to prove its existence! Someone may say that science is not advanced enough and it is not able to detect Qi. While that may be true the main problem is that scientific research  requires a solid definition of what Qi is. From the people who insist on its existence and profess it, science need an in depth dissertation on its workings from these people. From these we can then search for testable statements and draw a scientific prediction . The hypothesis must also have alternative explanations that have to be tested for as well. So, basically, science is unable to test and research something that has no clear definition, that no one knows what it is, but know it exist !?!?!?! On the other hand, science did a researched Qi in domain that actually can be measured and validated. Although Qi cannot be detected the effects of Qi can be measured. All test conducted in an effort to measure the effects of Qi failed miserably just as it was the case with magic, “prana”, “bioenergy” ect. It is impossible to see any effect of Qi, not immediate one for which whenever scientifically examined, it turns out to be a parlor trick, nor long term supposed health benefits. Simply, Qi comes from a carefully controlled and disciplined mind and body under typical psychological and bio-physical conditions. It is a form of self deception or when we talk about students who got knocked out with “no touch” attack, their compliance comes from due to unconscious social pressure, simply they are brainwashed. Qi is a remnant of the ancient people believes who did not understand how physics, biology, and medicine really work, so they invented a poetic, shamanistic, religious story to give the some sense to their world view.

2.   Muscle power is not needed to create force in internal martial art, muscle are not used in training of application. Some people go even further and claim that too much muscle are actually bad for practicing nei gong but on the other hand developing a “pot belly” is beneficial. Again, this is a nonsense. First of all it is physically impossible to move without muscles, that is their purpose. Complete relaxation means no movement at all, in order to make any kind of movement muscles must be involved. “The more relax you are the more power you can generate” this is often repeated sentence by internal arts teachers but is it actually true? Different activities engage muscles (and complete body) in a different way. Repeated activity will condition muscles in certain way which will develop according to type of conditioning.  For example power lifters have different muscle development from bodybuilders who again have different muscle development form gymnasts who have different muscle development from boxers and so on. Same goes for internal martial arts, muscles are conditioned to for specific kind of movements for specific outcome. In internal arts muscles are trained to make fast and short contractions to release energy. More muscles you have, more power you have, of course if muscles are conditioned for that kind of activity. Human body does not escape laws of physics and biology and chemistry no matter what someone may believe, there is no esoteric practice nor religion that will change this fact. No muscles no movement. What people call “relaxation” is actually specific way of muscle conditioning which make contraction in order to generate energy.

3.    Next claim is actually a second part of the previous one it says that connecting tissue is actually the most important in internal arts, tendons and ligaments are actually where the power is generated and they are pathway for force flow throughout the body. People believe that somehow connecting tissue can be used as a form of spring and release the energy just like the real spring and that is why the muscles are not important and not used. Again, total nonsense. Ligaments serve as connectors, linking the ends of bones together at a joint. The joints allow for the performance of simple and complex motions throughout the body, and ligaments come in a variety of sizes and shapes to support, strengthen and stabilize the joints. A tendon is a fibrous connective tissue which attaches muscle to bone. Tendons may also attach muscles to structures such as the eyeball tendons aid in the movement of bones by transmitting force from the muscle to the bone. Tendons aid in a wide range of motion and act to resist pressures; hence, it is important that they vary in shape and size. Tendons also help absorb some of the impact muscles take as they spring into action. Ligaments and tendons are made of dense layered collagen fibers, called fibrous connective tissue. They also have some elastic fibers that allow them to move, but not so much that it moves beyond its capacity. As we can see , connective tissue has very specific purpose and while it is essential in body parts movement as much as bones and muscles their purpose is not to generate power nor to transmit it power from part of the body to another . While connecting tissue has some elasticity, that property is far beyond what internal practitioners believe and it is physiologically impossible for connecting tissue to generate power, that is a job of a muscle. While conditioning of connecting tissue helps the “force flow” it is not as important as it is believed simply because tissue tolerance for stretching is pretty limited.

So what is actually going on and what actually internal power is? To understand that we have to understand a basic processes in human body, especially muscles.

There are three types of muscules:

1.    Cardiac muscle (myocardium), found only in the heart, is a striated muscle similar in structure to skeletal muscle but not subject to voluntary control.

2.    Smooth muscle, neither striated in structure nor under voluntary control, is found within the walls of organs and structures such as the esophagus, stomach, intestines, bronchi, uterus, urethra, bladder, blood vessels, and the arrector pili in the skin (in which it controls erection of body hair).

3.    Skeletal muscle, which is out area of interest in this article striated in structure and under voluntary control, is anchored by tendons (or by aponeuroses at a few places) to bone and is used to effect skeletal movement such as locomotion and to maintain posture. (Though postural control is generally maintained as an unconscious reflex the muscles responsible also react to conscious control like non-postural muscles.) An average adult male is made up of 42% of skeletal muscle and an average adult female is made up of 36% (as a percentage of body mass). It also has striations unlike smooth muscle. These muscle are formed of long multinucleate, cylindrical cells called muscle fibers. Skeletal muscle fibers are grossly divided into two type; slow twitch (type I) and fast twitch (type II). Type II fibers are further divided into type IIa and type IIb fibers. Type IIa fibers are intermediate fast twitch fibers and can utilize both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism for ATP production. Type IIb fibers are the classic fast twitch fibers. Slow twitch muscle fibers primarily utilize fatty acid oxidation and contain a high concentration of mitochondria and store appreciable amounts of oxygen as oxymyoglobin. These two facts are the reason that slow twitch fibers are red in color. Fast twitch fibers primarily utilize glucose oxidation to pyruvate for ATP production, contain less mitochondria and myoglobin than slow twitch fibers, and thus, are white muscle fibers. Because slow twitch fibers prefer to oxidize fatty acids they are also referred to as oxidative fibers, whereas fast twitch fibers that utilize glucose are referred to as glycolytic fibers. Slow twitch fibers are capable of continuous extended contractions and therefore, do not fatigue quickly. Fast twitch fibers are used for short rapid bursts of energy and as such fatigue more quickly than slow twitch fibers.

 Now let’s see how muscle actually works. Generating power is called muscle contraction and it is not just a muscle shortening as it generates force. There are many different ways that a muscle can generate force.

1.    Concentric Contractions—Muscle Actively Shortening. When a muscle is activated and required to lift a load which is less than the maximum tetanic tension it can generate, the muscle begins to shorten. Contractions that permit the muscle to shorten are referred to as concentric contractions. An example of a concentric contraction in the raising of a weight during a bicep curl.

2.    Eccentric Contractions—Muscle Actively Lengthening. During normal activity, muscles are often active while they are lengthening. Classic examples of this are walking, when the quadriceps (knee extensors) are active just after heel strike while the knee flexes, or setting an object down gently

3.    Isometric Contraction—Muscle Actively Held at a Fixed Length. A third type of muscle contraction, isometric contraction, is one in which the muscle is activated, but instead of being allowed to lengthen or shorten, it is held at a constant length. An example of an isometric contraction would be carrying an object in front of you. The weight of the object would be pulling downward, but your hands and arms would be opposing the motion with equal force going upwards. Since your arms are neither raising or lowering, your biceps will be isometrically contracting.

4.    Passive Stretch—Muscle Passively Lengthening. There is a fourth type of muscle "contraction" known as passive stretch. As the name implies, the muscle is being lengthened while in a passive state (i.e. not being stimulated to contract). An example of this would be the pull one feels in their hamstrings while touching their toes.

To fully understand the mechanics of the movement we also have to understand the purpose of the skeletal system which is the framework of the body, consisting of bones and other connective tissues, which protects and supports the body tissues and internal organs. The skeleton can be divided into two components, the axial skeleton and the appendicular skeleton. The axial skeleton is formed around the central axis of the body and thus includes the skull, spine, and ribcage. It protects the brain, spinal cord, heart, lungs, esophagus and major sense organs like the eyes, ears, nose and tongue. The appendicular skeleton is related to the limbs and consists of the bones of the arms and legs, as well as the shoulder and hip girdles. Bones serve a variety of functions, primary among them being movement. Two bones or cartilages are held together at a joint through tough connective tissues called ligaments. Muscles are securely attached to bones through flexible but inelastic connective tissue called tendons. Muscles, joints, tendons and ligaments are part of the intricate machinery that allows the movement of different bones.

Human movement is achieved by a complex and highly coordinated mechanical interaction between bones, muscles, ligaments and joints within the musculoskeletal system under the control of the nervous system. Muscles generate tensile forces and apply moments at joints with short lever arms in order to provide static and dynamic stability of the body under gravitational and other loads while regularly performing precise limb control.

This is basic frame of every human movement.  How to define “internal” and “external” movement? Basic biomechanical processes for both, ”external “ and “internal” movements are the same so how to separate them? The difference is in level of biomechanical efficiency for same type of work. ‘External” can be defined as a usage of local group of muscles to generate , receive and transform force , it is a movement  without competence or in a segmented way, that will leave certain areas of the body uninvolved in the movement.

On the other hand  “internal” can be defined as an abilities to move every part of the body in harmony. Using a specific skeletal alignment with a proper sequence of muscle contraction , “internal” power have significantly higher level of movement efficiency whit significantly lower energy consumption.  There are many different ways in which the body is used in this regard but all these methods share certain common traits explained above.

As we can see, difference between “internal” and “external” is not in the nature of the movement and certainly it has nothing to do with esoteric or mythical powers and energies, but it is a difference in quality of utilized movement or more precise in the level of energy consumption vs. desired output,