Prevalent opinion among majority of “internal” martial
arts followers is that no strength training is needed and they will get
necessary power form “internal” sources which they “cultivate” through
different kind of exercises which do not involve any hard work. Many of the
teachers of these arts hold a position that strength training of any kind will
actually damage “Internal” training and slow down if not completely stop
students’ advancement in internal skills development. More than just have such
claims, there are actually a whole bunch of pseudoscientific explanations why strength
training damage and is opposed to “internal’ training.
How
and why people started to believe in these claims is a matter of long social,
historical, economical and psychological study and far beyond the format of one
blog article. The main point is that reality of fighting and historical sources
as well as a large number of teachers who still preserve traditional way of
training show completely different picture. In violent times of Qing dynasty
rule martial arts were in deed a tool of survival and no one cared about “internal
cultivation” of anything, the only thing people were considered about was
efficiency of their arts. In fact there was no such a thing as “internal” or “external”
martial arts at the time, that classification came to existence in the 1920’s. No
matter what style someone practiced basic requirements for successful fighting
were same as today-punching power, kicking power and overall body strength to
successfully execute grappling techniques must be at certain level, even more ,
because people at the time didn’t fight for sport but for survival.
Let’s
take a look at the most famous “internal” art today, Tai Chi. Common perception
of Tai Chi is that art is slow, effortless, doesn’t require any physical
strength. On the other hand Tai Chi teachers spread stories how heroes of the
past fought using this very art and defeated countless enemies and they manage
to do that by “cultivating” (I really hate that word used in martial arts
context) “internal” powers. Of course , all these stories are pure lies. Like
it was said before, ‘internal” development was not part of martial arts at the
time, Qigong was mixed with kung fu by the very end of Qing dynasty rule and
republican period. Also, Tai Chi teachers today fail to mention how those old
masters actually practiced their arts.
Chenjiagou
Village, in China’s Henan province, is the place where style today known as Tai
Chi was created. Many Chen family members made their living as bodyguards or merchant
caravans escort. In more recent times Chen villagers protected the region from
roving gangs of bandits, several major battles between Chen villagers and
bandits are well documented .
Practice
in Chenjiagou allows to cut through many misunderstandings about Tai Chi and to
see firsthand acquiring skills process. In essence Tai Chi is a close range
throwing and grappling system. While highest level of proficiency really do not
use too much physical power they are extremely hard to achieve and only few
lucky ones with enough of time can come that level. But achieving that level is
impossible without passing all lower levels of proficiency and they all include
strength. It is impossible to build real combat reflexes that respond to real
attacks without using any kind of power. At the beginning it will be strength against
strength technique execution, which is completely normal and this, as any other
step cannot be skipped. Next level can roughly be explained as strength plus
technique in execution that will ensure the victory. Over time, as reflexes
become better and experience grow the amount of strength used in technique execution
will decrease, but will never stop completely, not in the realistic condition
of fighting (whether it is a competition match or self defense situation). In the past strength training of Tai Chi was
much more rigorous than today but it is still pretty demanding.
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| Tai Chi stone lifting exercise |
As
in many other styles, lifting heavy stones is done as a means to training the
waist and lower body. There is still 80 kg stone used by Yang Lu Chan when he was learning Tai Vhi in Chen village . Tai Chi Ball training is used to strengthen the torso,
condition the muscles, and in- crease physical power. Stories are handed down
of past masters training with stone balls weighing 60kg. Students in the
Chenjiagou today use a basketball filled with sand to train the system’s unique
rotational movement.
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| Tai Chi stone ball |
Weapons
training is another means of developing strength in the Chen Tai Chi curriculum. Today’s practitioners use weapons ranging from a few kilograms to
more than twenty kilos.
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| Training with heavy pole weapon characteristic for almost all kung fu styles , Tai Chi , Ba Gua and Xing Yi included |
Xing Yi, one of the” major three” representative of
internal arts uses a lot of strength training. For beginning Xing Yi
practitioners are doing lots of pushups, ab exercises, variations of squatting
exercises, partner resistance work, isometrics and bag work,. If we look at
many of the traditional Xing Yi neigong sets (, we will find many exercises
that serve the function of strengthening the body, in addition to training
other specific aspects of that particular art. Weights of different size and
shape are used in this arts for various training purposes
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| Wight training in Xing Yi |
Ba Gua training in Taiwan and China has a lot of conditioning and strength training. In addition to lots of pushups , sit ups and squats Ba Gua has some specific exercises and training tools for developing power. A 3m-long resistance cord is used, with the two ends fixed to something solid. The practitioner should try to move slowly with the cord resisting the arms, legs or waist. One can practice this on the spot or with moving steps. Spring cord is similar to the above exercise, with the cord attached to springs rather than a solid wall. Heavy iron ball is also used in training for developing certain physical attributes in this style
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| Using iron balls in Ba Gua training |
Baji quan uses a vast array of different exercises for conditioning
with emphasis on legs and core muscles. There are a lot of two man resistance
drills, as well as a lot of general physical fitness exercises and weight
training. Using heavy versions of traditional weapons and heavy poles is also
used.
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| Bjiquan , training shoulder strike on a tree |
As we can see, traditional practicing approach in “internal”
styles include lots of pure “external” physical conditioning and strength training
which is necessary if given art is to be used in competition or real life confrontation.
