Quality v.s. Quantity

internal power is not necessarily about developing greater power, or more power than you currently have via expansion technique.

thinking that way will prevent you from understanding the passive nature of effortless power.

it's about generating a different kind of force, that has many benefits when properly employed.

if you can get the ramifications of freebalance, it will help you to get a clearer view of what is being said here.

when you do this technique right, it certainly doesn't feel like power. and that's because your not using 'power'(read expansion), your being compressed, or yielding and leading his intention, and moving in concert with him. so there is no opposition, hence 'no force'.

there is an liu seong keyword which is the 'real/unreal'. this can be applied to the concept of force. 'real' power is a direct manipulation of the opponent by grabbing, hitting, what have you. a sweep is 'real'. 'unreal' power is manipulating the opponent by working with his extrapolations. the lowest level of this is faking, and the highest is leading. if I can lead someone and get them to step a certain way or extend their arm to me, this qualifies as 'force' because it achieves an effect. however, this is in no way 'power'

the other issue is compression. this is also not 'power'. it is making an alignment between the target and the ground and having that alignment compressed. and you do this by being relaxed and freebalanced.

I can hit and kick pretty hard for my size because of a lifetime of practicing, which has resulted in a fair level of coordination and a certain amount of muscle density or control or whatever it is that regulates such things. using basic internal mechanics is the bulk of the 'coordination' issue, btw. everything taken into account, I can usually seem to generate more 'force' when I expand then when I 'compress'. ive been playing around with some weighted contraptions to test the relative methods and develop my internal power technique.

now even though I can rock and move these dummies with expansion power, there are drawbacks. one is the balance. the harder I shoot in, the more I need to control my balance so I don't overshoot. there comes a point where it becomes a conflict of interest. and if someone latched onto me at the right time, it would be fairly easy to take me off my base. the freebalance provided by internal power tends to negate that flaw.

then there is the blowback. if you hit hard, you have to be set to absorb the recoil for that force. and if you have a good base, it usually goes backfires right into my shoulders and head. this is not usually such a big deal, its happens all the time and we are pretty much used to hit. but if you get into some really heaving hitting for an extended period of time over a span of time, you start to get headaches and chronic shoulder tension. this happens because your body reacts to this training by locking the upper dimension to compensate. this also leads to a momentary 'black out' at the moment of impact, as your system 'hoods' itself to brace for impact. this happens both when you hit, and when you are about to be hit. this is PRECISELY WHY UKES GO ZOMBIE. notice this flash of catatonia for yourself. don't believe me.*

blowback is no big deal in technique mostly, but if you are freestyling, getting jammed is a thing. in close range, the blowback factor is more significant. if your close to the opponents core and try to expand, you can easily get thrown off balance, or have no power, or both.

my dummies are heavy enough that if I get close, and try to push them, I just get ejected. the only way it works at close range is for me to sink into my base by relaxing in a sort of hybrid action. and even then the strain on my torso and knees is noticeable. otoh, close range compression actually works, and the effort is minor in comparison, while no body strain, or loss of balance. at some angles and ranges, the only method that works to move the weights is compression. expansion is useless as just cant get room to expand. and what is required to move the weight from those positions with expansion is an adjustment of posture that would near useless in practice. nobody would stand there and let me do all that.

hand conditioning is another problem that has a long history of whackjob recommendations. ive done some real dumbass things in the past in the name of conditioning, punching all sorts of things and damaging my hands in the process. ive seen idiots who do things like punch cannonballs. conditioned hands are no joke, but its not just because they are denser than normal, it's also because people who train like this are inured to pain in their hands, at the least. so they pull their punches less than 'normal' people. problem with conditioning is the you are setting yourself up for arthritis and such later in life. moral: it aint worth it.

so if not conditioning, then what?

first off, hitting a person is not like hitting bricks, trees, dumpsters or cannonballs. the intrinsic strength of the body is not as compression resistant as those materials. yes hitting hard things makes microfractures in the bones of the hand, which then improves bone density (SAID, osteoclasts). what's funny is the actual Chinese training for this is very soft, and consists of simply dropping the hand onto a sandbag sitting on a table. the process is very gradual and easygoing.

and when you hit someone, you go for the soft bits, not the bones. that is rule one of hitting. stay away from the head with the knuckles, for the most part. nobody punches anyones knees, or elbows, or other strong bony protrusions. this means hitting is about accuracy, not karate super knuckles.

the first tip about good hitting is wrist alignment. that solves all the concerns about density and strength in the hand. ive seen some guys with ham hands and wrists as thick as my ankles, and that intrinsic strength cannot be denied, but usually that is a genetic feature, or the result of long term physical labor. again, not conditioning.

barring that, the average joe should concentrate on wrist alignment for power transmission. that is really what knuckle pushups are all about.

so, when it comes to that, it really all is in the wrist. and don't punch bones.

what really changes the game is compression. because you are REACHING OUT TO COMPRESS and not PUNCHING, then the arm is super loose, the wrist is aligned, contact is made with the two big knuckles(royal fist), and therefore there is no rigidity in the strike. it just bounces off. your fist doesn't need to be 'hard', it just needs to be lined up well.

ive been hitting a sandbag, compressively, for days, and there is no sign of 'conditioning'. had I been using expansion striking, my hands would be worn, red, scratched, etc. there is also no pain in my hand from blowback, which comes on as a dull ache which can last for a few days.

my original point with all this was:

change your concept of power. effortless power works in a completely different way. it wont feel the same, so that can be disconcerting at first. realize that you don't necessarily need as much power as you think you do in many cases. it has everything to do with the approach.

the effect of compressive power is different than expansion. most aspects of it are superior, especially in the tactical context. it is capable of generating tremendous power, but usually it doesn't take all that much because of how it is applied, and the very nature of its production. anybody who has seen Ralston propel his ukes across the dojo can see that it is quite powerful, just not in the normal sense. it actually looks pretty fake, or staged. except it's not.

with effortless power, you get much more balance, speed, adaptability, and yes, power.

just different.










* stack that up with saccade blindness, reaction gap timing, and conceptual dominance and you've got some serous issues