This discussion seems to have waned, but I wanted to add that when you train on the wooden dummy, it's awfully easy to bruise your pinky finger. My poor pinky.
Oh yeah, I'm a forgetful person but I did mean to get back here.
Jam it? That is tragic. The only thing worse is a pinky toe, only bone I ever broke, somehow.
I had a teacher that would punch concrete to damage his bones so they'd recalcify even stronger.
I noticed a much lesser degree of this when I first started boxing. Specifically the heavy punching bag. For the first 3 weeks or so, I was always tweaking my wrists. Even after my coach said I was FINALLY punching correctly. But after a while, the pain completely stopped. I eventually took off the gloves, then the knuckle wraps, so just bare knuckle on a heavy punching bag. Punching with my entire body and energy. Zero tweaks of my wrist, zero pain. I'd just adjusted. That was about 4 years ago and I haven't tweaked my wrist sense. Well maybe once or twice.
I will say, if it's been awhile, the skin comes off my knuckles but quickly heals and scar tissue builds up, and I can bare knuckle 5 days a week with no abrasions/bleeding.
I've definitely jammed a finger while rolling (jiu jitsu sparring) here or there, ha. Actual competition is much less predictable obviously.
Internal martial arts focus more on spiritual, mental and qi aspects of the person's training. External arts such as karate or jujitsu supposedly focus more on the physiological aspects. However, all external arts incorporate some internal aspects and some internal arts incorporate some external aspects; so no style is purely one way or the other.
In Bagauzhang, we spend a lot of time developing and manipulating our body's bioelectrical energy. We actually practice such things as raising/lowering our body temperature with concentration or slowing/increasing our heart rates, etc. We also spend time studying pressure points, acupressure, etc.
I train in iron palm and vibrational palm. With a vibrational strike, I can strike a coconut on Monday and on Wednesday a crack will develop. It's a delayed reaction. Iron palm, of course, that's used for an immediate result, like a broken bone, etc. Bagua also incorporates a lot of training with knives and [called Wudang sword] swords. We use something called deer hook swords, and a ringed dagger. We do a lot of stick fighting [makes me feel like Gambit!] In Bagau, no movements are wasted. Every block is also a strike and even a retreat is a strike. We incorporate various animal styles as well.
Yeah, there's a lot to be said for the Internal Arts (I know what that means now!). I'm guessing since it's somewhat choreographed (similar to doing punching bag or focus mitt combinations) it's more of a dance where your entire body must be engaged for maximum effectiveness. I've done some Kali or Eskrima stick fighting, and it's like a Yoga vinyasa flow or tai chi. Very relaxing, but with potential for very real defense applications.
That's wild about the coconut, ha. I'll have to look into the science there.
Have you ever seen the Ip Man movies? The last one called the Grand Master does a good job showing some real Bagua. But of course, there are several lineages of Baguazhang.
I did see Ip Man! at least the 2008 one. Very cool. Kind of looks like Jeet Kun Do, but I don't have a discerning eye for those styles (I've done a little JKD, and it involved a lot of close quarter combat and blocking while striking, like you mentioned).
Do you have any good youtube videos of some classic Baguazhang techniques?
I hope I didn't talk to much in answering that question, you know, just rambling.
Ramble on sister.
You are right. It is hard. One of the foundational principles of Bagau is that if you cease to move, you cease to exist. Bagau is rooted in the principle of constant motion, constant change. I think that's why I like it. It is a constant challenge. Even more challenging is finding a good teacher.
I'll keep bringing up boxing, because I think it's similar and what I think relates and what I know the most about.
Same principles, constant movement. The feet shuffling, head bobbing, moving with your knees bent, almost doing constant little squats so you are prepared to rocket launch off your lower body to deliver a devastating punch. it was very hard to learn to punch with my entire body. But when you do, it's incredibly powerful, and the more relaxed you are, the more powerful it is. Strange paradox.
I never got really good at sparring, but at times, I'd be in a temporary fluid flow with a partner and I would land a really strong punch without even thinking or trying to, but you could just feel the punch land squarely, perfectly. Perhaps a little too hard for medium sparring, but the conditioned body just reacts. I've stopped and said, "Oh shit, sorry, you good?" And carry on. I've probably had my dome ROCKED more than I've given though, haha.
There is some good info out there, but let me say that a lot of what is on youtube is amateur. Eli Montague [focuses more on Tai Chi but he IS a Bagau master] and Chris Matsuo of Dragon Gate Sanctuary are both really good. The Black Taoist is also good. These are some online guys that I am into and communicate with. Well, I don't communicate with Matsuo, but my teacher was a friend of Erle Montague's, so I've talked to Eli a bit here and there.
Send me some links.
Okay, I hope that is a good starting place. When you talk martial arts, you speak my language. haha. I love what I do.
I need to get back into it. Internal or External, I don't really care. Once I started martial arts, there was no going back, so if I'm not practicing, I don't get the same spiritual/physical/mental confidence day to day.
It's always inside me, but it needs watering.
MMA is very scrappy, often sloppy looking fighting system. But that's because that's how REAL fights are, if you've ever seen them. It's not choreographed, it doesn't look as pretty as Ip Man, that's just not how real fights happen. There are definitely moments in a cage fight, or boxing match that are very graceful exchanges of extreme violence, as strange as that sounds. I've seen it on tv, and about 2 feet from actual fighters at local events (I was a photographer). Like 20-30 second bursts of something that DID look choreagraphed, but nope, it was just two fighters connecting and making violent art.
Ok, this post may have been a bit rough to read, ha, I'm about to pass out.