WHAT THE NEIJIA ARE MISSING

 by Phillip Starr

Waijia (external school) stylists and devotees of other martial disciplines often muse at how neijia stylists are unable to effectively apply their arts combatively. And rightly so. Many of them cannot truly defend themselves against a real assault, even though they've practiced their arts for years. They may be able to demonstrate how a given posture is supposed to work, but their demonstrations and effective utilization (of their arts) are galaxies apart. Why?

I think one of the main reasons for this is because, unlike other martial disciplines, they generally don't train or practice the individual technique(s) (which comprise their postures) at all. A “posture” is made up of several smaller movements (some of which seem rather insignificant), which are actually techniques. For instance, the posture of “single whip” in taijiquan is shown in one photo below. But there are actually a small series of movements that are performed when transitioning into that posture. These movements are actually individual techniques. This is especially true of baguazhang where the movement(s) that are employed when performing a given posture are made up of numerous individual techniques (and subsequently, applications).

And they aren't practiced individually. Ever. The forms are practiced quite assiduously, but not the individual techniques. So it's like learning something like karate or taekwondo and only practicing the forms while neglecting to train the individual techniques that make up the form!

Secondly, they rarely (if ever) practice applying their techniques in forms of one-step fight. When they do, the attacking partner simply “lobs” his attack out there with very little (if any) force or intent in it. And the aggressor is very compliant in his role. Real skill simply cannot be developed this way. At all.

I have always started my students out with first learning the postures and the individual movements that comprise them, Once those can be done correctly, students begin each class with many vigorous repetitions of them. Then they begin to learn how to apply them in one-step routines, against a variety of attacks and from three basic beginning positions; formal, fighting preparation, and normal.

In the formal method, the attacker draws back in preparation for his assault. The receiver takes up a position to prepare for meeting the attack. In the fighting preparation position (which is practiced only after a good level of skill has been acquired with the previous training routine), both participants begin from a “fighting stance.” When an adequate level of skill with this method has been achieved, they move to the “normal” position, which is just that...one or both participants begin from a normal standing posture.

At the beginning of each of the aforementioned routines, the attack is not necessarily very strong and the aggressor is relatively compliant. When the receiver has developed a good level of skill with that, the attack is made faster and stronger. The final stage is reached when the attacker fires out a full-blooded attack with strong intent. Thus, the receiver learns to respond to a real attack (however, he must be careful to control his counter-blows so as to avoid injuring his partner).

Third, neijia sylists never really engage in any form of freestyle sparring or freestyle one-step (as discussed in my book, Martial Maneuvers). This is critical. They must learn to move freely (according to the style they study) and execute the techniques/postures in an unrehearsed, freestyle manner. Until they can do this skillfully, they cannot truly depend on their arts for real self-defense.