I've read a couple of blog posts recently that made me think about martial arts technique.  Check out this post on koshi - it is about old Okinawan methods of generating power.  It starts out pretty straightforwardly, but by the end, the "advanced techniques," it makes relatively little sense to me.  Just what is meant by "internalized movement?"  What the hell is moving internally?  Your liver?  You're generating power with your appendix, your spleen, what?  I find it relatively easy to ridicule these notions.

Try out this post.  It uses language that is even more nonsensical to me, although it's all coming from a Chinese, rather than an Okinawan, source.  Same nonsensical stuff though - joints moving on their own, with no muscle action?  Opening and closing joints, stuff happening that wouldn't make sense to anybody even remotely familiar with an anatomy book.

When you approach writing like this there is among many of us an urge to dismiss it immediately and often with disdain.  I respect that urge, I really do, and I tend to participate in it.  But it might be useful to keep a few things in mind.

The first is that these people clearly do not know how to explain well what they are doing.  The tendon twisting post in particular makes no sense.  BUT the fact that they cannot explain what they are doing coherently does not mean that they are doing something wrong or that it is ineffective.  It is possible that their words just do not convey the reality of their techniques very well.

For an example of this, take acupuncture.  The qi channels that those needles supposedly open or whatever don't exist, but the fact remains that if you stick the needles in the right spots you can do wonders for people, especially in pain management.  Many doctors and Western trained people dismiss acupuncture because it's "backstory" makes no sense.  The fact is, however, that it works, at least for some things.

I cannot rule out the fact that either Mr. Gooden or Mr. Phillips or both have incredible skills in body mechanics and are tremendous martial artists based on the fact that what they say they are doing (opening and closing joints, twisting tendons, utilizing internal torque) is nonsensical.  I can rule out the fact that they are scientific thinkers, but that doesn't make them bad people or bad martial artists.  It is entirely possible that both these gentlemen can hit harder than me, fight better, and move more quickly. 

The second thing to keep in mind is that you have to maintain skepticism in the face of these kind of descriptions of body mechanics, especially because they make no sense.  Just as there are people who would immediately dismiss these guys as idiots, there are others who would gasp and pant and proclaim how cool they are and go find a tai chi class to attend immediately.  That's equally stupid.

I have a secret weapon here.  A person I trust completely happens to tell me that the theories Mr. Gooden is relating, at least, are potentially very effective.  So I'm convinced - but I don't expect you to be convinced by this story - I mean, come on, "a guy I know believes it..."

The only way we should take these guys at their word is if representatives from either camp came out and participated in some kind of objective testing.  I'd love to see someone Mr. Phillips endorses as a skilled instructor come out and hit one of those pressure sensing makiwara contraptions.  Let's see how hard he can really hit without involving his muscles and so forth.  Let's see Mr. Gooden break something, or hit a heavy bag, using internal torque alone.  

If you can get a 150 lb. tai chi instructor to hit harder than a 150 lb. kyokushinkai sensei then I'll believe there's something to it.  Until then, I have to regard any technique that can't be explained with real anatomical concepts, the way someone like Pavel Tsatsouline can explain things, with the utmost suspicion.

An open mind is a good thing, but if it's too open, all kinds of crap can get into it.

For now I'm just going to have to stick to techniques that I can understand.