Me and a friend were mucking around with sparring. My friend is strong and he wanted to know if he still could do certain moves he learnt when he was young. What I noticed was he was still effective but he got tired very fast. He was huffing and puffing in less than a minute. He was using so much energy and strength and it requires above optimal performance.

I decided to do a simple move and at that moment he was in an awkward position. I used zero strength. I wasn’t tired and we were just playing so nothing bad happened. I told him he still had the strength and was still good but that he should rely more on his whole body and less on strength.

The difference between hard martial arts and internal styles is the hard martial artist needs engagement and strength and above optimal performance. With internal styles the goal is zero engagement and optimal performance, not above or below but optimal. You could call it, ‘your natural state’.

I suppose the moves I learn are finishing moves rather than for tarrying or engagement. I don’t want to fight and if someone attacks me I just want to redirect their energy. My friend was saying they also learnt some finishing moves but he couldn’t remember them. For me the last thing I want to do is spar or fight anyone. I prefer not to be there.

It was a bit of fun though and it got me thinking about the difference in philosophy between hard and internal styles. If me and my mate were in a real fight it would never be easy but I still think less is more, in and out as fast as possible. Also my mate triggered an old injury and was in intense pain early on in the piece so in real conditions he would have been screwed.