ImageHave you ever attacked an opponent, and just as you made contact with him, you were knocked backward, as if hit by a force field? Have you ever tried to break through your opponent's arms, but he seemed to have a hidden strength that kept you away? Have you ever grabbed someone's arm or leg and despite being of equal size, his counter felt like it weighed a ton?

I sure have. When I used to wrestle in practice with Olympic Gold Medalist and Olympic coach Dan Gable at the University of Iowa, he would often put his arms on me, and although he was much lighter than I was, I couldn't budge his arms. Yet, if Gable and I compared our strength levels in weightlifting, I'm positive I would have outlifted him.

What do you think made Gable's arms feel so strong? I thought about this a lot. I asked different members of the team what they thought it was and their answers varied quite a bit. Some told me it was because of the position or angle of his arms. Others said it was because his body was relaxed. A few people told me it was because he had special tendon strength that gave him leverage. Another person told me it was because his mind was so strong.

The Mind Rules

Were any of these answers correct? They all were. But if you put all these answers together, they still wouldn't give us a complete picture-one that would describe how to do what Gable was doing to me.

Years ago, when I hooked up with tai chi master Ted Mancuso, I finally found someone who could (and would) explain what Gable was doing. During the first few months of my training with Mancuso, he told me, "At the highest levels of any martial art, whether it be kung-fu, karate or wrestling, what is going on inside the body, what is making this guy's moves work better than the next guy's is all the same."

What on earth was he talking about? And about the statement, "What is going on inside the body"-what does that mean?

You've no doubt already learned about what the Chinese call chi or vital energy. But there are some other terms you must understand if you are going to learn how to do what Gable was doing to me.

The first is yi. Translated into English, yi means "intent." Some find it difficult to relate to the word intent, so let's substitute "aim" for the word intent. When you aim at something with your mind (not with your body) you are using your yi. We can direct our yi at anything. We can direct it at our opponent's legs or we can direct it toward our own.

How about a little experiment? Take a look at your right hand. Rest it on your lap and close your eyes. Now, with your eyes closed, focus on your right hand. Imagine you can feel it bubbling and tingling with energy. Imagine you can increase the degree of tingling by turning a switch that goes from 1 to 7. Imagine that you can make this hand hotter. Imagine you can also make it heavy...very heavy. Now focus on your left hand. How does it feel compared to your right hand? It should feel quite a bit different.

What happened in this experiment? You aimed your mind, your yi, into your hand. When you did this, you felt vital energy or chi.

Does all this answer the question about Gable's hidden strength? It starts to, but it still falls short. Why? Because of the following phenomenon: I cannot feel another person's chi and he cannot feel mine.

Then, if it isn't another person's chi that we feel, what did I feel when Gable positioned his arms on me? What blocked me?

This brings us to the second concept-"jing."

What is jing? Essentially, it is a person's strength or spirit. In Chinese martial arts, there are many different types of jing, but the one we are most concerned about here is called nei jing, which means "internal strength." It is the strength that cannot be seen in  muscles; it comes from within. And unlike your chi, which you can feel but your opponent can't, jing is different. Your opponent can feel your jing in his body when you aim it at him (using your yi), but the person who is issuing this jing cannot feel it in his own body.

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Arm drag go-behind to reverse leg-blocking hip throw with choke. Matt Furey and Christian Winter square off (1). Winter steps forward with intent to push or strike Furey
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(2). Furey turns his waist to absorb the threat. He then lightly grabs Winter's wrist and hooks his other arm high on the triceps
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(3). Furey spins Winter around like a top
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(4), sinks his right arm around Winter's neck and locks his hands
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(5). Furey then steps his right leg behind Winter's
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(6) and prepares to throw him heels-over-head to the ground
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(7). Furey could also stay in the standing position and put Winter to sleep with a choke or sleeper variation.
   

Weight Strength vs. Fighting Strength

Now, here is a point about wrestling and all martial arts you must never forget. Someone might be strong in activities like weightlifting, but when he fights he doesn't feel strong. No doubt some of you have already experienced this.

Why? Because he doesn't know how to use his internal strength. He doesn't know how to use his mind in such a way that he is stronger than he is in a normal situation. A great deal of the strength average fighters exert in a match is external strength. This is not the case with those who are more highly skilled. Yes, we need to use our external strength, but we also need to know its limitations, especially when we discover how to use our internal strength and understand why it is a better weapon to use more often than we might have previously thought.

So, how do we learn to use more internal strength, more of the secret stuff Gable used on me? Let me tell you the following story and I think you'll begin to figure it out.

One day I was sitting in the wrestling office at the university watching a videotape of some freestyle matches filmed in Tblisi, Soviet Georgia, when it was still part of the former Soviet Union. Gable walked in when I was watching one of these matches. A Russian wrestler who was leading 8-0 was cautioned for passivity and put in the down position. The American wrapped his arms around the Soviet's chest and tried to gut wrench him. The Soviet wrestler flattened out, spread his arms wide and surprisingly, looked like he was almost sleeping. The American was straining with all his might while the Soviet appeared to be daydreaming.

As we watched the action, Gable laughed and said, "There's no way that Russian is going to get turned. Trying to turn him is like trying to turn the whole mat."

What was Gable telling me? He was describing the principles of chi, yi and jing-even though he didn't think in those terms. I'll tell you what I think Gable meant. The Soviet wasn't going to be turned, because he focused his mind and aimed his internal energy into the mat. This made him feel much heavier than he was. Then he relaxed into the mat, possibly imagining that his arms and legs extended to each corner. He probably made himself, in his imagination, as big as the wrestling mat on which he was competing. Now, to more deeply understand what I'm getting at, ask yourself this question: Could you wrap your arms around a 42-foot by 42-foot mat, then turn it over? I don't think so.

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Shin kick to palm strike to elbowlock. Winter goes for Furey's shirt to push and control him
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(1-2). Instead of struggling to get free, Furey simply kicks Winter in the shins with his hard shoes
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(3). Then Furey steps into Winter and delivers a brutal palm strike to the chin
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(4). This alone will most likely knock Winter out cold. Even so, making no assumptions, Furey secures an elbowlock
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(5) and prepares to dislocate Winter's arm
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7
   

Of Chi and Jing

Want another example of chi, yi and jing? Put your hand on your opponent's neck like you are going to quickly snap his head forward. Now, instead of using your whole hand, focus your mind on the tips of your fingers. Press them into his neck, then do the head snap. Then do a typical head snap, using your whole hand. Ask your partner to tell you which one he felt the most. Could you feel what your opponent felt when you did this? Of course not. But you saw the difference in how it worked.

Now, let's get back to Gable and this jing talk again. There are over 50 different types of jing in Chinese martial arts, so which one was he using on me? Gable was using the same jing the Soviet was using when the American wrestler couldn't turn him. He was using what the Chinese call "peng jing" or "ward-off energy."

How can we develop this peng jing or ward-off energy that Gable and Chinese martial arts masters use so effectively?

There are several ways, but one of the best ways is to hold different postures while concentrating on projecting energy in several directions. After you have practiced a number of stances, you can work on others; all will help build the peng jing you need to stop your opponent. All these postures build tremendous internal and external strength. The peng jing that you develop from doing these exercises is an essential jing you must have if you want to move to the highest levels in any martial art.

The longer you can hold your postures, the stronger your internal and external strength will become. Cultivating internal energy (chi) will help you use jing against your opponent.

Although most martial artists can train to hold postures and stances for at least three consecutive minutes, the elite Chinese kung-fu masters have been known to hold some postures for as long as 40 minutes straight. One of my wrestling teachers, Karl Gotch, once held a wrestler's bridge for 47 minutes. And just like the horse stance, while holding a bridge, you focus internally. You concentrate on your breathing, on relaxing into the posture and on developing internal strength.

Some of the benefits you will receive from holding various postures are:

* Internal power (jing) is developed.
* Strength in the external body (muscles) is increased.
* The body and the mind are trained to find the perfect state of physical and mental relaxation.
* Mental focus and mental toughness are increased.
* Proper posture and positioning are learned.
* Ward-off energy (peng jing) is increased.
* Internal organs are strengthened, especially the kidneys.

Never forget: your success in tai chi, kung-fu, wrestling or any other combat sport or martial art is "all kidneys." The strength of the kidneys controls the strength of the lower back, abdominals and legs.

The benefits listed above are valuable assets for any martial artist. Most importantly though, to develop internally, you must remember that everything begins in your imagination. By entertaining the idea of being relaxed, explosive and powerful without using external force, the secrets of the Universe will be revealed to you.
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Elbow to ribs to elbow locking throw. Once again Winter moves forward to attack Furey (1).
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He is greeted with an elbow to the rib cage (2)
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which makes him buckle. Furey then grabs Winter''s arm as if to do an arm throw (3)
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but instead of grabbing the typical way he turns Winter's arm, which locks his elbow (4)
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By leaning forward and popping his hips, Furey can destroy Winter's elbow (5).
 


Matt Furey is a contributing editor of Inside Kung-Fu. He writes a monthly training and conditioning column.