What are internal kung fu styles like?

I heard internal kung fu styles helps the practitioner develope or increase vital energy. And that they can develope great striking power through internal energy, not thru the muscles power. It is said a great fitness is not very necessary in internal styles in order to be able to strike with power.|||It sounds like you are talking about Qi Gong (sounds like Chi Gong.) It means, essential life force-practice or training.





Some Qi Gong training is included in every martial art that I have ever heard of. In my opinion Kung Fu actually has more exercises that resemble Qi Gong than any other. I mention Kung Fu because there are just so few Qi Gong masters living outside of China.|||Internal systems are not magical or mystical, you are taught to use your whole body in each blow, There is no wasted movement, and each movement has more than one function. External styles movements are akin to %26quot;words%26quot; that you can string together any way you want, Internal systems movements are akin to %26quot;letters%26quot;, that can be strung together for a much greater variety of offense and defensive possibilities, Internal systems take much longer to learn, but the payoff is that you will use MUCH less energy and have MANY more options when it comes to applications of the movements. Also you can still be very effective in it%26#039;s use even when you are in your 60%26#039;s,70%26#039;s and 80%26#039;s. Since your whole body is used, you can strike with greater power and (at the same time) subtlety. An observer may (after seeing an opponent fly across the room) not think that you have done anything or that there is some kind of trick.|||Just meditate regularly and you%26#039;ll develop all the inner power you%26#039;ll ever need! And a powerful strike comes from the ground, start with your feet and move up... Think about it!


(live strong!)|||It takes much more time and effort to develop your %26quot;energy%26quot;, than to develop a muscle power. Usually physical fitness is the first step, and energy training is an advanced stage of the training. After you develop your energy, you can pretty much forget about muscle power, you won%26#039;t need it anymore. But it%26#039;s hard to develop your energy without being physically fit first.|||Internal Kung Fu style such as Tai Chi, Bagua, and Hsing Yi do help you develop striking power. A common misconception is that, since the power is not muscular, it must be some internal mystical vital energy. This is not true.





The main difference of Internal Martial arts is that it trains your tendons and bone alignment. This is mostly a physical training. Think of it as going to the gym and instead of training your muscles, you are building up your tendons and bone connectivity.





A well trained Tai Chi body will be able to align all blows to the ground. So, in a sense, whenever someone tries to hit you, it feels like they are pushing the ground. When you hit someone, all the power of the ground is suported in the blow.





As you say, great fitness is not required. However, these arts take quite a long time to develop (~10 years). If you want to learn self-defense quicker, I would recommend an %26quot;external%26quot; style.