The Internal Athletics by Tommy Kirchhoff (galley copy)

The Internal Athletics

by Tommy Kirchhoff PREFACE The human race has some amazing athletes: we cansprint 100 meters in nine seconds; we can run 100miles non-stop; we can bench press 1000 pounds;and we can become so flexible that we get jobs inthe circus. But just about any 120 pound mountainlion can outperform the best human athlete in amyriad of physical feats. As a race, we are physicallyinferior to most of the animal kingdom. The purpose of this book lies in the interest of optimum physicality and its application to athletics. Itis my belief that the systems of training which offerthe greatest benefits to athletes, the internalathletics, go unrecognized and remain covert. Ibelieve this is due to the fact that the internalathletics have foundations in so-called "mysticism,"and are therefore snubbed by the authority of western science and trainers alike. The information I offer here is not that of just purebook research. While I attempt to convey thisinformation with some humility, I believe I amuniquely qualified to discuss these matters.My father was a champion sprinter/athlete in highschool; he began teaching me about athletics when Iwas very young. My father became anM.D.(anesthesiologist), and explained physicality andmedicine to me in specific western science terms. I

was a high school and a collegiate athlete whotrained very intensely. In different periods, I ran longdistance, trained 3-4 hours a day for triathlons, andfollowed a body building regimen for many years. Istudied kinesiology at the university level, and havecontinued my research and physical training sincethat time. I have been ski racing and studying thetechnique since I was nine years old. I have workedwith many great ski racers and coaches, and learneda great deal about the sport. I began intensivelylearning and training in Fu Style Wudang Boxing fromthe world-famous Grandmaster Victor ShengLong Fuin 2003.In this text, there are some underpinnings whichcome from classic Chinese texts or articles byinternal arts masters; but my knowledge of internaltraining systems will be fairly specific to what I'velearned from Grandmaster Victor ShengLong Fu. To you, dear reader, I offer my combined knowledgeand experience in order to pull back the grandcurtain on something as mysterious as it is importantto modern athletics. I hope to enlighten you withsuperb new information-- the likes of which youcannot simply find on the Internet or in the library.It is my hope that this information piques yourinterest so that you may take the first actual,physical step into internal athletic training, whether itis to improve your athleticism or simply improve yourhealth.INTRODUCTION

Before I offer any information on internal athletics ortheir application in skiing, I'm compelled first tobroach the subject of Chinese culture, specifically Taoism (pronounced "dow-ism"). Suffice it to say thatthis culture, these people, their language, theirlifestyle--most everything in and around the word"Chinese" is radically different than the way weunderstand things in the West.Not only are there multitudes of words and conceptsin Chinese that have no literal translation; but"Chinese" is comprised of two different languages(Mandarin and Cantonese) and two acceptedstandards for translating them to English (Wade-Jilesand PinYin). If you do any research on Chineseculture (even to support what we will explain in thistext), you will find the same name or concept spelledfive different ways, and each explanation can be asdifferent as red is to blue. Most words in Chinesehave four different meanings, depending on the toneof the speaker (like singing notes). Most phrasesmean two or three or four things at the same timebecause they are morphed from old, old Chineseproverbs. These points do not make Chinese weird. They simply illustrate how different things can be.Regarding Taoism: In most simple terms, Taoism is anold-school system of thought primarily regarding theharmonious nature of the universe, and man's placein it; this system is both logical and analogical(mystical) as it emphasizes

life energy

at the basiclevel of everything (this is also referred to as intrinsicenergy, internal energy, chi and Qi). Through thisapproach, and with 7000 years to invent ideas andtest theories (westerners dubiously call this