Fast and Furious

故身雖疾而心自暇*

Therefore the heart remains naturally leisurely even though the body is swift

故以神為主，形而從利。以形為主，神而從害**

Therefore when the spirit takes control, the body follows for its own good. When the body takes control, the spirit follows for its own harm

電挈昆吾晃太陽***

To wield with lightning speed, Kunwu swings the Great Yang

There is a urban legend about some Japanese soldiers during World War II able while charging to withstand the shots fired at them until they reached their opponents and killed them. Only then would they die. If the Boxers' Uprising taught us to be extremely cautious with tales of seemingly extraordinary feasts performed by Asian martial arts against modern weaponry, this legend remains interesting because it tells about an achievement sought while training fast and in frenzy, "getting out of one's body".
Such skill can be witnessed in animals, the chicken still running for a while after its head has been chopped off or the severed snake head still able to bite. For internal arts, the idea is to let one's mind/spirit take total control, the body forced to follow until exhaustion or death. Needless to say this type of training was and is only for teenagers in perfect health because of the extreme stress it puts on one's body. It was often trained last because one's breathing had to remain in check, which is a very hard skill to achieve. Furthermore, there are very different ways to achieve such state, one being the famous berserk mode of the abnormal practices. Therefore, it seems necessary to stress again on the particular method internal practices used to reach frenzy and its difference with other methods. It is also necessary to understand and what was sought through this practice, setting aside one's body.

Same Frenzy, Different Methods

It is very important to understand that lots of martial arts tend to search for similar qualities but use different methods to achieve their goals, each having their own benefits and disadvantages.

To reach frenzy, one has to push one's body to all of its limits, hence this type training was reserved for teenagers, adults can very easily hurt themselves and the recovery period, whether from this type of training or an injury, is much longer. There are different ways to reach such state, some more known than others. To make things simple, let's compare two opposite ones, using emotions and using their void. Nowadays, in the leisurely world, both methods are often mixed, using one or the other according to the situation, like trying to remain calm to avoid a confrontation but using, amongst others, anger if it comes to fighting. Therefore, most of the people training martial arts have nowadays notions about controlling one's heartbeat through breathing and letting loose all the emotions to become totally mad, hence letting the heart beat totally out of control. Such method seems quite logical, after all, how can one reach frenzy is he/she is to remain totally calm? Being calm but frenzied is another oxymoron.

For internal practices, getting frenzied is not a question of remaining or not calm but of vitality and its flow. Therefore, if emotions have actually an obvious impact on our strength, anger and excitement enhancing it while grief reduces it for example, it is the impact on one's vitality flow that creates such effect. Simply said, anger would speed up the flow while grief will reduce it. Of course, this is done through the organs, emotions having a direct effect on them (think about the pain in the stomach when having too strong ones). Emotions are just another way to mobilise the organs. In internal practices one uses the peeping thief technique to learn how to mobilise one's organs without using emotions and going as fast as possible to reach frenzy is just the next step of such training by just moving as quick as if one was about to be spotted and had to get behind the wall in an instant.

The benefit speed brings to fighting is obvious, but training as fast as possible goes way beyond just speed, it is, amongst other things, a way to learn how to set aside one's body

Frenzied, Setting Aside One's Body

Once again, strong emotions can also have the same effect, one totally forgetting his/her body and its limitations (though they still remain of course), the idea being pushing it to its very limits. Through emotions, it is a very consuming process, exhaustion coming right after the outburst. And even if remaining calm while frenzied is less consuming, the body maybe able to withstand the effort longer, exhaustion will also come as a result. Therefore comes again the main difference between training, where exhaustion will be the goal in order to push further and further one's limits, and fighting, where a lighter version of such frenzy shall be applied in order to be able to last as long as possible. 

Exhaustion trainings are/were common in martial arts, especially customised for infants and teenagers in order to influence their growth, making their body stronger and more enduring. They were not all about speed, this type of training being only one amongst them, some were done with weights or very low postures for example. Speed, bringing frenzy, was just a way to push them even further, the student not aware of his/her own body anymore, pushing himself/herself until he/she would end up having to crawl, the legs not able to support any effort anymore. Needless to say that such exercise is not for adults training leisurely and with no supervision, exhaustion taking a great toll on the body and the chances of hurting oneself very high.

Training at different speeds was a way to allow students to acquire different skills. Still all those skills, of course, were become one at the end when fighting and adapt themselves to the needs of endurance and swiftness. 

*Divine Motion Canons, Left (Upper) Second Paragraph, Talking about the Divine Motion Body 神運經右（上）第二章，言神運之體

**The Body is Life's Residence, Vapours are Life's Roots 形為命之舍，氣為命之根

***Old Sword Manual, 古劍譜. Kunwu, 昆吾, is the name of a fencer. 太陽 refers to at least 足太陽經, the Foot Great Yang Channels, whether fascias or vapours, but one can extend it to the 手太陽經, the hand ones. A lot could be said about this phrase, because 晃太陽 could also be translated as the dazzling sun, not to mention it has to be compared with "雙鋒貫耳擺太陽" the two sharp points pierce the ears, swaying the Great Yang, in a related text. A simple explanation, since the Foot Great Yang Channels are going from the foot to the head, is that a fencer should be able to sway his sword from the feet to the head in an instant.