by Josh Young » Sat Jul 11, 2009 3:58 pm
I can tell to a degree if someone is a practicing martial artist by their build and what style they may practice. I can also tell about where their power comes from, to a decent degree.
Wing Chun people have a specific type of build, as do different styles of Taijiquan. Karate varies but can be indicated by build, much harder to pin that down though, the skilled ones have bodies like framers, indeed build and profession are related. And Boxers, they have a specific build in general,even though body type varies.
I can also tell if people are rock climbers, yoga practitioners, skilled dancers in the Indian/Hindu style etc. I can only do this for things I have been well exposed to, so i can't tell if someone is a swimmer, because I have not studied that enough.
Then there is the way they walk and move, this provides a large amount of information because very few martial arts groups place an emphasis upon hiding ones training by learning to approximate normal walking.
Dedicated martial artists have a specific build, but those who are hobby martial artists often have a build that relates more to their line of work than it does their training. So you have a lot of fat people who sit at desks, who have some training but do not take the time to dedicate themselves to it.
You can also tell if they use specific drugs, like steroids, because of the physical changes, like the increase in skull size beyond normal proportions that occur in people. You can see this in some major sports figures in many groups, baseball and MMA and weightlifting included. I can tell by skin tone if a person has had coffee recently too, mostly from first hand experience and testing the theory by asking people who had the look if they had any coffee that day, this does not hold true for caffeine though.
But there is more than just this, the words people use, they way they say them, these thing also provide a ton of information. Just like how I write says so much about me and the way I think and feel. So there is a lot of credibility to the idea that you can tell things about people by appearances, but it has nothing to do with clothing or hair.
You can tell if someone has achieved internal energy mastery by their demeanor too. There is a calmness to them and a willingness to stay silent in a way. They also have a certain looseness, similar to yoga people, but different too.
At least this is my opinion, I could very well be mistaken.