Tai Chi,good self-defense art or not?

[Yaberdaber]

Are you talking about me? Because if you are, you are surely mistaken. But not spelling correctly makes you sound significantly less intelligent in a debate.

I'm not an asshole at all, but if you insist on calling me one I will be.

Hehe, this is funny!!

[chris davis 200]

Jeez guys! the time has to come sooner or later when you wont care what other people think of this art or that art.

Man o man this thread relates to whether tai chi is a good self defence art.

People with no experience of tai chi as a martial art - but with experience of other 'more mainstream' systems have posted saying that it isnt. I have to ask - how do you know? cause you saw some old women in the park doing a form? I would say that this yogic, standardised form work is not what we are talking about here.

Then you have people that have studied the system for health or in a mcdojo - who rest on the opinions and stories of their teachers without actually experiencing the art.

Then you have people that have actually trained in the system traditionally - with lots of sweat, bruises, knock outs and hard hard training! these are people that know.

The other two groups are not qualified to judge the merit of the system.

regards
Chris

[Michael Maison]

Nope

Are you talking about me? Because if you are, you are surely mistaken. But not spelling correctly makes you sound significantly less intelligent in a debate.

I'm not an asshole at all, but if you insist on calling me one I will be.

No, I"m not talking about you at all. I was referring to some fairy on here who can't make any other kind of comment besides dull, critical, sarcasm. I keep waiting for him to get off of his period so he can quit being a crybaby and say something intelligent.

[jubaji]

No, I"m not talking about you at all. I was referring to some fairy on here who can't make any other kind of comment besides dull, critical, sarcasm. I keep waiting for him to get off of his period so he can quit being a crybaby and say something intelligent.

Don't be too hard on yourself, duke.

[Shaolinkfman]

I like cheese.

[HuSanYan]

I like cheese.

shaolinkfman, please stay on topic
thank you

[Shaolinkfman]

Lol, I felt like being random sorry. To be on topic, I think Tai Chi doesn't get the respect it deserves. I personally don't do it but one of my close friends wakes up every morning and does it. So, not only is Tai Chi better than coffee, he has some of the best balance I have seen from any martial artist in my area, therefore Tai Chi must at least have some use to it.

[Ironpalm]

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[jubaji]

REAL Taiji actually includes hand conditioning (iron palm, Burning palm, etc) . It also is based upon the theories and principles of combat and is actually dim mak at its highest levels. That being said it takes a minimum of 25 years to really understand and be able to defend yourself soley with internal boxing skills. While not the fastest way to learn self defence if you get the real deal it is without a doubt the deadliest form of martial art known (or mostly forgotten anyway) .

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"without a doubt"?

[Ironpalm]

Taiji could be really good, but the learning process is a long time (think of 10+ years). I think you should also check your body frame. If you are more built into physical prowness and not flexibility, you'd be better off learning the "hard" methods. It is true that "soft" can defeat "hard". However, if you are "hard" enough, you can defeat the "soft".

If you still meet any "soft" methods' practicioners who insist that they can beat any "hard", tell them to fight a BEAR . See how hard can beat soft .

Oh I see, I forgot--you external guys beat up bears and I suppose the bjj guys submit them, eh? As a humble tai chi guy might I suggest a gun? Oh, I forgot, you guys have that reverse punch!

[Ironpalm]

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"without a doubt"?

Without any doubt whatsoever....

[jubaji]

baichi

Without any doubt whatsoever....

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Idiot.

[Ironpalm]

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[chris davis 200]

That being said it takes a minimum of 25 years to really understand and be able to defend yourself solely with internal boxing skills.

I am sorry but I completely disagree with this statement. This is the most common and most wholey misinterpreted and incorrect statement spouted by both external stylists and internal guys.

What we have to take into account here is that most of the famous masters of the internal arts in history trained for far less than 25 years!!

As example. Cheng Ting hua - founder of Cheng Style Ba Gua is reported to have trained for as little as 3-5 years before mastering the style.

The Ba gua taught to the imperial palace bodyguards was taught for a period of 3 MONTHS they then had around 6 months in guarding duties to perfect their combat skills, Then they went into body guarding duties where they would be forced into Physical confrontation with multiple attackers on a DAILY basis - such was the environment in china at the time.

Yin Fu - the famous ba gua master studied for 20 years and was such a complete and powerful boxer that he was the SOLE BODYGUARD of the empress dowager. this was a highly unorthodox and unusual situation but other guards would have just got in hios way so they were not required!

Yang Chen Fu reputedly studied for only 10 years before besting every challenger!

I am an internal Stylist and it has been made clear to me by some of the top masters that good internal boxing skill can be obtained in under a year. Very very high level stuff may take longer, But i can say without any doubt that people can defend themselves with a years worth of authentic internal arts training.

The problem here is not how long it takes to get competent, it is can you find a teacher that is CAPABLE of making you competent. This is the major and almost insurmountable stumbling block. I would say that even of the guys that claim to be masters (in china also), only maybe 10% really have the ability to teach internal arts as they were originally designed and taught.

This handful of guys includes, He Jin Han, Serge Augier, Su Dong Chen, Luo De-Xiu, Chen Yun San etc etc.

Some are famous fighters and experts (su dong chen and Luo De Xiu) but most are not, they are private people with small followings but huge skill.

If your teacher has said to you that it takes 25 years for you to be able to use Internal Arts he doesn’t know how to teach them - or as is commonly the case - does not want to give out his knowledge.

Regards
Chris

[jubaji]

Since I'm the idiot tell me, what do I need to study? You seem to have much to teach. Let me guess, I should trade in for bjj or mma or better yet, boxing.

How could I advise you, since you already know what "without a doubt the deadliest form of martial art known" is. If you're gonna spew stupid shit like that you'd better expect some comments grasshopper.