krunchyfrogg Posted February 20, 2004 Posted February 20, 2004 Hey. I hope I'm posting this in the correct forum, because the truth s I don't know much about Tai Chi. I do know that my fianceé's 80 year old aunt does it, so it must not be that intense a workout. However, on these boards, I've read that it is a form of a martial art. What can you tell me about Tai-Chi? How will taking Tai-Chi affect me, and my study of my regular martial arts classes? TIA "A life is not important, except in the impact it has on other lives."-- Jackie Robinson"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."-- Edmund Burke
delta1 Posted February 21, 2004 Posted February 21, 2004 Taiji (Tai Chi) is done by a lot of people, especially seniors, as a form of healthy exercise. Done just for health, you get less than 1/2 the health bennifits from it as doing it as a martial art. On the other hand, at 80 ... It is an internal form of martial art. Taking any of the Taiji styles will help improve any art you currently study, even grappling. But getting proficient in Taiji takes a long time, so I wouldn't give up my current studies if I were you. But find a school that teaches it as a martial art and check it out for yourself. Stay away from the healthy dancers until you are about 80 yourself, though. If you think other styles are bad for McDojos, you ain't seen nuthin' 'till you get some old hippy scamming a few bucks off the elderly and gullible. Not that all the health clubs are like that, but there are quite a few out there. Try it. Even the healthy stuff is fun if you find a good instructor. Maybe they can direct you to a good Taijiquan-fa (martial Taiji) class. Freedom isn't free!
Drunken Monkey Posted February 21, 2004 Posted February 21, 2004 just to point out that you shouldn't bundle the old guys who started 'tai-chi' when they were 65 two years ago and the 67 year old guy who has been practicing tai-chi as a martial art since he was 17... both might be 67, both might be doing tai chi but it is a world of difference between them. post count is directly related to how much free time you have, not how intelligent you are."When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite."
krunchyfrogg Posted February 22, 2004 Author Posted February 22, 2004 Thanks. The Aunt in question doesn't pay for it, some person comes into her senior center, and whoever wants to, does it. I'd feel kind of weird doing this with senior citizens, and I thank you two (and any further posts) for your input. They have a seminar every once in a while at work, maybe I'll check it out sometime. I'm not interested in giving up my current school. "A life is not important, except in the impact it has on other lives."-- Jackie Robinson"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."-- Edmund Burke
italian_guy Posted February 23, 2004 Posted February 23, 2004 I do Tai chi chuan (so is the martial version). It is a very complete art it has puncing, kicking, grappling locks etc. It give a lot of enphasis in forms, basically at the beginning is mostly forms and basics done at slow motion. After some time you start to practice fighting skills at regular speed and I think that, even if it takes long time... let's say black belt level, once you start to get into it can be very self defence effective. For this reason I consider it a good complement for any other art at least at my age ( I not very young anyway ) so I practice also kickboxing which is a totally different MA.
JerryLove Posted February 23, 2004 Posted February 23, 2004 That's a generalization... I have no use to practice at "fighting speeds", it wouldn't teach me anything. I've demonstrated at them, but its counter-productive to skill. https://www.clearsilat.com
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