Tai chi as a fighting art.

[KF Dude]

Don't dismiss TC as a fighting art because of the slow gentle movenments in the forms. Done correctly it's for real. TC fighters are relaxed which makes them fast & have excellent sensitivity skills. If you cross hands you've given them the advantage. Get the hand out of the way before you attack. Otherwise they will 'feel' where your energy/force is going & set you up for a counter. This has been my experience against Tai Chi. Without question a martial art.

As for the palm strike, it's not exclusive to Tai Chi. Most kungfu styles have something similar. It's not a mystical technique like in the movies either.

[kusojiji]

i no very little about the subject concerned but arnt the slow movements in tai chi about improving the flow of chi in your body? also arnt the forms in tai chi meerly slowed down vertions of traditional forms?

'Traditionally' there have always been both slower and fast sets.

[Muaythaiboxer]

i wouldent place much confidence on a taichi fighter if he was up against a MMA guy or pro Boxer/kickboxer

against an untrained fighter i would say they have a good chance

[taiji fajin]

i wouldent place much confidence on a taichi fighter if he was up against a MMA guy or pro Boxer/kickboxer

against an untrained fighter i would say they have a good chance

Of course, most people think that what they do is "superior". If it wasn't, why would they do it?

Taiji can be a great fighting art, and it can be a horrible one. So can BJJ. So can tons of things out there. It depends on the instructor and the student. I've been able to handle myself easily by using taiji against guys with all different backgrounds and skill levels. I also know people who have taken taiji for years and years and years and couldn't fight a white belt in another art. As people have said on this forum more times than can be counted, it depends on the person, not the art.

[Menjo]

I know someone who takes tai chi and he beats me everytime in sparring....i dunno how he does it but it works.

[Sam]

all arts can be bad.... and all can be good... just a matter of how you apply yourself and how you train.

[sakefon]

I agree with SAM. Plus... is MA always about fighting and kicking someone's butt? I don't think so. Its also for health and sports. I dont know why people these days take MA just so they learn to fight. So what im trying to say is. MA isnt always about fighting especially Tai Chi.

[CagedWarrior]

When it comes to fighting, tai chi has nothing to do with it. A kid playing cops and robbers using his hand pretending its a gun, or rocking out with an air-guitar to music, is actually more accurate in his imaginitive little game than tai chi is to fighting.

Every move I've ever seen in tai chi- that someone has actually shown me the "application" of in a real move- is, at the very best, inferior. Example: I once saw how "old maid carries the water" could be a throw- and it was the lousiest idea of a throw I've ever seen. Whatever you do tai chi for, if you enjoy it, great. Apparently people get better balance out of it (usually older people). Good, I hope it works for them. If, however, you expect to learn anything at all about fighting, you're in for a dissapointment. Even katas are better than tai chi.

[taiji fajin]

When it comes to fighting, tai chi has nothing to do with it. A kid playing cops and robbers using his hand pretending its a gun, or rocking out with an air-guitar to music, is actually more accurate in his imaginitive little game than tai chi is to fighting.

Every move I've ever seen in tai chi- that someone has actually shown me the "application" of in a real move- is, at the very best, inferior. Example: I once saw how "old maid carries the water" could be a throw- and it was the lousiest idea of a throw I've ever seen. Whatever you do tai chi for, if you enjoy it, great. Apparently people get better balance out of it (usually older people). Good, I hope it works for them. If, however, you expect to learn anything at all about fighting, you're in for a dissapointment. Even katas are better than tai chi.

And I'm sure you've seen every taiji master / grandmaster there is and so are basing this off of the highest ranking people in the art, and not McDojos . I guess TKD is a horrible, horrible fighting art because the people I have seen do it have no idea what they are really doing and end up hurting themselves all the time, and they must be the best because they are who I've seen.

[USCMAAI]

dtstiachi is absolutely correct on this. My sensei practices Tiachi, and states that especially now that he is much older, he finds that the techniques of tai chi allow him to be as effective as he was when he was much younger without the expending of so much energy.