Tai Chi, Often Not Seen As A Martial Art???

[dtstiachi]

FOR ALL OF MY FRIENDS WHO DISCREDIT THE MARTAIL ABILITY OF TAI CHI:

I have a very good friend of mine who is a 4th degree black belt in 5 different styles (tkd, Shotakan, Chinese Kenpo, Goju, and International Zone Fighting) invited me to attend one of his classes to observe his style of teaching and MA. During one of the breaks, he and I started messing around while the lower belts were catching their breath. We tried to see who could get "inside" the others zone. The only art I study is Tai Chi (I study all aspects of Tai Chi, especially the Martial side of it) and I was amazed at how easily I could get inside and attack my friend. I really enjoyed the lesson and it again reinforced what I, Taji Fajin, and others who study the Internal arts (especially TAI CHI) have been saying. When practiced properly, (which might take some time) Tai Chi can be a very effective fighting art. My friend is an excellent kicker, but when I moved in and took his feet away and it became just hand to hand, I had no problem matching him and even getting to him several times. I am tired of all of this crap about Tai Chi not beeing a fighting art. When it is done properly and when it is taught properly, it is a very powerful fighting system. I have seen some of the the OLD masters at work and alot of "tournament/sport" karate that is being taught today would not be able to touch these guys. Now I don't want to trash ANYBODY'S art. I love the MA and I am glad that all of the people here are taking something, so do me, Fajin, Tajimistress, PhDPeddlar and others who study this art a favor and a break by not trashing our art. I believe I can speak on behalf of my friends when I say that we will extend you the same courtesy. Thank you.

[ovine king]

It's not really the applicabilty of tai chi. The thing is, you really can't deny that the majority of places out there aren't teaching tai chi properly. That's also not mentioning the fact that a lot of places aren't even teaching autehntic tai chi forms, instead they teach the 'fixed' chinese wushu competition tai chi form, which if you know history of chinese wushu, is hardly the best source material for fighting arts.

[Taiji Mistress]

I love this thread!!

I agree that there is a lot of poor Taiji being taught in the UK and most of it is based firmly in the 'Taiji is a health excercise' twaddle.

I met a young man recently who had spent the past 10 years training in several external martial arts...it was a big part of his life. He joined in one of our regular, weekly, cross training sessions.

He showed us his stuff, we showed him ours. The most noticable thing I found was that, despite his vast knowledge which included partner work, his pushing hands skills were limited - which I put down to it's inherant linear nature.

He continues to train with us, and has stopped going to all his other classes and is currently learning our Yang long form, applications and push hands.

That, in a nutshell, shows what we Taiji players already know......

You can't beat TaijiQuan when taught comprehensively!!

[Muaythaiboxer]

if that were so then tai chi chuan fighters would be winning MMA and K-1 style fights. with literally millions of dollers to be made why havent tai chi guys been in on it? dont get me wrong i really like tai chi and because of the disscusion about it in this forum i have taken a few lessens in wu style but dang i need to see proof of its effectiveness before i am going to agree that it is good for fighting.

[dtstiachi]

You are talking about a sport karate, (K-1, UFC, etc.) Most of these arts are for SHOW not for effectiveness. I am not talking about sport karate, I am talking about a martail art that has been around a lot longer than UFC/ K-1