Taiji in Kickboxing

[Flying Crane]

The first thought that comes to my mind is that most people who do taiji do so for exercise and have zero understanding of how to fight with it, and zero understanding of how to even approach the training in order to learn how to fight with it. They just practice the forms (usually poorly) and believe that doing so will somehow magically give them fighting prowess. That's not true.

So first off, you need to realistically ask yourself, is your approach to training, at your school, such that you can develop real fighting ability? And if so, have YOU developed such ability? Are you honestly making progress in that direction? If you say that you are, and if you are actually lying to yourself, then stepping into the ring will be a very painful eye-opening experience.

Secondly, you need to ask yourself honestly, if you are developing real fighting ability, can that translate effectively into the genre and the rule-set of that kickboxing tournament?

Be brutally honest with yourself about this, or else this will turn into a very bad experience.

 

[FluidSound]

The first thought that comes to my mind is that most people who do taiji do so for exercise and have zero understanding of how to fight with it, and zero understanding of how to even approach the training in order to learn how to fight with it. They just practice the forms (usually poorly) and believe that doing so will somehow magically give them fighting prowess. That's not true.

So first off, you need to realistically ask yourself, is your approach to training, at your school, such that you can develop real fighting ability? And if so, have YOU developed such ability? Are you honestly making progress in that direction? If you say that you are, and if you are actually lying to yourself, then stepping into the ring will be a very painful eye-opening experience.

Secondly, you need to ask yourself honestly, if you are developing real fighting ability, can that translate effectively into the genre and the rule-set of that kickboxing tournament?

Be brutally honest with yourself about this, or else this will turn into a very bad experience.

To the first paragraph, my Tai Chi school is pretty small, but I assure you he is a good teacher. He learned throug Cheng Dsu Yao's style of Yang. Cheng Dsu Yao was a practitioner in many forms of Kung Fu, including Tai Chi Quan. He even had contact with Cheng Man Ching as well about the form.

Anyhow, my instructor knows the Qi Gong form (1st lu through 4th lu), application form (Same), all weapon forms (fan, stick, straight sword, sabre, etc...), pushing hands, and freestyle pushing hands. He doesn't claim to be a master at all, but he's a goo teacher.

The approach at the school does help me to develop real fighting ability. He doesn't just how us the form. He shows us the use to each step. I am developing ability, slowly but surely. I am making progress, but little at time. I'm not confident I'd be efficient in the ring.

I have questioned the third thing. I have considered the rules and have come up with some answers to this. In some ways, yes, it wil translate well. in other ways, not so much. What I mean is this. One rule is, if you knock your opponent down 3 times, they lose. This would be a very good rule for Tai Chi Quan. You are allowed to push, punch, kick, no elbows though and I don't think shins. But we don't use shins (At least to my knowledge) in Tai Chi Quan. Anyhow, assuming that I won't be able to get a knockout, I can still probably push my opponent to he floor effectively. Of course, this might be so much considering Tai Chi takes a looong time to develop.

When I make small progress in Tai Chi Quan, I tend to notice it. However, I am quite hard on myself and do my best to be realistic about my ability. I only seek to become better.

As far as my Tai Chi Teacher goes by the way, I am very sure he knows what he's doing. He even makes me study the principles of Tai Chi and is hardest on me since I'm his most serious student. He always tells me if I do something wrong and reprimends me if my back isn't straight, if I didn't shift my weight 50/50, if I lean forward too much (saying that I have to let my opponent come to me.), along with stuff like "It isn't about showing strength. It's about being soft and graceful."

 

[Xue Sheng]

To the first paragraph, my Tai Chi school is pretty small, but I assure you he is a good teacher. He learned throug Cheng Dsu Yao's style of Yang. Cheng Dsu Yao was a practitioner in many forms of Kung Fu, including Tai Chi Quan. He even had contact with Cheng Man Ching as well about the form.

Cheng Dsu Yao, are you in Italy?

Cheng Dsu Yao studied a whole lot of styles and I do not doubt his or his student’s martial ability and I mean no offense but I doubt anything being taught is purely taijiquan since most of his teachers were not Taiji and I am not sure how long he trained with Chen Manching

 

[FluidSound]

No. My sensei is from Italy and he practiced Tai Chi Quan there for may years. Anyhow, whenever I watch Tai Chi Quan videos, it's pretty similar to what we do if not the same thing. Holding the ball, peng, brush knee and push, reject the hand of the monkey, play the pipa, grabbing the tail of a sparrow, hun, hand like a cloud, grab the needle from the bottom of the sea, snake stance (To build flexibility), etc...