I worked out with a Tai Chi guy.

[rogue]

Briefly worked out with a guy who does TC. Tai Chi is not what I expected. The standup grappling seemed very good. I think I finally felt fa jing. Definatly on my list to look into in the future.

[jon]

Good stuff Rogue
Its always good imho to try to get 'some' idea about as many styles as different tactics and forms of movement as you can. At least it then gives you a MUCH more educated opinion as to which suits yourself as an individual.
I come from an external background and im loving Tai Chi the combat side of it is excerlent and just as you mentioned the grappling is also very good.
Glad to hear you had good experience with it, im also glad you met someone who was willing to show you a little and not feed you the 'im using my chi' line to much.
Nice to hear, hope you do get time to check it out i love the art :)

[rogue]

Didn't feel any chi blasts Jon, just real good body mechanics. This guy is very good on the inside, much better than me and it's my favorite range. He needs to work on his outside game and footwork though.

[SevenStar]

yeah, I agree with Jon - it's always good to experience other styles. I know a certain CMA that thinks boxing is merely "two people slugging eachother" and that grappling is simple and can be mastered in a few months. I laugh every time I hear it.

[Goldenmane]

I worked out some with a Bagua guy a week or two ago. He hadn't done any serious training for about a year, but even so there was some really good stuff there.

**** I love that circle walking.

Plus, of course, it can be a bit harder to grab internal stylists who focus on the standup grappling than one might expect.

Frankly, I just love being shown new stuff by someone even semi-competent.

Of course, even semi-competent is still generally better than me. :D

keep up the search, rogue.

-geoff

[Merryprankster]

Nice man! Very cool....

[KungFuGuy!]

That's cool, rogue. The last tai chi guy I did any sort of training with actually said "Tai chi is the ultimate martial art" :rolleyes:

[Shaolindynasty]

He was right

Tai Chi Chuan= Grand ultimate fist

[PaulLin]

very happy to hear that:)

[Braden]

Bwahaha... internal styles will take over the world!

Any more details, rogue? Or about the bagua guy, Golden?

[Goldenmane]

The Bagua guy is kinda a casual acquaintence of mine. We tend to get together for bullsh!t sessions every couple of weeks, and keep trying to get to the Muay Thai fights that are on here every once in a while... but for one reason or another we've not made it yet. Last one was sold out when we got there. :(

Anyway, he's done Taiji as well as Bagua, so he was showing me basic stepping and push-hands stuff. He's not highly developed, but he's not too shabby. I couldn't keep up with him on the circle walking. Quick little bugger.

Corrected my posture a bit too. I've been gettin lazy.

-geoff (never found a good teacher for internal stuff, wanna learn Bagua)

[Kumkuat]

taijiquan does mean grand ultimate first if you take certain words and translate them. It doesn't mean that it's the best style. The correct translation should be something like poles (as in north and south poles) extremities boxing or something.

[Naturalkilla]

Yeah, Taijiquan really refers to "Grand Terminus" or "Taiji Diagram" boxing rather than a rather egocentric and bravado-based name for itself. An even better name might, in fact, be "exterme opposite" boxing to reflect the interplay of yin and yang that is inscribed within its philosophical tradition and practice. Originally, it was know as other things from time to time, such as Huaquan (neutralizing boxing) and, at one point, Chen family fist while it was only practiced at Chen Jiagou.

Yeah, well, that was probably the most irrelevant information you've ever gotten. It's really not the greatest, the person who does it is the decisive factor, not the style as such.

[rogue]

Not many Braden as he just sat in on our class. He sparred with a couple of the black belts and did pretty good. He did get nailed pretty often with the dreaded front leg side kick (cut kick) for some reason. I got to talk with him for a little and compare notes on some self defense techniques. He does Yang style, he mentioned doing medium and small frames which I know zip about and was interested in Ba Gua to improve his footwork. And he was excellent on the inside. Made me feel like a chump on take downs.

[looking_up]

I agree with the allusion to the extreme opposites/poles.

First you learn to be extremely yin, relaxed, soft; but from that
training the elastic strength comes out. They say from softness
comes hardness, and I'm beginning to see that it is true. If
you go from a state of total relaxation, you can snap out to a
state of hardness in a blink. If there is any tension, the explosion
is slowed down and not as much of a jump between extremes,
which is (I think) a source of great power in taiji.

Just my opinion right now, it could change with more experience.

- Peace, all -