Re: It is a touchy subject
Quote:
Originally posted by Wind&Mountain
if i were to see a tai chi practitoner and a muy thai practitioner each with say 3 years training i would put my money on the muy thai fighter(hands down).
advance the training to over ten years and i would put my money on the muy thai fighter hands down.
advance the training to over 20 years and my money goes for the tai chi practitioner hands down.;)
First, maybe. Take an "average" MT person and an "average" TJQ person who's trained the martial applications, put them each in a self-defense situation, and I'd give pretty much the same odds to both.
Second, I disagree. As you noted, MT is brutal, and someone who's been practicing for 10 years may well be past his/her peak and pretty beaten up physically.
Third, I agree, but mainly for the reason I stated for the second example. 20 years of dedicated MT will be pretty hard on the body.
Note: I picked a self-defense situation rather than a MT vs. TJQ ring match to level the field, since MT participants train to compete in the ring.