strength-based martial arts

[n0rmann]

I'm currently taking Chen tai chi, which I love, but as you know, in theory, you don't have to use strength for applications. I was looking for a second art to study, and I would like to find something a little more strength-based because I'm a strong guy, and would like to use it.

Thanks for any info.

[SevenStar]

thai boxing.

[Fu-Pow]

Western Wrestling.

Chinese martial arts aren't really strength based in the western sense of the word. They're jin based which is refined strength and efficiency. Chen Taiji has very refined jins. You might look at just lifting weights and running if you want get in shape.

[n0rmann]

Fu Pow

It's actually more for fun than getting in shape. I have to stay interested to continue something, and weightlifting and running gets to boring to fast. That's why I enjoy martial arts, you're always learning something new.

[SevenStar]

there's plenty of use of leverage and positionging in grappling. it's more strength based then taiji, but it's not really strength based. Just like with other styles, people will use strength either

1. to aid the technique
2.when they can't get the technique to work.
3. to prevent techniques from being used on them.

[Former castleva]

Mongolian wrestling maybe...
Quite hard to find though.

Whatever you do,muscular strength will not hurt but I don´t think you want to use it as ýour primary mechanism for power,this will eventually lead to poor technique and is useles against stronger opponent.

Goju-ryu karate I think might also be more suitable for larger build.

[MonkeySlap Too]

Think of your strength as a good compensator.

1.) You need it to do Chen Taiji well. Refined strength is built upon strong legs and back!

2.) When you start fighting, and you meet an equally skilled opponent, the stronger one will have the advantage.

3.) Stop thinking of strength as independent limb strength, and more in the terms of old fashioned strength nuts like you find at www.ironmind.com. That will help you get through to the more complex CMA model.

If you really just want to hit something without worrying about CMA mechanics, Muay Thai is a good choice.

There is an old Chinese training maxim: "First confidence, then strength, then technique."

In other words - you must have a will to fight, then you must be strong enough to fight, then you must develop fighting skill. Remember, what is often meant by 'not needing strength' is very relative. Without the basic strength, your Taiji will be for nought. But an educated, refined use of strength will be very effective.

[LEGEND]

Free style wrestling=more leverage than strength!

Try GRECO ROMAN WRESTLING=that's some POWERFUL stuff!

[Budokan]

Agreed. Greco Roman depends much more on innate strength than some of the more fluid modern styles of wrestling.

[TaoBoy]

Boxing?
Kickboxing?
Muay Thai?

Maybe not all about strenth per se but a whole lot different in energy production than Chen Taiji.

[IronFist]

Dude, the ancient art of throwing is largely based upon strength. Allow me to elaborate. If you are capable of picking up a 100lb rock and heaving it at your opponent's head, you will be in a better position than if you lack the strength to pick up and throw that 100lb rock.

Or, if you possess the strength to rip a street sign out of the ground, you will have a large weapon with good reach.

Finally, if you are strong enough to pick up a car over your head, no one will f*ck with you, except for BJJ guys, who will say you can't pick up a car on the ground.

IronFist

[SevenStar]

"Finally, if you are strong enough to pick up a car over your head, no one will f*ck with you, except for BJJ guys, who will say you can't pick up a car on the ground."



it's true though.

[Braden]

Your strength is waisted in Chen taiji?

Power, alot of it, is still being generated in the internal arts. They simply have a different approach. One thing I've heard is "If you're feeling the power, your opponent isn't" as a description of tense movements which seem powerful to you doing them in isolation. In the internal arts you have to relax, alot. This is true regardless of your strength level. If you are stronger than your training partners, for the sake of training, you'll have to struggle with not using your strength, for the sake of refining your technique. This is training; the idea is that, what you are refining here, will make you use your strength much more efficiently. When "a big ugly *******" is charging at you, you use everything you've got to keep him from hurting you, right? This seems to make sense to me, rather than "you don't use strength in your applications." Based on what I've felt, training internal methods with people of different body types, I can say without hesitation that a heavy, powerful body has alot of advantages (even sticking entirely within the context of internal method refinement).

Also, what MonkeySlap Too said.

[SevenStar]

sounds like bjj

[Merryprankster]

There's no such thing as a strength based martial art. Size and strength only assist your success. As an analogy, you can be the most technically proficient shotputter in the world, but at 180 lbs, you're going to get smoked by a guy with 80% of your technical skills, who outweighs you by 100 lbs of muscle.

Greco is not more strength based than freestyle or folk. It's just different. And the reason that people talk about sportive arts as being strength based is because on top of becoming technically proficient, these guys are looking for a competitive edge--and muscle is one component of that.

Strength helps regardless of what you're doing, and doesn't mean more in one art than in another, IMO.

I do agree that certain arts place more emphasis on results than doing something a specific way. Royce Alger, for instance, showed me a bunch of stuff at wrestling camp I could never use because it requires more strength than I'll ever have. Nothing biomechanically efficient about what he was doing. Effective? Sure! But that's a personal issue, not a "style," thing, ie, are you a slick boxer, or are you more the battering ram ala Rocky Marciano?

You'll likely find techniques that are good for you in any style, and some you just can't pull off no matter how much you work on them. *shrug*