Full-Contact Tai Chi

[cerebus]

Sami Berik is a tai chi san shou fighter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyrv7mUyc50

Elbow stroke from the ground, nice. Those were some serious takedowns by the other guy though...

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Check-out the link.. Sifu Scrima is offering 'Extreme Push-hands' and some very 'robust' Taiji fighting formats at this tournament.. looks very interesting..

http://www.kungfuchampionship.com/stpete/

Be well..

[cerebus]

Greetings..

Check-out the link.. Sifu Scrima is offering 'Extreme Push-hands' and some very 'robust' Taiji fighting formats at this tournament.. looks very interesting..

http://www.kungfuchampionship.com/stpete/

Be well..

Thanks. I wish it was closer to my location though. There's an ICMAC tourney in San Francisco this July, but they only have "light sanda" which seems to be point-sparring.

[Three Harmonies]

Cerebus,
As for movement drills... best with a partner throwing techniques at you. This was you actually build your reflexes. Nothing wrong with practicing in the air, but you are not RE-acting to a stimulus. Best to have someone throw slowly and increase speed. This way you see the techniques and respond, and do not lock into a pattern.

As for your friend:
-#1 good partners need to keep elbows tucked to avoid such injuries.
#2 Should always be hitting with the shin, not the foot. Common mistake everyone makes!
#3 As for how easy to see... WHOA!!! Not the cats I have trained with! And even if you see it coming the impact is a whole nutter' beast to deal with!

Tacichi Bob,
That is silly nonsense Nick is doing. Just marketing ploys. Why not fight if one wants to fight? Why make up weird rules, and formats. Just fight. Just wrestle. The formats we have had for years are good enough. The people do not want to train for something serious so they make up strange formats in an effort to make everyone feel included. Silly.

Cheers
JAB

[cerebus]

Hi Jake.

Yeah, I know what you mean about the impact of a good round kick. When I fought at the International Le Tai Championship in '08, one of my opponents had a SERIOUS round kick! Took both my legs out from under me with one kick! But after that I knew what to look for, and when he threw it I moved out of range then attacked when his momentum took him way off line. Still, as you mention, some guys can throw with less telegraphing than others.

Thanks for the suggestions regarding drills. I wish I had more access to training partners, but for the moment alot of my training has to be solo. Eventually I hope to be able to join a local boxing/ kickboxing gym so as to have plenty of good training/ sparring partners, but til then I'll do whatever I'm able to do on my own.

I find that a good piece of solo training equipment is the small (as in baseball-size) double-end ball. Basically like the larger inflatable version, but it's made of foam-rubber and the size of a baseball. Hard as HAYELL to hit when it gets going, and VERY good for hand-eye coordination and punching accuracy.

[Three Harmonies]

That, a slip ball, a heavybag will most likely be the best equipment for solo work.
Move to Seattle, you will have at least one training partner
What are you prepping for?

Cheers
Jake

[cerebus]

I'm getting ready for a couple of fight nights being hosted by the East Bay Rats Motorcycle club in a couple weeks. It's an open event using boxing equipment and rules and you never know who you might end up in the ring with, anyone from bikers and brawlers to boxers and black belts.

[cerebus]

As for moving to Seattle, that would be interesting, but right now I'm still just trying to catch up on back rent that I owe. Need to pay the peeps that need payin' before I have money for anything else...

[Three Harmonies]

Understood.
Be careful fighting in **** like that.
Kick ass!
JAB

[cerebus]

Understood.
Be careful fighting in **** like that.
Kick ass!
JAB

Heh, heh, thanks! Yeah, I almost fought in one of their fight nights a few years back, but made the mistake of bringing my girlfriend at the time. She had been raised as a peace-loving Berkeley girl and after seeing the first 3 matches (which were bloody as heck, including a women's match) she kinda freaked out and started to have a panic attack AS I was getting ready to STEP INTO THE RING! We were living together at the time, so I had to make a hard decision (and probably looked totally puzzy-whipped in front of all these bikers) and choose not to do it (with my hands already wrapped, mouthpiece in, and opponent in the ring waiting)...

Guess who ISN'T invited this time?

[taai gihk yahn]

http://www.youtube.com/user/NoLuan

um, like, not real, hello...

[cerebus]

http://www.youtube.com/user/NoLuan

The thing I dislike about those fights is that they don't allow striking to the head and they wear thick chest guards under the shirts. Kinda nullifies everything except throws...

[Liokault]

look up old posts by a guy called Liokault he used to post here and fight full contact alot, his line of tai chi in the UK are well known for fighting sanshou here and in hong kong

Sadly, I'm now a pacifist.

[cerebus]

On this subject, I had my fight last week and won, though I was somewhat less than satisfied with the ending.

The guy I fought was a little over 6 feet tall and weighed around 200 lbs (I'm 5 foot 10 inches and weigh 170). As soon as the fight started he was trying to send my head into orbit with his punches. This, however, had the effect of making his punches easy to see coming. Anyway, I evaded most of his attacks and used my hands & forearms to absorb & neutralize the rest while landing many hard shots and combos on his head and body, hurting him several times.

The disappointing part was that I was winning the match pretty thoroughly when I tripped on the loose canvas covering the ring platform. I was getting back to my feet and my opponent punched me while I was still down, causing the referee to disqualify him. Anyway... I won by DQ, but I was on my way to winning the match with skillful fighting. Right now I'm still trying to get either some of the video or even the still photos that were taken during the fight, though the people who have them don't seem to be in any hurry to share...