Chen Taiji for health
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KxjA8fOJZ0
vs.
Chen Taiji for combat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KxjA8fOJZ0
Maybe it is a false dichotomy which the original post has- just some illusion perhaps
Doing qigong and meditation is good for health but IMO the fighting and sparring part is necessary for bringing you to a higher level even in health. Only after you start to train the martial aspect you will know how you can really relax your tenseness and how you can move your body naturally the most efficient way. I personally train for both but I try to focus more on the health aspect as I am not a professional fighter and certainly don't want severe injuries in my life because sometimes it gets out of control like yesterday when one of my shixiongs (who used to do sanda professionally) broke part of my tooth.
YouKnowWho:
Combat VS Health is a double edged sword.
Combat training, self defense, fighting skills etc.. is the skill to be able to defend yourself from bandits, muggers, attackers etc... also known as: Skills to preserve your life.
Health training is the skill of keeping your mind and body healthy, staying fit and in good shape etc.. also known as: Skills to preserve your life.
What is the difference between dying at age 40 from a mugger or dying at age 40 from a heart attack?
Both skills preserve your life. Both should be trained whether done together or seperate.
ginosifu
It is not possible to become good at both. The people I have seen who talk about learning health and martial arts side by side are great at the healing side. But their definition of "martial art" does not involve learning how to fight. It involves the forms of the system, weapons training for "strength" which is considerered better than lifting weights. Why? I have no idea. "Techniques" derived from form movements because of the belief that forms are a living textbook, two person drills, push hands.....but no sparring. Again, this has been my experience. They are great at massage/acupuncture/talking about training in the different seasons but they are not fighters. The other issue I have with this is they do not come out and say so. You study with them for years before you realize they do not engage in resistance training of any kind beyond basic push hands but talk about "self defense".
thats because they are mentally disturbed. american kung fu advertises power over another person.
chinese martial arts has died out again and becoming obscure around the world. now its back to the way things used to be before bruce lee. theres no need to argue for past mistakes. we can start over again with a clean slate.
Last edited by bawang; 06-18-2012 at 04:40 AM.
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Psalms 144:1
Praise be my Lord my Rock,
He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !
It's all about efficiency because this way you will train many muscles together which is more time saving and also it will be more focused on the muscles that you are actually going to use more in your martial arts system. In addition you will learn synchronizing and using them together at the same time. However lifting weights also has its own merits as it can focus on certain muscles but I believe it should just take a small part in training in case we train with weapons.It involves the forms of the system, weapons training for "strength" which is considerered better than lifting weights. Why? I have no idea.
I don't see why. I agree that nowadays most TCMA teachers don't really teach the students how to fight but people who do are also not that hard to find. I know several martial artists in Beijing, Henan, Jiangsu and even a few in Shanghai who do them both. I know or have heard of people from mobs in a small town who have very good backgrounds in traditional martial arts and one of them actually talked to me about the importance of qigong.It is not possible to become good at both.
Last edited by xinyidizi; 06-18-2012 at 08:12 AM.
The combat vs health debate conceals a huge irony: The people training for combat and utilizing real martial arts training are often far healthier than those who train for "health", mentally as well as physically.
The idea of combat
is honing on a set of skill and solve your fighting problems.
Health is a whole big different pursuit.
Some are overlapping.
Some are not.
For example, a keen killing or destroying instinct.
mmmm. It may not be healthy.
A sniper trigger finger. It may not be healthy for your finger. It is bigger and faster and with callus or arthritis over time.
etc etc
This was what I have said.
OK, I may use the wrong words here. Let me correct this as:
if you train:
- combat, you punch out fast, concentrate on exhale when you punch, and your body chase your hand.
- health, you punch out slow, concentrate on inhale when you pull your punch back, and your body push your hand.
Since you read Chinese, you can help me to verify whether my translation is correct or not.
The XingYi system train inhale instead of exhale. In training, you punch out slow with slow exhale. When you pull your punch back, you inhale quickly. It's light out heavy in, light exhile deep inhale, long exhale short inhale.
http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/8059/inhale.jpg
Teacher Tang said,"The XingYi training and combat are different. In training, you use body to push shoulder, shoulder to push elbow, elbow to push hand, It's like water flow from your shoulder to your hand. In combat, you throw your hand out like a whip. You then use elbow to chase hand, shoulder to chase elbow, body to chase shoulder."
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/8...ychasehand.jpg
Last edited by YouKnowWho; 06-18-2012 at 10:04 PM.