Where's that info from and how reliable and accurate is it exactly ? I say that because I heard on more than one occasion from different posters on a couple different boards that they're the Zhaobao taiji village push hands team. What the China national wrestling team would be doing there in a taiji push hands comp I'm not entirely sure.. The moves they use whilst incorperating some some stuff found in Chinese wrestling also still retain a taiji flavour in a fair few instances I think. Watch the following clip - in particular between 4.00 - 5.00 mins and you'll see these guys from Zhaobao doing the same sort of stuff wearing the same style of nifty jackets. NB It's a long clip and a fair few bits get repeated - a good watch none the less. Whether there's cross training in Chinese wrestling going on I'm not entirely sure, but I wouldn't bet against it. I mean you could do worse in preperation for beating the village down the road eh? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-BN5cKNAX0&feature=related"]YouTube - Tuishoudao Zhaobao Taijiquan[/ame]
Looked good to me. Cross Training is vital now. Martial artist's are advancing at an Incredible rate. But also leaving behind the most important stuff. The essence of taiji "can" be crossed over to any art, And "will" enhance that art. Moves are moves! Taiji is essence,It changes external arts into Internal arts automatically. The finite quality of taiji changes awkward or gross motion. displayed as (tenths or hundreths parts) into (thousandth or infinite parts). Nowhere without power, And nothing to read!
By saying that Taiji can change external arts into Internal arts, you have assumed that the "internal" is superior than the "external". If you integration your SC (Shuai Chiao) and Taiji training together, Will your "external" SC help your "internal" Taiji, or the other way around? I can see that SC "leg moves", "foot work", "grip fight", and "break fall" can help Taiji in many ways. What can the "internal" Taiji be able to help the "external" SC?
A very difficult question! I'd be lying to you if I said I have all the answers,I don't! I Have jujitsu for the ground. I can tell you that when I use to train MMA and started training taiji that my motor skills got a lot better. It was much easier to block strikes as well,odd strikes from strange angles. most grapple rs like I am use force against force and usually the bigger or stronger guy wins. Taiji as taught to me from my yang style teacher that using force is a lot of times counter productive. what it does in fact is lock you in to a certain mode,once locked into that mode it's very hard to see what else might have happened,or what other choices there might have been. Lines of force can be sent straight into the ground which makes other people stunned just for a moment. There's a hole there! Superior well I'm not going there. There's good to be found in most style's and I wouldn't be without any of the ones I trained. Internal effects the mind as well. I found myself much more comfortable in sparring. Also when I watch a lot of good fighters I can see many errors in their game. The most common one is structure and the second is the hand /hip connection,it isn't there. So yes Taiji can enhance peoples performance a great deal. I love it. Yes I believe that training external fighting arts will enhance fighting abilities. And of coarse it will help to round out most taiji players game. MMA is a great art. You know I said it 7 years ago when I met my taiji master that taiji was A good art. And I'm still saying it now. I just wish that I wasn't caught in the middle. I'm just glade I decided to go and learn some good stuff. peace.
This argument can go both ways. You have to "give your own force" before you can "borrow your opponent's force". If you have foce, there is nothing wrong to use it. If you don't have force, you may have to borrow and there is no other way around. If you are as rich as Bill Gates, you don't need to borrow money. "Borrowing force" sometime become an execuse of "laziness" that people not trying to develop their own force. If Taiji is your only style, you may not be able to appreciate to have your own force. This is why I believe that "external" can help the "internal" to understand that "It's better to be rich than to be poor". Spending effort to train your stone lock or double heads weight bar will not hurt your "internal" principle but enhance it instead. The day that the "internal" doesn't look down the "external", the day that the "internal" will be able to understand it's missing elements and envolve into the right direction. Until then the debating between "internal" vs. "external" will never end.
What your describing is more like aikido. The yang style master I train with doesn't borrow force. It's to hard to explain. It's more like you cant find him to use force. But you can always feel the ground! Then if he chooses to let you find him or his center it for good reason. And there is no struggle! Instead he changes struggle into something else. So what should be 2 people struggling,Isn't. He changes your struggle into something he can use. Of course you have heard the term "take what they give you" Well it's like that in every way all the time.
Since you don't know what your opponent will give you, it's hard to build your game plan around that unknow. It's better to plan it in such a way that your opponent will give what you want. In order to do that, you have to give before you can take. Most of the "CON" game always starting by someone gives you something for free.
Yes, well, my mistake, actually I read it from kungfuboard: http://www.kungfuboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58352&page=3&pp=30 They say that it in indeed the Zhaobao Taiji village push hands team, just like you said. They happen to contain members of the wrestling team of China, so they are doing a bit of cross training.
