Do Tai Chi people ever practice at full speed? Or always slow. Those that practice self defence, must surely practice full speed for realistic application? i.e. not slow & expect to suddenly deal with fast attacks in a real fight.
I practice ALL of my material from "Tai Chi" speed to "I'm in a real fight" speed. Including Tai Chi. Slow helps develop technique, focus, and proper form. Fast develops application, power, speed (duh) and martial spirit.
Brido - do you mind actually explaining on what point you disagree, or are you truly satisfied with simply making it publicly known that you disagree, without any intention of detailing why. I said it develops application - it's hard to properly apply a technique when you never do it at a realistic speed. Don't see what you would disagree there. I said it develops power - well, F=MA so without speed you have very little force (power) so again I don't see what you would disagree with there. I said it develops speed - it's hard to do things fast if you never do them fast, wouldn't you agree? Can you train to become an olympic sprinter by only ever walking? Once again, I fail to see where you could disagree. Finally, I said it develops martial spirit. It's hard to really put a lot of energy, agressiveness, intensity, and power into your techniques if you're doing them in slow motion, don't you think? Fourth and final time, I have no idea how you could disagree. So please, rather then simply allude to reasons for disagreeing, maybe you can specifically state them. I'm quite curious which point you disagree with and why.
I agree about practising at fight speed but the words agressiveness and power are maybe not the quite words Tai Chi must be practised fast if you wish to use it. But the agression will cause it to slow and Fa jing is a better description than power. I know its being a little picky but i agree with the intent.
Aggression will not slow down your technnique, it will speed it up and give it more focus. If you are in a fight, and you are aggressive, you will win.
Yes I have practiced it fast as well as the normal speed... the first time our teacher took us by surprise as he sped up the form and it was certainly different... Socrastein... I have seen the F=MA thing explaining a punch before and me being a layman I soon got bamboozled by all the explainations as to why that wasnt quite correct... also taiji and MA are just a bit different to sprinting...
Aggression will not slow down your technnique, it will speed it up and give it more focus. Actually Knightcommander the main principle of Tai chi is to relax which allows Tai Chi practitioners to move quicker through a relaxed body. Aggression causes the muscles to tense up causing the body to slow down this is a basic Tai Chi practise. So aggression is not a good thing in our art. It might be in yours but we practise the way we do to be rid of it and have a calm mind.
That is sooo wrong... I have seen fights where one fighter was very aggressive and the other more patient fighter won...
I think it's more confidence. If you can psychologically dominate the other person, basically grind them under your heel mentally, you'll win. It's not so much aggression, it's just making the other guy know he's going to lose.
It should be noted that in my post where I said that speed develops blah blah blah, I was referring to all my material in general, which is why I said that after mentioning all my material. I wasn't specifically referring to Tai Chi. And aggression does not equal tension. Aggression simply means you attack a lot. An aggressive Tai Chi fighter would use every oppurtunity to damage the opponent, while a passive Tai Chi fighter would simply defend themselves by redirecting the opponents attacks, likely until their opponent gave up out of humiliation. It's perfectly correct, I don't know who told you otherwise. Try punching someone extremely slowly, and you'll have little force in your punch. Try punching someone quickly, but don't put any of your mass into it, and you'll have little force in your punch. This is perfectly verifiable, you can go try it out right now if you don't think it's very accurate. I assure you it is.
Without being to arguementative here aggression stagnates chi which is the same as putting tension in the body and mind. Nothing wrong with being a positive fighter but from the Tai Chi point of view your mind has to be calm so aggression is not something you want. Any good Tai Chi fighter would try and finish a fight as quickly as possible aggression is not needed just good Tai Chi principles. Not sure about the punching thing but Tai Chi punches are very relaxed and fast with little effort put in the arm its the mechanics of the body connecting from the foot in the floor through the waist connecting to the fist so that the body moves as one.
If you're attacking and damaging your opponent, you're being aggressive. Everyone needs to stop reading so much into the word and adding things unnecessarily. Someone throws a punch at me, I perform a holding ball to deflect, grab their wrist, and strike them in the throat. That's aggressive fighting. Someone throws a punch at me, I brush the knee but don't press, I simply deflect the blow away and save myself. That's passive fighting. See the difference? It has nothing to do with tension, with not being relaxed, with stagnating your chi, or anything like that. It has to do with whether or not you're attacking your opponent.
Like it or not aggression causes stagnation of chi which in Tai Chi and TCM terms is not what you want you dont have to agree with me but check out a few books dealing with chi or books on TCM Quote: Originally Posted by Dictionary.com Aggression 1. The act of initiating hostilities or invasion. 2. The practice or habit of launching attacks. 3. Hostile or destructive behavior or actions. The idea of Tai Chi is to work off the other persons aggression or strenght not to start it yourself.
I don't know what your idea of Chi is, but to me it's just energy - there's nothing mystical about it, nor should their be. So when I hear "Aggression causes stagnation of chi" I'm hearing "When you attack people your energy isn't being used" and to me that just sounds absolutely ridiculous. Also, no, Tai Chi isn't just about countering. You can very well initiate attacks with Tai Chi. Slip a punch and then palm strike someone in the chest. That's still aggressive, since you're engaging in attacks and destructive behavior.
Knight, you really should think about being more considerate. If you find what someone says to be mistaken, kindly explain to them why you think so. Laughing at them like that to make them feel stupid and make yourself feel good is very shallow. Why don't you tell him why the phrase 'stagnation of chi' is incorrect or nonsensical?
I find the use of the words stagnation and chi in the same sentence very comical. Aggression is what wins fights, not inner chi energy.
