The deadly reputation of tai chi

It could also just be due to individual variation in the study subjects. Health seems so individual in people of a certain age that I think you'd see a lot of variation regardless of what treatment you proposed. Figure, not everyone will benefit from exercise, some people will still need walkers or whatever into their old age and no amount of tai chi would help them out. Like you said about the inflammatory tissue, it might just make an underlying condition worse. Regardless, I really want to take up tai chi when I'm older.

 

Any or every martial art has practitioners that "believe" they have something (whisper-"deadly")

Gun Fu is the quickest and most (whisper-"deadly")

 

A standard dose of curare on a dart will immobilize in about three seconds or less,death shortly thereafter.Guaranteed result wherever it hits.With basically a 100% kill rate that's better than a firearm. Silent too.

SBD!

 

A little more careful to handle

 

Modern marketing.I don't think anyone was advertising it as "deadly" even back in the 1800s when everybody was taking/accepting challenges.

Except in Malaysia,Taiwan,Hong Kong, Indonesia,and Singapore!

If you consider things like Pentjak Silat Serak to be "viscious" then TC fits that bill. Any school which purports to instill fighting ability will encourage sparring or they're living in dreamland.Sparring-it's actually "traditional" in TC!

Ah yes,I remember Fire Quan.

Very,very good post.You left out the gungs for joint and tissue work,which is one of the keys for "health" benefits for the joints and more effectiveness in the martial arena.

I wonder if the problems are likely more for things like the weight bearing joints of the body.I've never heard of someone with arthritic hands being told not to exercise them.Sorry if that was covered in the article,didn't read it yet.

No.For you I'd recommend to try and find a teacher who has good push hands skills even if they don't know jack about scrapping.I think you'd find that very interesting and enjoyable as well as educational.Eventually with the right partners you can be pretty rough on each other and still practice correctly without it turning into a shoving match,which is pointless.

 

It depends on the individual, their history, and their needs. Some people wear and tear worse than others.

What the study basically said was that claims of Tai Chi having anti-inflammatory effects or notable decrease in symptoms related to Tai Chi practice couldn't be supported by the data.

I don't know if it said that Tai Chi actually caused problems.

But certain conditions (cancer, rheumatoid arthritis) there was apparently little or no benefit. Painful Tai Chi is not good Tai Chi.

 

Found this on YT today, which is weird because i wasn't looking for it!

This is (bad quality) footage of the Dan Docherty Roy Pink fight that I thought you all might be interested in

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DL4kaox2ZY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DL4kaox2ZY[/ame]

ALWAYS time for a Wang video....every thread is instantly improved by the addition of Wang - MORE WANG!!!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGjE-zM9MqE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGjE-zM9MqE[/ame]

 

Here is another slice of awesome

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnhEwTAQr7Q"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnhEwTAQr7Q[/ame]

 

If more smart shirts and natty knitted tank tops were seen in the Octagon, I might watch more MMA

 

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3kAq_Bmomc"]Dan Docherty Tai Chi demonstration - YouTube[/ame]

The guy who posted the Docherty/Roy Pink fight on Youtube, Steve Wooster has started putting quite a lot of instructive material with himself, Dan, Godfrey Dornelly (when they were all younger) and his own material onto youtube. Probably the most telling is this one, where you can see Neigong, Sanshou applications(Dan vs Steve + Godfrey) with evasion including 9 palace stepping/Bagua circling (depending on how you label the evasion) and at the left, some demonstration form of where the applications are referable to in Long Wu Round Form.

 

The more I watch IMA, the more my theory of every art being basically the same rings true

Really like Dan's stuff

 

There are certain aspects of overlap in a lot of arts, but most do have differences of emphasis.

Personally I found TCC having very similar qualities to Escrima i.e. Toui Shou (Pushing Hands) is very similar to Hubud - but there are differences e.g. PH tends to be more sticking contact and Hubud more bouncing contact - but I have used both in both arts.

You can find out the differences of sticking and bouncing in Spear applications for which I rate Ian Cameron's vid among the best [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgOsQcYDMl0"]Spear Application - YouTube[/ame]
but best is doing for real - not just watching.

 

The training is certainly very different, but in application they tend to look more or less the same

 

Forward triangle (male or female, dependent on style and definition) is essentially the same as 7 star stepping.

Escrima/FMA triangles emphasise 'flow' more, TCC 7 star stepping tends to be more coiled (rotary turning/diverting, angle inclined with back foot cat stance) and sprung to respond to changing timing, attack/defence, openings, changing forces.