Tai Chi,good self-defense art or not?

[Ironpalm]

ask the trolls....

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Ignorance is bliss!

What contunually cracks me up about people who discredit Tai Chi and it's importance are the mma guys. Unfortunately for them, their ignorance is showing when they do this. Any modern mma school revolves around the principal of addrenal stress training. Tai Chi was the first art (as far as I know, please correct me if I'm wrong) to encorporate this way of thinking in everything they do. In a real fight situation, addrenaline kicks in (fight or flight) Because of this, your movements ( punch, kick, grab, or whatever) become faster and more constricted. The movements in Tai Chi are exagerated and done slowly to compensate for this. Obviously, there not going to fight at the same speed as they practice, but I've had a half dozen instructors over the years ( all black belt mag. hall of fame members) who utelize this when practicing any technique they do. As a whole, Tai Chi practitioners have (in my opinion) better speed, balance, hand eye coordination, and attitude twards their fellow man, then any other large group of ma's. How can 6 billion chinese, and god knows how many others all around the world, be wrong.
Mahalo, Jeremy

[Ironpalm]

What contunually cracks me up about people who discredit Tai Chi and it's importance are the mma guys. Unfortunately for them, their ignorance is showing when they do this. Any modern mma school revolves around the principal of addrenal stress training. Tai Chi was the first art (as far as I know, please correct me if I'm wrong) to encorporate this way of thinking in everything they do. In a real fight situation, addrenaline kicks in (fight or flight) Because of this, your movements ( punch, kick, grab, or whatever) become faster and more constricted. The movements in Tai Chi are exagerated and done slowly to compensate for this. Obviously, there not going to fight at the same speed as they practice, but I've had a half dozen instructors over the years ( all black belt mag. hall of fame members) who utelize this when practicing any technique they do. As a whole, Tai Chi practitioners have (in my opinion) better speed, balance, hand eye coordination, and attitude twards their fellow man, then any other large group of ma's. How can 6 billion chinese, and god knows how many others all around the world, be wrong.
Mahalo, Jeremy

Thats probably one of the best explanations of Taiji I have heard in years. Bravo

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Thank You

While never formally training in Tai Chi, I did spend 4 years crosstraining with a friend of mine ( Sifu Mike Spears) who is a top student of Sifu Eric Lee. He taught me Yang style and a few others (can't remember all the names) and I taught him Fma (Modern Arnis-Professor Remy Presas). I still do it for about 15-30 min. every morning and have started practicing in public, (large asian population in Honolulu) Most parks here have large groups that gather in the mornings to train.
Mahalo, Jeremy

[Ironpalm]

While never formally training in Tai Chi, I did spend 4 years crosstraining with a friend of mine ( Sifu Mike Spears) who is a top student of Sifu Eric Lee. He taught me Yang style and a few others (can't remember all the names) and I taught him Fma (Modern Arnis-Professor Remy Presas). I still do it for about 15-30 min. every morning and have started practicing in public, (large asian population in Honolulu) Most parks here have large groups that gather in the mornings to train.
Mahalo, Jeremy

Most excellent! Nice blend of arts as well. Are you familiar with James Keating?
are we the only ones still awake tonight?

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Still up

I've heard of the name, but not sure where I ran acrossed it at. It's only just after 10pm here in beautiful Hawaii.

[Ironpalm]

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[Jeremy Lobdell]

Small world

I'm sure I probably ran into him somewhere along the road to enlightment (man it's long, where's the end) I've trained with Datu Wordin in the past, before IMAF fragged into all the different factions, and am a student at JKD Unlimited (Burton Richardson) right now. It always amazes me what a small world it is. This is why I don't get into pissin contests with trolls like Jubai (whatever he calls himself). I am more than willing to back up anything I say with facts and I will list training and instructors for verification, just like you do. People that don't, like idiot boy, have something to hide. I do find it funny that he considers calling someone a kid a insult. I take it as a compliment every time. Probably says more about his age than anything else.

[Ironpalm]

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[Jeremy Lobdell]

More evolution

I'm very familiar with trapping and empty hand block, check, counter techniques, but we no longer do trapping in the school. It is his belief, and mine long before I started training there, that trapping is not effective against a really agressive puncher. We work more to cover and then close distance to set up a clinch and neck tie or underhook and strike with kenns nad so on. The chain punches are also something that I utelize a great deal. Burton's found that they are not as effective if done by a smaller person (not a problem here- 5'10" and 225lbs. at 7.3%body fat). We've gone from the strait blast to a boxing blast of his that rocks, but I still find myself using a vertical fist to set it up. Burton's philosify is if it works, use it.

[Ironpalm]

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[Jeremy Lobdell]

Sun punch

No matter how long I train, I always learn something new. Burton is now using a variety of covers that rely less on handeye coordination and timing and can be used very effectively to protect yourself from a sucker punch or blindside attack and also sets up your clinch or elbow strikes. I think he also focuses on this more (at least for me) because he knows my backround and familiarity with the other techniques you discussed

[Ironpalm]

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[Jeremy Lobdell]

Similar

The first cover I saw blew my mind. I stood there gape jawed wondering, why didn't I think of that! I try to explain it. It works best when being hit to the side of the head with a hook or other circular punch. ON the side the punch is coming to, you bring your elbow up like a vertical elbow strike (uppercut) and grab the back or your neck with your hand, covering gallbladder 20 on both sides. Your other hand comes across and protects your face, covering both gallbladder cluster points and making contact wrist to wrist over the other arm. Try making a high X block, then grab the back of your neck with the underneath hand (the one nearest to you.) We also works the vertical forearm cover and the horizintal cover on the intro page to the websight www.jkdunlimited.com . These are all done with a live attacker (training partner) who is wearing focus mitts and moving around. It's really effective and works all ranges.

[Ironpalm]

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