taiji application straight punch

But what if he retracts his arm?
Personally i can see that being better either in offense or against a guard with the front hand sticking out. I may be wrong, as ive never done Taiji. Just asking :)
 
Cyriacus said:
But what if he retracts his arm?
Personally i can see that being better either in offense or against a guard with the front hand sticking out. I may be wrong, as ive never done Taiji. Just asking :)
Click to expand...

It is a demo, no one would expect a person to hang their arm out there in any style of martial arts. In application, at speed, it is just like blocking a punch, it is an intercept and an attack
 
Xue Sheng said:
It is a demo, no one would expect a person to hang their arm out there in any style of martial arts. In application, at speed, it is just like blocking a punch, it is an intercept and an attack
Click to expand...

Ah, okay. I was just worried it might be working off that a little too much, but if itd still function without the arm staying out, its a pretty good gap-closer :)
 
Good video. This is how we think in my taiji group. Man, I am sure glad he identified his first example, coming over the top of the fist, as being too slow. It is. The only possible way it might work is if you happen to have the hooking hand above the incoming fist, positioned exactly right for the interception. Even then its iffy, and heighth dependent, helpful if you are a bit taller than the opponent. Still, at a fast realistic incoming speed, its risky to say the least. I suppose anything can be made to work if practiced enough, but his solution, what he moves onto, is far more practical.

And yet over the years of finding applications for tai chi, I have seen it demonstrated as something viable.
 
These applications can and do work, the problem for a lot of people is not taking the rear hand into account, especially if you don't take the opponents balance immediately.

The hook over the top has it's place and does work in the right context.
 
I still have a VHS instructional video tape of the 24 posture form, filmed in China, purchased from WayFarer in the early 1980's. What a Classic piece of work it is.

Applications are demonstrated by an older gentleman. They are on YouTube now. Lots of top riding and hooking.


Wing Lam instructs it also:
 
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Something to think about when it comes to Taiji as a martial art and a defense against a punch, not all punches are the same, even if they look the same and not all responses are the same to every punch, even if the look the same. In this way Taijiquan is similar to traditional Chinese medicine which treats the cause not the result.

The response in Taiji depends a lot on where the energy is coming from and what direction it is going. So the response to a punch, any punch, depends on the cause or the source of that punch and not so much the result or termination point of that punch
 
One of my teacher's instructor's gave an entire seminar just on single whip, with quite a few applications against incoming punches.
 
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Which internal martial art have you taken/do you prefer?

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