I’m a boxer and I’m interested in tai chi for cross-training purposes—combining an external art with an internal one to better understand power generation and body mechanics. However, I’ve read that tai chi takes a long time to learn and I only have a year to study with an instructor. Would this be enough time to see tai chi’s influence (and benefits) in my boxing or would I be better served cross-training in another art?
Whether or not you'd benefit more in another art depends largely on what issues you think cross training will solve, and what your ultimate goals are. You can definitely learn from tai chi's power generation, and body control within a year though to see a positive on your body IF you are training with a good instructor that knows/teaches how to use it for fighting. That alone might take a while to find depending on where you live.
Good question. My mind immediately assumed yang style since that's what I'm familiar with-so here's a late disclaimer: the above comment is about yang style taught with a combat focus. I've no clue about how long it takes to use what you learn from other styles of TCC.
If you throw right jab, left hook, when your opponent blocks your right jab, do you use
1. boxing method - your left hook just punch through the new opening, or
2. Taiji method - you change your right jab into a grab, you then pull his arm, create more opening, and left hook to that new opening?
The boxing method is faster, The Taiji method is safer that you have more control over your opponent's arm. The concern is when you have boxing gloves on, grab and pull can be difficult to do.
1. boxing method - your left hook just punch through the new opening, or
2. Taiji method - you change your right jab into a grab, you then pull his arm, create more opening, and left hook to that new opening?
The boxing method is faster, The Taiji method is safer that you have more control over your opponent's arm. The concern is when you have boxing gloves on, grab and pull can be difficult to do.
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
I will also add. I had a long talk with a guy who fought MMA, several years back. He was doing Qigong and interested in Taijiquan. He wold do anything that he thought would improve his chances of winning and he felt Qigong help his focus and he was picking my brain about taijiquan because he through that too would help his focus as well as his body unity
I think this will be enough time depending on the instructor. You won't be able to fight with Tai Chi but there are some principles about relaxing, sensing, rooting, and balance that you'll pick up long before you can start fighting with Tai Chi.
The most important thing is probably the following
1. Find and instructor that knows how to use and train Tai Chi as a fighting system.
2. Push hands has to be part of your training
3. Daily practice is a must.
The kung fu organization that I'm a part of train Tai Chi to help balance all of the hard hitting and blocking that we do. It helps to develop our soft and internal methods. Can I fight using Tai Chi, only with the parts that are similar to how I fight, so in short... Nope.
Have I used Tai Chi concepts? Yes.
Did they work? Yes, and better than I expected.
Tai Chi help me to recognize the small shift in my opponent. For example, if you punch me 3 or 4 consecutive times then I'll be able to tell if your stance is week or strong and where it's weak. This is important to me because I like to sweep.
It also helped me train to make my punches and movement begin and end at that same time. Physically it made a lot of my smaller muscles stronger. I still practice it today, but not as much. People who just do Tai Chi for health purposes aren't going to have a big affect on your boxing because their focus in tai chi isn't fo fighting. So things like punching and body movement are things that they can't teach. So make sure you learn it from someone who trains the fighting applications.
The fitness Tai Chi also won't be able to show how to drive power strikes. I studied Yang Style. The stuff that will help you will won't be the Tai Chi techniques, it'll be the Tai chi principles and methods that are used.
There are good principles in Tai Chi that translate well with other fighting systems. If I trained boxing, I would first start with those, as they are much easier to learn than the actually Tai Chi fighting applications. The only applications I can probably pull of in a real fight are those that are similar to what I already do.
With the little bit of Yang style that I know, there aren't many techniques that can actually be used in boxing.
If you want to throw right jab, left cross, right hook, left hook, right uppercut, left uppercut (6 punches combo) by using Taiji method, how will you do it differently from the boxing method?
In other words, what's the difference between a boxing punch and a Taiji punch?
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With the little bit that a person would learn in a year, I wouldn't. The most that I think I can honestly do would be to use Brush knee push palm. I think I can convert that into boxing. Instead of striking with palm strike with fist. But If I had a year to learn, I wouldn't worry about trying to translate Tai chi strikes to boxing. That'll just cause me to kick a boxer, I'll get confused.
But there are some sensory things in Tai chi that work great because it doesn't change they system that you are using to fight with.
I can probably use the hooks that are in thai chi for boxing. I can't remember the technique name but it's the one that does the double punches to the ears. My thought, is if those are really strikes then I can use them in a different manner. If it's a grappling move then I won't be able to use it in boxing. I have a couple of theories about it, but haven't had the time to actually give it a try.
If you throw a right jab, your opponent blocks your arm to your left. Before his arm contacts your arm, you change your jab into a hook (avoid arm contact) to his head and knock him down. In the whole process, which part of your Taiji training that can help you so far?
If you drill right jab, right hook combo 1000 times daily, How do you know whether you are doing boxing or Taiji?
In other words, when you train right jab, right hook combo, does style have any meaning at all?
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