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Tai Chi?

Nah she just wants a mildly fun way to get some excercise. I think she is just going to order one of the many dvds showing you what to do because she is too self conscious to do such things in a public place.

Thanks for all the help though guys!
 
mrfreeze said:
Nah she just wants a mildly fun way to get some excercise. I think she is just going to order one of the many dvds showing you what to do because she is too self conscious to do such things in a public place.

Thanks for all the help though guys!
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A mildly fun way to get some excercise?

I can think of a few things...
 
mrfreeze said:
Nah she just wants a mildly fun way to get some excercise. I think she is just going to order one of the many dvds showing you what to do because she is too self conscious to do such things in a public place.

Thanks for all the help though guys!
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Sounds good mrfreeze.

I recommend T'ai Chi for Health - Yang Short Form, by Terry Dunn. It also has pretty challenging warmup section.
 
thaiboxerken said:
I am not so sure about that, arth. That's like saying that playing "Duck Hunt" is a good place to learn the basics of firearms.
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The difference is that "Duck Hunt" or other video games (um, I assume that "Duck Hunt" is a video game of some kind..?) don't exercise the same muscle groups that shooting does.

T'ai Chi exercises the body in a way that relates to actual martial arts.

Well, that's what I found anyway. Your mileage may differ.
 
I also studied Tai Chi years ago, several different styles at various times.
I even found one interesting group that was really very good - until they slid firmly into the woo...

Later on, in trying some other actual traditional martial arts, I found the Tai Chi was a good starting point. I'd learned a lot about balance - both keeping my balance and deliberately shifting it as I moved. That was probably the most useful thing.

Certainly the dorky "attack" movements from Tai Chi did no good and I quite rightly abandoned them. Still, as a form of stretching exercises, I'd recommend it. Picking a style is important if you want to stay out of the Granny-classes.
 
T'ai Chi said:
A syllabus typically covers

-stretches and warmup exercises (qigong)
-form study (this is the main bulk of classes)
-sensing/push hands (as you get advanced)
-sword form (as you get advanced)
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So much yin, but where's the yang?
 
thaiboxerken said:
As long as she doesn't start believing in the Chi nonsense, it can be a beneficial exercise. Also, she shouldn't delude herself into thinking that learning Tai Chi is learning how to fight.
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I would disagree. I've studied Taiji for a number of years, and I've beaten a few instructors of other martial arts with it. The people who study taiji and pay attention to its combat applications can be truly scary fighters. The problem is that most of what is taught is the watered down "if you hold your hands in this position for ten years, you become invisible. If you hold your hands in this position for twenty years, you become bulletproof. After fifty years, you become immortal" artsy-fartsy forms.
 
arthwollipot said:
The difference is that "Duck Hunt" or other video games (um, I assume that "Duck Hunt" is a video game of some kind..?) don't exercise the same muscle groups that shooting does.

T'ai Chi exercises the body in a way that relates to actual martial arts.

Well, that's what I found anyway. Your mileage may differ.
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I don't think so at all, unless your idea of fighting is squatting and pushing only.
 
drkitten said:
I would disagree. I've studied Taiji for a number of years, and I've beaten a few instructors of other martial arts with it. The people who study taiji and pay attention to its combat applications can be truly scary fighters. The problem is that most of what is taught is the watered down "if you hold your hands in this position for ten years, you become invisible. If you hold your hands in this position for twenty years, you become bulletproof. After fifty years, you become immortal" artsy-fartsy forms.
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In otherwords, you're the exception and not the rule.

Would you or would you not agree that it would be easier to find instructors that teach people to effectively fight at a Muay Thai school than a Tai Chi school?
 
thaiboxerken said:
In otherwords, you're the exception and not the rule.

Would you or would you not agree that it would be easier to find instructors that teach people to effectively fight at a Muay Thai school than a Tai Chi school?
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Why does it matter if it has worked for him?

He's probably not in taijiquan for other people, Kenneth.
 
thaiboxerken said:
In otherwords, you're the exception and not the rule.

Would you or would you not agree that it would be easier to find instructors that teach people to effectively fight at a Muay Thai school than a Tai Chi school?
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Not without more knowledge of the relevant instructors. There are too many frauds and incompetents -- in all martial arts -- for me to accept anyone's unsupported word about what they teach.

Hell, I could open a school teaching Muay Thai. As long as I do it far away from people who actually know what Muay Thai is....
 
drkitten said:
Not without more knowledge of the relevant instructors. There are too many frauds and incompetents -- in all martial arts -- for me to accept anyone's unsupported word about what they teach.

Hell, I could open a school teaching Muay Thai. As long as I do it far away from people who actually know what Muay Thai is....
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I would say (from my personal experience only) that at equivalent levels of instruction, Muay Thai is absolutely a far better choice if you actually want to learn to fight.

That said, is Tai Chi completely useless for fighting? No. It's better than nothing...

...as long as you don't get a swelled head and think you can take that Muay Thai Dude in the corner, in which case you would be much better off with nothing - and running.
 
arthwollipot said:
I did T'ai Chi for a while and indend to go back to it... er... sometime. I found it good exercise.
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Yeah, I did T'ai Chi once. I mean, I was in college, I thought, why not? This is the time to try new things. So I just dove right in. I have to say though, I wasn't very impressed. To be frank, there was a lot of talk and not a lot of action (if you know what I mean). I mean, I didn't even break a sweat. I found myself just bored, watching the clock and hoping for it to end quickly.
 
drkitten said:
Not without more knowledge of the relevant instructors. There are too many frauds and incompetents -- in all martial arts -- for me to accept anyone's unsupported word about what they teach.

Hell, I could open a school teaching Muay Thai. As long as I do it far away from people who actually know what Muay Thai is....
Click to expand...

I'm talking about probabilities. It's much easier to find a Muay Thai school that teaches people how to fight than to find a Tai Chi school that also teaches people how to fight. Most Tai Chi is taught as exercise and a woo-woo ritual to gather "chi." Most Muay Thai schools teach people to fight.
 
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