Fang Mountain Tai Chi for MMA: Why I Like Kung Fu

My little talk about some of the unique benefits of Chinese Martial Arts, as given to my friend Stephen Ross of Real Anime Training. Stephen is coming out to Fang Mountain for our advanced combat training camp this summer. As an MMA fighter with 4 fights under his belt he was anxious to see if any of my stuff actually worked. I did my best to show him here that although, only one of many great fighting traditions Kung Fu is still pretty awesome.

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Sports

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[randyds5]

I think this video is refreshing. I think if wrestlers did tai chi push hands, they would benefit. Fact is , all styles have unique skills. I agree with everything said in this video. Hell, even Vitor Belfort got inspiration from wing chun in his "vitor blitz", but he modified it a bit. All arts are beneficial. Unless you have actually dug deep in other arts, the negative posters will never understand. great video!!

[GOG777]

@randyds5 Thanks for the comment. A buddy of mine is a good wrestler, who has also been practicing taiji with me. He just took a fight on 12 days notice, and basically only knows wrestling and kung fu. Hopefully, he does well and I can post another video soon to better illustrate your point.

[AFGalwayz]

the stuff is just too complicated to be practical.

you can gain practical useful knowledge just from bagwork and hard sparring.

one thing ive seen personally is that once you actually try and use these striking martial arts, it all ends up looking like kickboxing or sanda. in that case, why not learn that in the first place.

[GOG777]

@AFGalwayz That's a good point but you must admit there is a big difference between, sanda, muay thai, and IKF kick boxing. There's also a big difference between southern and northern Muay Thai. When Taiji is used under kick boxing rules it does take on the appearance of kick boxing, but if the practitioner is competent, the Taiji or Kungfu style also has its own unique characteristics as well.

[AFGalwayz]

@GOG777 yes i understand that there are differences within the same arts. for example, there many different styles in boxing. but in the end its all boxing. i see it the same way here. yes these arts will prefer perhaps a focus on different types of attacks, i.e. kicks instead of punches, knees instead of elbows. etc etc.

but in the end in a lot of cases they look so different than the forms or training that they do, that they actually look closer to other full contact sparring arts.

[GOG777]

Hopefully after this summer, when I've put another 540 hours into Taiji, I'll be able to show you something approximating true Chinese combat science. At present, I have to admit that the evidence available online is all on your side of the debate. Thanks for watching my videos and double thanks for thinking enough of what you saw to leave a comment!

[AFGalwayz]

@kyon9394 i agree and there is where the problem lies. a good example is if you look at youtube there is aiki boxing series where some aikido practitioners try go out of the norm and have a little sparring. it all ends up looking like sloppy boxing mixed in with a standard judo throw here and there. this is because they have not practiced aikido in a full contact situation, so they have no perception of "effectiveness" and what works in what situation.

[taijicannon]

COG777 Good stuff.

[kyon9394]

@AFGalwayz

That is because the dances have way too strict positioning and timing. Let's say that if we were to break down those dance moves and practice them separately at different distances, angles and variations; then they would just be as effective as Boxing for example. Boxers that specialize on uppercuts practice uppercuts at different angles, heights and timing. The same can be done with traditional Chinese martial arts but those "traditional arts" are too stubborn to do it.

[AFGalwayz]

@kyon9394 you can execute dances a zillion times but someone who put the same amount of effort and time and has the same natural skill as you, will be much better than you at self defence / fighting. i understand its not always about being the better fighter and the other aspects of martial arts are also beneficial but strictly from a self defence and fighting stand point there are much better and useful options a person can practice if he wants to truly dedicate himself to that cause.

[kyon9394]

@AFGalwayz

They just have to break down TaiChi moves and do the different variations until fighters can execute them without second though but reflex. Well, that is also part of the reason why Chinese martial arts require practitioners to do the dances like zillions of times so that they can execute them without second thought.

[kyon9394]

@AFGalwayz

Chinese people are stubborn with tradition. Because of such stubbornness, a lot of the martial art applications are lost.

KickBoxing, Thai or Sanda have the applications broken down to simple steps. And then they train their apprentices for quick response with various variations over and over so that they can execute them without thinking. The same can be done with traditional martial arts like TaiChi.

[kyon9394]

@AFGalwayz

The reason why it is complicated is because the traditional martial art masters made it so. In the past, masters would fear that if they taught their secrets to their apprentices, they would run out of business. They would go as far as masking the techniques into a dance and have all the apprentices to practice the dance so that visitors would have no idea what is going on. And then they would only teach the applications to their most preferred apprentices.

[dekal1]

@McStealthier I practice TaiJi Quan. ANd I can see that he knows it very well. All I can tell you, is be careful. Good luck.

[AFGalwayz]

@randyds5 i agree. the more you know the better of course.