Wudang Tai Chi Chuan applications.

[clouddragon]

When teaching self defence I try to show the application in a combat way and also in the pushing hands. This way the student can apply Tai Chi applications to his pushing hands and steer away from simply pulling and pushing. For both push hands and self defence a practitioner needs to be able to listen to the opponents force and change accordingly. Many believe Tai chi to be simply a counter attacking martial art which fundamentally it is. However in a fight situation there are three timings, A) before B)during C)after. After is when the opponent has attacked and we have failed to respond and have been possibly struck in some way, we then try to react if we can but it is too late. During is when the opponent launches an attack and we redirect and then counter strike. Before is where the opponent has shown his intent and we hit first before the attack has got off the ground. He may have pulled his fist back to strike so we take advantage. Sometimes the fight is on and we may launch a fake attack to cause the opponent to react and attack us when and where we want him to so we can use our counter attacking system to our advantage. In full contact sparring competition (San Shou) we have a time limit on the gap between the fighting. I think it is eight seconds before points start being deducted. This is usually ok as the Tai Chi players are usually pitched against hard style Kung Fu fighters who have no problem whatsoever in attacking within that time. But often you will have to spot a gap in the defence or provoke the opponent to attack. A low guard can make him attack the head or a high guard can make him attack low. He can also deflect your attack and you will need to change accordingly to follow his movement. I welcome any discussion from any style on this subject of before, during and after an attack. Here is a video to demonstrate my point from a Tai Chi perspective:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG0sUm_k3EE]YouTube - Wudang Tai Chi Chuan Applications Part Four. Cloud Dragon Tai Chi Nottingham.[/ame]

[Masterkungable]

Nice teaching I understand these concepts well, the students get to learn about how to follow there opponent. Sometime I think attack is a good idea but Tai Chi and Aikido seem to defend only yes?

[clouddragon]

Fundamently defend and counter but as I show in the clip we can indeed make the first move and recover from any type of counter.

[Masterkungable]

Reocovery move can be made also when we defend but fail and have to change what we are doing instantly or lose the fight yes?

[clouddragon]

"Recovery" is a key concept in medieval weapons training, after missing with a certain technique one recovers with a guard, parry or follows up the technique. This is also a key concept for skilled practitioners in any martial art. Most TCC practitioners have never heard of it and know even less about how to use it. I welcome any feed back from other styles on this subject?

[Daniel]

Hi. I love the video, I do a bit of Chen Tai Chi myself xx

[ashley]

Thanks for the video.

Well the notorious 'fake attack' plays its part big time in martial arts. We have seen time and time again even experienced martial artists fall victim to this by beginner students.

I like the way you have broken the fight down into before, during and after. Thinking about the different elements in this way gives a better understanding of how we can defend ourselves.

As you will agree, a lot of style see an attack in the 'before' stage as an opportunity. This is an opportunity because the attacker has actually left him/herself open. You mentioned a draw back for a punch in the 'before' stage; a better, more experienced and fluid martial artist may use this opening to attack before they even get to the 'during' stage, but this really depends on the level of the attacker.

In Jiu-Jitsu we were taught in so many applications to defend/counter in the 'before' stage, - ie blocking an attack the moment just before it is implemented, but you have to be quick and constantly on the ball, in real life you can never keep this constant frame of mind.

From my experience for better self defence we need to learn how to defend at both before, during and after as you specified.

[clouddragon]

I agree it would be an awful existence if we had to remain switched on at all times ready to move in the before stage. The closest Iv'e been been to the before stage is when a rather large road raged lunatic launched an attack at my partner and I on the street where we live. As he threw his punch I deflected and hit him in one movement. This in the Tai Chi Classic "The Fighters Song" is described as "If the opponent moves a little, Then I move first " . Of course this is common sense for any martial art and not in anyway exclusive to Tai Chi. This is really beating the attacker to the punch. However he walked down the length of the street telling the whole universe his intentions so I had plenty of time to prepare lol....

[empty cup]

hi
enjoyed the video, recently we have been videoing our sparring sessions for us to take home and understand the points being made to us. For instance I have a tendancy to overreach my footwork and although I was being reminded of this I was not really fully seeing how bad it was until I saw it on video.

I am a firm believer in fairly firm sparring so that the concept of action or reaction can properly flow and the techniques be tested. My teacher has two moves that I love.....one is to simply punch your guard [either hand or arm] with a gau choi and the second is too punch you in the leg.

[clouddragon]

Yes it is a very useful tool filming sparring sessions or forms, I didn't realise just how awful my form looked until I first filmed it. It made me cringe, but also forced me to set a few goals. We all have the same 24 hours to train and I had spent mine applying techniques, Pushing Hands (free style) and sparring and my favourite pass time Nei Kung (Internal Strength). It was time I developed my form a little, which of course refined all the other elements too!

I used to teach a Monday class which someone called fight Club lol... Now we kept a camera running all through so we could watch later to analyse our mistakes and find ways to improve. I used to have students ask to come to my house and watch the videos etc..

As for attacking the guard I use a technique called Fist Under Elbow when sparring without the gloves. This is where I provoke a reaction by jabbing upwards to the wrist joint with one hand and if quick enough one can also strike the elbow joint with the other clenched fist. It can be very painful and can put the arm out of action if used for real, but as a nasty little jabbing method used to provoke can make the opponent launch an attack just when you want him to! It can also be used to strike the wrist, elbow and then ribs or indeed leg as you mentioned which if done with power as you will know can stop the fight.