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Old 02-14-2012, 02:28 PM   #12
kvnmcwebn
Dojo: rillion gracie ireland
Location: The Bog
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 21
Ireland
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Re: Aikido, Tai Chi & Street Fighting

The first most important thing is the skill of the teacher the second most important thing is how hard you train, after that comes the style you train in. As you are middle aged i think you are correct in looking at internal styles. Anyway if you want to study aikido but happen to be living next door to a real master of tai chi than study tai chi and vice versa.
As far as effectiveness in street fights I can't speak for aikido but I have studied tai chi chuan for about 15 years. Some styles of tai chi develop incredible speed and power, some don't. But it takes a long time. As you are middle agded it will take years not months to develop real power in tai chi. That is because the type of power you develop in tai chi has to be learned by progressing from relaxing the body, posture correction, a form, push hands, weapons practice etc - all of this before you learn applications. It is a linear progression, you can't really take many short cuts. Of course you would be more solid from the first couple classes but to use it effectively against say a western boxer you are talking years not months. Some branches of tai chi have techniques that most of us would never be able to learn unless we had a certain degree of talent and trained with a master daily for many years. So make sure that you find a practical style. Usually the quickest path the development of power is the chen style. you can look around on the web, but try different schools and teachers till you find one you like. The Dong lineage of the yang style is also very practical. Still if your looking to fight quick it's hard to beat western boxing, muay thai or jiu jitsu to get you up to speed fast.

edited to say that i agree with everything alic said. you are reprogramming your body. Years not months. And don't try and learn tai chi from a video, it's not possible at least till you have studied with a master for a couple years. Also if you were to practice tai chi really hard on your own you can damage your knees.

Last edited by kvnmcwebn : 02-14-2012 at 02:38 PM.
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