Some time in the mid 90s I discovered Shuai Chiao. It was a revelation. Suddenly, all the fantastical and dubious movements I was learning in forms became practical grappling skills. Completely changed my point of view on traditional arts and made me see the real value in them.
I thought the same about a lot of forms in traditional wushu, karate also. It seems knowledge about throws, locks etc. have been lost through generations and a lot people interpret forms in absurd ways, like they try to put a square peg in a round hole. One of my favorite sources of information was manga "Kenji", about japanese teen who travels through China and learns a lot of traditional styles. You can laugh at small kid beating the adults, but it improved my knowledge and made me realise how much real wushu differs from olympic stuff made for exhibition.
@@cahallo5964 It is nice to hear, i seen a lot of karate guys who basically make kickboxing in uniforms. Savate, even boxing had some grappling back in the old days, at least sanda guys know how to use both strikes and throws. In my town i seen one traditional wushu club where people were taught throws etc. and they were sparring, using the pads, not swing in the air for most of the time.
Yeah lotta TCMA "masters" are just hobbyists and have very little clue on what skills in Kata actually do so once you do Shuai Chiao or Sanda, there is Eureka
Not at all. This guy is way off. Tai Chi is a striking art. It can be used as a grappling art actually it can be used for anything it needs to be used for. It's flat out false though to try and rebrand Tai Chi as a wrestling art. It's just not true.
@@therealchristophernomiddle376Taichi is not exactly a striking art. You have like very, very few punches in any Taichi forms. But it's not exactly a wrestling style either. The fighting distance of Taichi is exactly in between striking and grappling. It's the push-hands distance. It's a touching and controlling style, if that makes any sense.
Proper teachnig as well. Many amateurs pick traditional styles to make money off people who're not ready for real hardships and are easily fooled by esoteric stuff.
@@UnexpectedWonder Aikido did kind of start out as a cult though. Look it up. I think Aiki-jujitsu, which Aikido took the moves from originally, is more of a martial art.
I always thought debates over modern martial arts vs traditional martial arts seemed quite simplistic. Ramsey Dewey, as showed on the video, always has some interesting points to make on the subject.
It’s ridiculous, this mindset seems to teach people that before the modern era East Asians just fucking danced and kowtowed to older men and somehow passed it off as fighting for hundreds of years. I also hate it when people say that TMA makes “good supplementary material”. It’s SUPPOSED TO BE THE WHOLE MATERIAL ITSELF.
It's not that simplistic, the main complaint is that most TMA styles are not good at fighting. There are certainly other aspects that are valuable in them, and no one questions that. The fact is if your art actually spars or puts your style under stress against actively resistant opponents then it will be usefull in a fight. If not it won't. It can be good for your health, mental and physical. But if you never actually traded punches you won't be great at trading punches. If you never had to wrestle/throw a resisting opponent to the ground, you won't be good at wrestling/throwing people to the ground. I trained a traditional style of Karate called Uechi Ryu, and we sparred hard every class. I still had gaps that I filled up with boxing, Muay Thai and jiu jitsu. I still have gaps, lots when it come to grappling, several when it come to striking. What real fighters don't like is how the traditional folks seem to think they have no gaps. We're not insulting your styles, we're insulting your arrogance thinking you can get all you need for fighting in one place or thinking you can fight when what you do is combat themed yoga.
@@dacedebeer2697 Similarly to what the commenter above pointed out, the main problem I'd have with your argument is the supposition that people in ancient times could go their entire lifes bullshiting their way through fights. The problem with "traditional styles" is not necessarily the "tradition" part. I genuinely think is more reasonable to believe that tradition has, in many cases, been corrupted (as Ramsey Dewey often seems to suggest). But, anyway, that's just my guess!
@@jaederferreiradeoliveira6496 what happened is that tradition ended up focusing around the training and not what you were training for. The old masters would fight. And they developed interesting ways to train aspects around fighting to make them better at fighting. Those methods got repeated over and over and became the martial arts we know of today, but the actual fighting was put aside because actual fighting is hard and most people don't want to fight for fun. Like I said I trained a traditional style of Karate, one of the three original schools (Goju, Uechi and Shorin) and this is the difference I see between someone that trains actual contact combat sports and someone that trains forms only os point sparring only. It's great, you get to know you body better and all that. Butnof you don't fight then you can't fight. The judgement in only on that aspect of the thing.
@@dacedebeer2697 And you know this because? I mean, I believe what I believe through actually going out and exploring the Kung Fu community, but what the hell, “modern” martial arts practitioners know the truth
After 15 years of internal martial arts I started BJJ a few years ago. There are certainly direct martial applications of tai chi moves as you demonstrate here. I’d say the training time to be effective with them is quite lengthy compared to say Muay Thai or BJJ and there are maybe a handful of people left in the world who really know martial tai chi. That said, the internalized body motions, silk reeling strength, etc… are almost like “superpowers” when combined with more direct forms of combat training. Moreover the type of speed, movement capabilities, and strength you develop are of a type that is much more sustainable past your 20s/30s than conventional conditioning such as heavy weight training. People laugh at the speed with which forms are practiced but moving precisely and correctly at a slow speed builds much more strength and control than using momentum to rush through and cognitively it somehow allows you to slow perceived time and see your opponent in slow motion during an applied scenario. Thanks for the cool content.
:100: I'm in my early fifties with a hilarious list of injuries, and can still give your average grappler a mutually-entertaining surprise. Also can vouch on the slo-mo'ing effect, which can be doubly freaky when you're actually moving more *slowly* than your partner. There's nothing mystical about it, it's just really high level awareness and learning how your core *actually* works so that your whole self is moving in ways that feels like you're doppler'ing your opponent's movements if they leave their torso stable while firing the limbs.
There is a concept in learning to play guitar fast, which is to play fast, play slower. What prevents you from moving fast is poor form, and that can only be corrected by slowing right down and ironing out the errors that are slowing you down.
The creator of Tai Chi Chen Wang Ting was a retried military general so it makes sense to think he created Tai Chi to supplement military Shuai Jiao and not for it to become it's own styles.
I love this kind of content from your channel. There are very few martial arts channels analyzing the movements from "traditional" martial arts in a realistic way. I've done Karate for a little over ten years and learned quite a lot from your videos about Karate "chops" that has inspired me to learn grappling (BJJ) to see what I can apply to Kata. Thank you Ramsey keep up the great work.
I also went to BJJ after I realized that about traditional martial arts. I met quite a few past and present TMA practitioners in the gym. I'm wondering whether the other grappling arts are seeing the same influx.
Yes, most strange forms of Taichi and most Chinese TMA is actually shadow grappling, and the grappling application of the forms was kept as a secret and only taught to only a few close "apprentices" while forms were taught to the general students. And you have to earn your master's appreciation to become "apprentices" to have access to the secret. The "secret" has no value today but while there is no internet, knowing how to grapple probably makes a huge difference in terms of whether you can win or not.
You have always been a breath of fresh air on the internet. Unlike lots of MA youtuber or, worse, keyboard warriors, your take on traditional martial arts is always 200% spot on. Unlike the simplistic dismissal of a style, your explanation is as articulate and informative as someone who has devoted his life to studying fighting. Striking, grappling and even weaponry... Your videos are always a wealth of knowledge. Thank you for all you do.
I had this insight when the owner of my old Judo school pointed out to me what was essentially a shoulder crunch to a straight arm lock from standing from their kata system. I didn't look much further into it then but I did learn to appreciate it more.
YES! I once studied with a classical tai chi guy who had also won some full contact competitions in Asia. He could be really fast when he wanted to be, and would enter really aggressively, and once in close, that's where Tai Chi really shines, because so much if it is about attacking the opponent's balance. And all those low, kungfu-looking stances work really well in close. If you check out one of those short Tai Chi forms like the 24 or 42 form, you'll probably get a kick out of it.
I used to a go to a Chen Taijiquan class. Mostly, elderly people came for gentle exercise, but the people who wanted to learn what it's FOR got to stay after the class and we did stuff like this :D Once the flowery terms got to reduced to concepts of direction of force, it made loads more sense. There are a good few forms with multiple purposes, too - just a few tweaks and they're adaptable. I do remember some things that worked as strikes, but even then there was an amount of dragging people into the strikes! It's been a decade or so... Makes me wish I could go back!
Being someone that practices combat Tai Chi, I can and do verify everything Ramsey said is spot on. Tai Chi is basically the Chinese version of college wrestling, especially the dropping of your weight when grabbing.
@@peterwang5660 Untrue. The techniques are the same, but the methods of training are different. For example, Tai Chi is taught through forms while college wrestling is taught through drills. Some people learn faster through forms while others learn faster through drills. For example, I’m a forms man while other people hate forms and prefer drills. I hate drills. They bore me to tears.
@@peterwang5660 maybe no value to you, but it does to me and while it is grappling heavy art it's also includes strikes which college wrestling doesn't
All "soft" styles are grappling based. Jiu-jitsu means soft art for those who don't know. Just like how boxers do shadow boxing, tai chi forms are shadow wresteling.
I think this a simple explanation about simple principles. As in the Kung Fu Panda Movie, "the secret is that there in no secret". Taichi fighting is wrestling, no magic required.
Love the video. I teach tai chi here in the states and there are some boxing and kicking elements in tai chi but you’re right that most of it is wrestling. You can you apply the principal of tai chi to striking arts. Before I started tai chi I used to teach tae Kwon do and karate and one of the best ways my Sifu related the teachings back to me was telling me that Mike Tyson was the best tai chi player he ever saw. This never made sense to me right away but years down the road I was able to comprehend and digest that information. When I watch Tyson fight now I’m able to see the principles he implements when fighting are the same we were trying to achieve when practicing the form or fighting ourselves. It made me really rethink and retrain some of practice that I personally do. I personally incorporate more boxing into my own practice using the technique from our form.
@@deanbaird3559 I do. As a matter of fact I practice judo as well to better understand the Shuai jiao in the form. Tai chi is one of those art that you really need to train with other styles to unlock the information in the form. When I was training the striking aspect, I went and sparred with guys at a Thai school to get honest and real feed back. Plus when you end up seeing movement in the form in the practiced in a practical by other style the tai chi form make so much more sense.
@@deanbaird3559 Definitely. The core Taichi techniques/priniciples basically plays hand in hand with stand up grappling/wrestling. Taichi is however lacking in the ground game as do most CMAs because the fight is largely considered a loss if you go to the ground.
George Foreman said he was surprised that he does Tai Chi in his Boxing style like this😂 I've studied him and his trainers Sandy Saddler and Archie Moore who also applied these principles in Boxing, and so I used them heavily in my own sparring with great success😂 I also shadowbox/wrestle the Boxing clinch heavily and find that so far I am always the more comfortable person there in sparring, but I also cross train Sumo with my Brother and that has also helped tremendously lol
whoa I'm amazed how you have similar thoughts with mine. a newbie who went to the gym I work at last Dec30 asked if stuff like aikido, capoeira, and taichi would be good for fighting... I basically expounded on how I think their concepts, movements, and techniques work best when used or done to wrestle. a ton of people just get stuck with having their minds revolving around striking, small joint manipulation, and all those hubbub and forget about just overall body control and mechanics
I do not care about the naysayers. This video is fantastic. I never looked at Tai Chi in this way before. It looks like alot of fun when you put the forms into practice!
Great Video, Ramsey! Tai Chi has a lot of grappling, but few Instructors teach, practice or even realize what the form movements are for! Like any Martial Art, you have to spar, and pressure test the techniques to make them practical.
Lord of shin kicks in my style. Buddha palm strikes too. Eye gauges. An internal TaiChi strike feels pretty interesting too when it gets you in the gut.
I think we need to punch and kick before grapp our opponent, that kick and punches also will be usefull if our opponent want to strike us before we can grapp him
Great video. Something to add as a long term Taiji practitioner, the style you e seen might be 90% grappling, but there are lots of different styles of Taiji. The style I do it more striking based, maybe 70/30. Meaning the forms and traditional training methods. Obviously one could focus more on one area then it would seem Taijiquan or a more one thing than another.
The Chen is my favorite internal combat art. If you, if you just really know how to use and apply it's techniques and power, you'll be one bad mofo. It's never let me down!!! Great video brother.
Good confirmation! Since I've had some BJJ/NMA training, it's helping me to better interpret my kungfu and tai chi. The arm drag is holding ball. Wish I could jump in and demo Battle oh th Precious Chickens. It's an undertook, controlling the upper arm w a neck tie to the inside. You crank the arm back dragging the head down. We had a seminar at SBG for law enforcement and was taught this as one of the take downs. I'm taking a break. But when I get back, I realize I need to learn more about wrestling. Not only is it some of the most primitive. It is also the most fundamental to our training . Tai chi, on the other hand, is a product of mastery. People who train for 80 years end up looking like that!
You are absolutely correct about Tai Qi. Another thing it focuses on (at least what I learned was breathing. I had 5 forms of qigong I learned (earth air fire water, and a form that included switching between all 4) In qigong I just learned the breathing. The Tai chi I learned is where the forms came from and they were all wrestling techniques with a focus on using the correct breathing techniques for the correct wrestling technique. For example, catching a kick to the chest we world use earth breathing, the leg throw would use fire. There are striking techniques in the Tai qi I learned, mostly in the fire forms. But it was not a focus.
I noticed you spelled it as "Tai Qi" instead of Tai Chi or Taiji. Are you aware that "Chi" in Tai Chi is a completely different character than "Qi Energy"? Ramsey Dewey made a video to clarify this common confusion. Qi in "Qigong" does actually refer to Qi energy, but Chi in Tai Chi does not.
Yes I am aware. The Kung Fu (Gong Fu) i learned was based on Three principles. Iron body (Physical condition, strength training, etc) Qigong (Qi Kung anglicized): Breathing. Literally Air Skill. Qin Na: technique. As afr as i know Qin Na is the oldest form of Chinese Martial art, existing before Indian Breathing techniques came to china. My striking comes from a southern form of long fist. Not Chang Quan, but simular, and i have not been able to find it's origin. Little Red Fist, and changquan are simular and so i learned Changquan when i could not find it. Anyway, the Tai Chi i was taight meant Tai (Suprime, or Divine, or Masterful) Qi (breath) and focussed on breathing techniques from Qigong. To this day if you look up Qigong, it is associated with Tai Chi. Google "Define Qigong " So to this day anytime hear "Chi" I associate it with "Qi" (for air, breath, etc) I do the same thing With Wing Tsun (Wing Chun) Chin Na )(Qin Na) and Chang Quan. Thi are many ways to write Tai Chi and there are are several qualifiers to the term. Tai Chi Quan, Taiji Tian Tiji, etc. If you google "Tai Qi", you will get Taichi. By spelling it the way i do i specify that i am focusing on the Qigong. not the fighting fo0rms, or the wrestling. (all of that comes form my study of Qin Na and long Fist, and boxing, and wrestling. Hope that helps.
Single whip is a punch but backwards. Brush knee is a palm strike. Cloud hands is very deep in its application, and the move is very difficult to do properly.
Brush knee is also a throw, single whip can be both a throw and set of strikes of the lead arm. You cant exactly punch backwards, so I assume you are seeing goose neck as a back fist.
@@BWater-yq3jx Probably. The correct body mechanics will always make your training more effective. That has been the greatest benefit I got from Chen style Tai Chi.
I think most martial arts that have forms or kata are wrestling or grappling that people don't realize it's there. Unless it's specifically sports like boxing and Muay Thai (I know they don't have forms but just for the purpose of argument, combinations).
In BJJ, you can find numerous concepts borrowed from traditional martial arts. Turning the toes in, straightening the curve of the spine by tucking the hips, tucking the chin, keeping tall posture, etc.
Oh this video is fantastic Ramsey, so many times westerners have woefully misinterpreted traditional styles this way, they think the slow movements and the katas do nothing but like you point out you are doing the equivalent of shadow boxing and it's also helping to develop muscle memory they also don't know individual styles have their own ways of developing power in the techniques. One of the reasons the standards can be garbage in dojos that practice traditional martial arts is sadly the instructors haven't learned any of this and are just making it up as they go along which then leads to an overall drop in the standards as I'm sure a lot of us who practice traditional know. It would be really great if you took a look at Shotokan katas because I think these kinds of videos will really help MMA people especially understand what's going on.
Tai Chi Chuan as is is definitely mostly grappling. The history behind it is fascinating. The story I read is that there was a guy who was a famous martial artist who was known to have the best martial art in the land. Then the emperor (I can’t remember which dynasty/period it was) wanted to learn it so he had this guy teach him. However, the Tai Chi he practiced had many difficult and athletic movements, like any other martial art in the East at the time, like jumping stuff and all that, especially like what one would expect any high-level practitioner of other Wu Tang art to be able to do. So, he had to simplify it, otherwise it would be off with his head because the emperor wouldn’t be able to learn it quickly enough. Soon enough, it either became popular or was made law/standardized that everyone in China started doing it. So the simple forms we see most people doing today are really just the basics, and usually grappling in any martial art is crucial and is, therefore, part of the basics. I’ve seen more advanced forms of Tai Chi and it is much more dynamic and fascinating than we’re all used to seeing, but like many other high-flying and dynamic traditional arts, looks like mostly fancy striking that may be powerful, but probably impractical, except maybe for developing athleticism.
It sounds like you're referring to Yang Luchan, the founder of Yang Family Taijiquan. He was the first outsider to learn from the Chen Family, making him essentially a Chen Style Taijiquan practitioner. But, it's not just jumping, athletic stuff, he removed any movements that involved forming two fists with your hands. A lot of striking applications got removed as well. As such, Yang Taijiquan is a fraction of Chen Taijiquan's curriculum.
Very interesting. You've applied Tai Chi to Grappling. I personally view the katas applied to Striking. They also help with Footwork, Blocking, Parrying, and more. I guess Tai Chi is a Hybrid Martial Art that's very versatile. I've considered some of the Grappling applications naturally, but these Techniques make so much since similar to much of Aikido and Wing Chun.
I watched some Zhaobao Taiji (one of, if not the oldest branches of Taiji along with Chen family) applications from an older practitioner named Wang Qingsheng and his students about a year ago and many of the movements have directly translated into my BJJ training, especially in no-gi where I try to spend more time in grappling and trapping range. Zhaobao Taiji has this concept called "San He Yi (三合一, Three Into One)" which means that the movements in the forms translates to how you use it in tuishou and then directly into combat. Of course you have to consider that real combat is much, much more chaotic and spontaneous than in tuishou, but knowing how to use the specific movement and how to control both your opponents' position and your own helps greatly.
Interesting the deeper and more sophisticated striking arts get like karate, capoeira, Kung fu, fencing, even boxing and kick boxing end up in how to grapple.
Yes, you can with many fights without throwing punches but chances are that you will not win that many without grabbing, pushing and throwing your opponent.
Nice video with some good content. I have been a martial artist for 35 years and a tai chi player for about 25 of those years. I agree it is mostly useful for upright grappling with the addition of very close-range striking power using chest, shoulders, hips, and elbows that very few people get to a level that they can pull off. It is very structure oriented, and underneath the mysticism are solid biomechancis. There are strikes, but I think it shines the best at a certain range of grappling. I believe the striking misconception came from people not understanding the Supreme ultimate boxing method did not mean what they thought it meant, but was rather a boxing method based off of the Chinese Supreme Ultimate philosophical belief of taiji being the differentiation of the void state giving birth to Ying and yang. It is martial art that tries to associate itself with and emulate that state. It does not mean the Supreme ultimate boxing method in the way we would naturally think of those words in the English language. I have trained with many great martial artists and there are quite a few who can apply tai chi practically, but almost all have to use some other martial art or skill with their tai chi to make it work. I have only met one true master who could actually practically apply tai chi by itself as an effective martial art. I am lucky enough to have him as my primary teacher now. It is a wonderful art that will make everything else you do better, but I would never recommend it as a first choice for someone who just wants to get good at fighting within a reasonable amount of time.
You hit the nail on the head Michael, a lot of the best exported elements Chinese culture is wrapped up in esotericism that is too easy to pass off as superstition, and often times requires a lot of dedicated practice that is made unreasonable for a modern person because they have to decipher the esotericism first. It’s absolutely pathetic that this is the state of our most successful cultural exports, and Chinese martial arts have it the worst. Chinese Medicine at least has scientific literature backing it (that is ignored and poorly understood by the mainstream medical community but whatever).
@@peterwang5660 Most people don't really bother going past that esotericism, only really appealing to those who are either academically minded or are receptive to it but are rational enough to decipher it. A lot of people who are into fighting only want to get straight to the point, especially westerners with how their civilization and culture is set up. Which is why I see Tai Chi either being lost in translation to become it's woo woo magic healing exercise form (this use is still entirely valid tbf, as the slow methodical movements and breathing exercises massively improve overall health and mind-muscle connection) or is completely dismissed as bullshido/completely ineffective. Socioeconomic conditions in China might've also been at fault here, as many people end up simply wishing to exploit that esotericism in Tai Chi, with fake masters being in bed with the government to try and grift weak, vulnerable and esoterically minded people outta their cash. Real fighting and combat sports (MMA especially) is often seen as too violent and barbaric in... well, most East Asian cultures for that matter (Basically "fight clean and like a gentleman" but cranked to max, and broken faces or cauliflower ears aren't socially acceptable) and past governments (The Qing Dynasty in particular) used to effectively ban martial arts as a fighting form for hundreds of years, leaving it to decay or buried in mysticism to hide the actual techniques else the masters face brutal punishment.
Tai Chi has chin na techniques which are grappling techniques. Yes there is some striking but the striking is performed off of the grappling techniques
Thank you Ramsey! I finally understand, what it was that I trained for a few years, a long time ago. I was allways confused of, how my coach could throw me around with no effort at all, with these "magical" energies of his...
The is for taking time to explore this topic and be open to different styles. People are so often quick to judge without any knowledge or depth on the topic.
At 3:44 its a double trap, one of 4 main door openings in chinese kung fu. It´s a contact building / bridging tehcnique. (So like you explained it in the video)
I had a friend once who was big into Tai Chi, and he went so far as to travel to the birthplace the Chen family village in China to study for several weeks. He said he was shocked to see the way they did their push hands exercises looked so much like Greco-Roman wrestling.
I love that Tai Chi is rediscovered time and time again, sure it's seen as just movements these days but a deeper look shows the Martial applications are many
There is a lot more striking in the Chen style than in Yang, but even then, it's a ton of standing grappling. My students are often surprised when they learn that they're learning to fight. It takes a long time to develop the body mechanics, to develop relaxed power, and there are faster ways to learn to fight. Much faster. The difference is that, at 54, I'm a better fighter than I was at 30, and at 30 I was better than I was at 18.
5:17 and 5:20 Well I Know for What they 1- Deflection, Turn rivals Wrists and Open his Arms to Expose Body or Prepare for a Throw, Lock, Submision or Fatal Blow technique 2- Its a Hand Destruction, "Breaking the Palm" by Hiting with your Knuckles the Veins, Nerves and Bones of the Upper side of the Hand so he cant Use it in a Fight anymore.. It resultings in numbness, internal hemorrage or fracture of bones and nerves of the hand.. Its very common move in Chinese, Arabian and FMA styles
No wonder- Gabriel has fought sanda fighters in China. When you fight those guys, they’ll catch your kicks and throw you all over the place and then you’ll want to learn all of it. I have a made a number of videos on the subject over the years.
I remember the video when he described the little old man kicking his ass but I don’t think he mentioned he did through wrestling; it makes more sense now
I was always taught that Taiji Quan is very much a style of stand up grappling. There are punches and kicks but the grappling is very often at the forefront.
If we a draw a distinction between Chen Taijiquan (the origin of Taijiquan) and everything else, then.... You could say that striking is largely removed from other families of Taijiquan. Chen Style has two forms: Yi Lu - focuses more on softness, yielding, trapping methods, structure manipulation, etc... Er Lu - focuses more on hardness, striking, more athletic movements. It is built on top of the foundation of Yi Lu. However... Yang Style, Wu Style, etc... have their forms based on Yi Lu. And even with Yi Lu, they removed any sequence that involved forming two fists with your hands. So... the degree of which Taijiquan has striking or not depends on which style and lineage you refer to. I suspect Ramsey met someone who practiced either Yang or Wu Style.
In my second grappling class we learned a takedown. It goes a little like this: get to his back and hold him in a bodylock. Then push forward making him resist your push. Then quickly pull back and down while steping to the side. All I could think is:"that looks like tai chi"
Actually you dont necessarily need to understand *all* moves in a taichi form (however its probably cool to have all those answers) Its pretty awesome if you can just understand the biomechanics behind your moves, hence you can become organised, stabile, strong end effective during combat. Which would be.. kind of the goal of taichi. To improve your skills as a fighter, in combat.
I strongly believe anyone who wants to learn CMA properly should first learn Shuai Jiao. It's basically the sports version of Taichi. They should teach it in high-school or junior high. Whichever Chinese martial art people go into afterwards Shuai Jiao would make them better martial artists and have a better understanding of their art in its true form. You can't expect the average traditional martial artist to take up Sanda, but Shuai Jiao is a good gateway sport.
Good explanation of the these techniques. My two cents is that I feel like this should have been an obvious answer from reading tai chi manuscripts. This seems especially evident when they start mentioning following and sticking power, or moving slow when your opponent is moving fast. The yin and yang are important when your opponent attempts to overcommit or does not support a portion of themselves. You are mostly attacking the other individuals balance while maintaining yours.
I do like your efforts and your approach, however there is is no TaiJi in this video. TaiJi is first of all about uprooting and there's none of this. You might like to watch the videos of Ian Sinclair who is a very good explainer. Or you ask Chu King Hung (Head of ITCCA) who lives in Shanghai, maybe he will give you an impression (I doubt it, though).
damn, I dunno how you did it, but somehow this video changed everything for me ... I guess I should like and subscribe now, the least I can do, you can't even begin to imagine how much of an impact this had on me
Old martial arts were probably much less specialized skillsets than they are today (like BJJ, boxing, etc). It has a lot of grappling, some striking as well.
Taijiquan or Taichichuan ( "Tai-Chi" doesn't mean anything other than a philosophical concept) it's a peculiar martial art when in combat. It indeed mixes: grappling, trapping and while doing it striking movements with both legs and arms. This happens all at once rather than one by one as you can see in MMA today. You may want to have a look at my videos for more clarifications.
So, here's a thing relating traditional kung fu to MMA which I was thinking about recently, and guess this might be as good a place as any to ask you about it, even though it's not taijiquan-related. In a lot of traditional kung fu styles like Hung Gar or Choy Li Fut (especially Choy Li Fut,) there are a bunch of wide sweeping arm movements which are used to strike opponents with hammerfists, ridgehands, forearm blows, etc. And you see a lot of knockouts with things like wide overhand punches in MMA. But these moves are mostly drawn from boxing, whose ruleset limits fighters to striking, not just with the hands, but with the front part of the knuckles. On the other hand, there are a lot of elite competitive boxers and muay thai fighters out there, whereas, as much as their syllabi might contain useful techniques, there are very few practitioners of arts like Choy Li Fut, Hung Gar, Northern Shaolin, etc. who aspire to be successful competitive fighters, let alone having the pool of training partners to achieve that. Since MMA doesn't have any sort of rule against striking with forearms, backhands, hammerfists, etc. I was wondering if it might benefit from the infusion of techniques from arts which use these sorts of powerful circular hand techniques, which were developed in a context where there weren't such restrictive limitations on what body parts you could strike with. Do you think MMA fighters might benefit from cross-training in these kung fu styles?
@@daniel-zh9nj6yn6y Karate and taekwondo (which Bas has background in,) also make use of forearm strikes, often as an alternate striking surface for ridgehand techniques. But some schools of kung fu use them much more extensively, from different angles, with different targets, etc. I suspect that these might be a useful arsenal addition for MMA fighters, but even if e.g. Choy Li Fut had a very strong reputation for turning out credible challenge fighters back in the day, there just aren't a lot of fighters from these styles who're making a serious effort to break into modern competition.
There's a lot of tai chi and wushu movements in the hapkido system I practice. Obv they're hidden in the techniques, but my instructor points them out to help us remember.
Snake, mantis, tiger, and dragon all have elements of grappling with correct interpretations, perhaps you could look into them as well as most traditional arts have grappling hidden in it.
I have a question for everyone, I was sparring under Kickboxing rules and well... my partner kept clinching me so I did a frame on his wrist into a light shoulder strike to his face. He then suddenly called off the spar and said that was illegal, I am very confused whether if it’s actually illegal or not
Tai chi has strikes, punches, kicks, elbows, knees etc, but they are secondary to the methods that require you to be in contact with the opponent, hence why it looks more like stand-up grappling/wrestling than anything else a modern martial artist would classify. Ramsey's essentially correct in how the movements can be interpreted, but the real gist of tai chi is in how you control your own body's balance, proprioception and structure to make those 'basic' moves more effective than they normally are.
These techniques are effective and are in accord with tai chi principles, however there is more to tai chi than wrestling techniques represented in form. As well as striking, kicking and grappling we also have several two person drills and freestyle 'pushing hands' that develop the principles of ting jin, hua jin and fa jin - 'listening' and detection of intent, diversion redirection and control, discharging.
100% I started in Ba Gua which is very similar. Virtually no one knows that Ba Gua and Tai Chi are almost all wrestling. I've applied similar techniques as you've shown here in my pro fighters, even into the UFC level.
Now that I recall Taekwondo's double joint blocks or even single joint blocks are basic Wrestling and grappling moves used to trap, sweep and submit an oponent.
Thank you, @Ramsey Dewey ! I wish I was rich - if I was, I'd have sponsored your trip to America to, ahem, meet that master :) . Alas, can't afford to do so... but thank you for keeping an open mind ;) ! I've been saying that Tai Chi is wrestling for years now, after learning some folk wrestling and being surprised by the similarities with kung-fu (gong fu) moves. Then I found an old Shuai Jiao book which confirmed my suspicions. And then I moved to BJJ, in order to do more grappling.
So is Jujitsu. Karate as well, even though it is perceived to be a striking art. Most of the time, the method of teaching kata is to display their skill, but also to hide their trade secrets at the same time. Whether the techniques can apply in a street situation is a totally different matter altogether, since anything can happen in a chaotic situation.
Tai chi is basically a lot of redirection and hand trapping it's not a "hard style". But don't sleep on the disrespect anymore to Lord if applied correctly and the person has enough experience it can be effective and useful
Unless you're talking about Chen Style Taijiquan (the origin of Taijiquan) which is both soft and hard and also both external and internal. They have two forms: Yi Lu and Er Lu. Other styles of Taijiquan only inherited a subset of Yi Lu which focuses on yielding, softness, manipulation of structure, etc... but Er Lu, which is built on top of the foundation of Yi Lu, focuses more on hardness and striking. The second form looks like this - th-cam.com/video/GMY0bggniNc/w-d-xo.html&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE&t=999
Awesome video as always Coach! If you’re interested, I would love to hear your thoughts on the grappling match between Gordon Ryan and world strongman athlete Hafthor Bjornson. Is this one of those situations where skill trumps strength? Thank you again for your videos, you are awesome!
Thanks that are some nice interpretations. I don’t know all the tai chi moves but some similar and I’ll try them out with my students This weekend. If anyone got more of these kind of takes on how to realistically applicate tai chi techniques please refer me to them because I really want to make tai chi a functional martial art again and need to get my hands on everything I can get. Thanks
Tai chi and developed martial arts include striking, shuai chiao and chin na. How many teachers include them is a different issue. As is how to have a good training methodology for them. Sports wise you see those partially in San Da (striking/shuai Chiao) and MMA having those aspects but more ground fighting than you would have in a battlefield art.
I train Tai Chi/Wushu and have competition in form competitions. I train MMA/Jiujitsu and teach Krav Maga. Tai Chi can be used in all of these martial arts this is why it's confusing for people. One set of movements help you when training with the gi, the other set of movements no-gi then there are those that work with Muay Thai and then there are movements that teach you theories and principles that can honestly cross many different martial arts. You won't get good at Tai Chi unless you pressure test it and the safest way to do this is combat sports.
Perfectly valid basic applications for Tai Chi forms but I think it's impossible to understand the art unless you train with someone who's very good at it, and train it regularly, without training other styles, for an extended period like 6 months to a year. It's a very subtle and powerful art but so easy to misunderstand. Until I met someone who had trained with a lineage holder for many years I had no real idea of what it was. I imposed all the other styles I had learned on it as everyone does until they encounter the real thing. True Tai Chi changes you. It changes your whole approach and understanding of martial arts. It changes your nervous system, your fascia, your muscles and your understanding of power. But it's pointless to say any of this really, you have to encounter it. My advice is to go and see someone genuine and very high level, like Master Ding in Limehouse, London, for one example I can be certain of, before you make your decisions on what it is.
This is well timed, as i'm looking into Tai Chi therapy, and Yang Style Tai Chi, as well as books on Combat applications of Tai Chi once I get more into those first two things.
I think Rokas from Martial Arts Journey had a video awhile back called "90% of Kung Fu is grappling" which talks about the same stuff. Was pretty surprising, especially since I did Northern Shaolin for two years awhile back (def went to a forms school). Would love to see more vids on traditional martial arts applications.
That title in the video you mentioned come from a guy who learned Jiang Style Baguazhang which is derived from Cheng Style Baguazhang whose founder has a background in Shuai Jiao and his Bagua teacher caters his teachers to student's prior martial art background and physique. In other words.... bias. If you look at Southern Chinese martial arts such as Wing Chun - there's not much grappling. They tend to be very striking heavy.
@@ShadowParalyzer the title should’ve been “Kung Fu is the OG MMA.” It makes sense if you think about Lei Tai matches. It makes me think the whole MMA thing we have here we just reinvented the wheel.
@PaMuShin Why are you inventing imaginary problems with Americans? I’m British, by the way. Keep the discrimination based on nationality off my channel. I won’t stand for it no matter what the context. If you’re insulted at a video demonstrating fighting techniques and that the same time out of the corner of your mouth you’re going to blankety slur 330 million people, then you have lost all of my respect. Kungfu isn’t a martial art. It’s not a style. It’s not a term for Chinese martial arts (of which there are over 400 unique styles.) Gongfu means a highly developed aptitude or skill. It’s time for you to learn some gongfu in communication.
@PaMuShin Chen village is a tourist trap dude. I have been to Xi'an. I have traveled all over China for 15 years and found only one legitimate master, and found many phonies. I am not interested in your counterfeit healing satanic religion. Now, what does Zhou Zhi Peng have to do with anything? What statistics are you talking about?
Chen village does wrestling demonstrations too. There's huge wrestling in all of it. There's almost this other video of a Tai Chu guy wrestling with a famous BJJ guy somewhere.
Hi mr. ramsay, my name is rafsan, iam a 15 y old student from Bangladesh (a small country right besides india).i was wondering if you could make a series of videos of setups for striking +grappling for mma?? Plzzz
Some time in the mid 90s I discovered Shuai Chiao. It was a revelation. Suddenly, all the fantastical and dubious movements I was learning in forms became practical grappling skills.
Completely changed my point of view on traditional arts and made me see the real value in them.
I thought the same about a lot of forms in traditional wushu, karate also. It seems knowledge about throws, locks etc. have been lost through generations and a lot people interpret forms in absurd ways, like they try to put a square peg in a round hole. One of my favorite sources of information was manga "Kenji", about japanese teen who travels through China and learns a lot of traditional styles. You can laugh at small kid beating the adults, but it improved my knowledge and made me realise how much real wushu differs from olympic stuff made for exhibition.
@@Endru85x I learnt throws and locks in karate like 10 years ago so it is not really lost, unlike wushu which is just dancing nowadays.
@@cahallo5964 It is nice to hear, i seen a lot of karate guys who basically make kickboxing in uniforms. Savate, even boxing had some grappling back in the old days, at least sanda guys know how to use both strikes and throws. In my town i seen one traditional wushu club where people were taught throws etc. and they were sparring, using the pads, not swing in the air for most of the time.
Yeah lotta TCMA "masters" are just hobbyists and have very little clue on what skills in Kata actually do so once you do Shuai Chiao or Sanda, there is Eureka
You mean Shuai Jiao??
This transmits more actual tai chi than 90% of most tai chi videos out there. And this actually works!
Humm if you say so
Not at all, he’s just so bad
Not at all. This guy is way off. Tai Chi is a striking art. It can be used as a grappling art actually it can be used for anything it needs to be used for. It's flat out false though to try and rebrand Tai Chi as a wrestling art. It's just not true.
Then you don't understand Taichi.
@@therealchristophernomiddle376Taichi is not exactly a striking art. You have like very, very few punches in any Taichi forms. But it's not exactly a wrestling style either. The fighting distance of Taichi is exactly in between striking and grappling. It's the push-hands distance. It's a touching and controlling style, if that makes any sense.
Just reinforces my theory that it isn'tvtechnique that's lacking in TMA, it's training and sparring. Great video, Ramsey.
and failure to correctly transmit information at some point in the chain
But of course! I've used some Aikido Techniques in actually live situations on the street to help subdue some Individuals.
Proper teachnig as well. Many amateurs pick traditional styles to make money off people who're not ready for real hardships and are easily fooled by esoteric stuff.
@@UnexpectedWonder Aikido did kind of start out as a cult though. Look it up. I think Aiki-jujitsu, which Aikido took the moves from originally, is more of a martial art.
@@TeacherDoug7 It's just a separate School of Thought.
I always thought debates over modern martial arts vs traditional martial arts seemed quite simplistic. Ramsey Dewey, as showed on the video, always has some interesting points to make on the subject.
It’s ridiculous, this mindset seems to teach people that before the modern era East Asians just fucking danced and kowtowed to older men and somehow passed it off as fighting for hundreds of years. I also hate it when people say that TMA makes “good supplementary material”. It’s SUPPOSED TO BE THE WHOLE MATERIAL ITSELF.
It's not that simplistic, the main complaint is that most TMA styles are not good at fighting. There are certainly other aspects that are valuable in them, and no one questions that. The fact is if your art actually spars or puts your style under stress against actively resistant opponents then it will be usefull in a fight. If not it won't. It can be good for your health, mental and physical. But if you never actually traded punches you won't be great at trading punches. If you never had to wrestle/throw a resisting opponent to the ground, you won't be good at wrestling/throwing people to the ground. I trained a traditional style of Karate called Uechi Ryu, and we sparred hard every class. I still had gaps that I filled up with boxing, Muay Thai and jiu jitsu. I still have gaps, lots when it come to grappling, several when it come to striking. What real fighters don't like is how the traditional folks seem to think they have no gaps. We're not insulting your styles, we're insulting your arrogance thinking you can get all you need for fighting in one place or thinking you can fight when what you do is combat themed yoga.
@@dacedebeer2697 Similarly to what the commenter above pointed out, the main problem I'd have with your argument is the supposition that people in ancient times could go their entire lifes bullshiting their way through fights. The problem with "traditional styles" is not necessarily the "tradition" part. I genuinely think is more reasonable to believe that tradition has, in many cases, been corrupted (as Ramsey Dewey often seems to suggest). But, anyway, that's just my guess!
@@jaederferreiradeoliveira6496 what happened is that tradition ended up focusing around the training and not what you were training for. The old masters would fight. And they developed interesting ways to train aspects around fighting to make them better at fighting. Those methods got repeated over and over and became the martial arts we know of today, but the actual fighting was put aside because actual fighting is hard and most people don't want to fight for fun. Like I said I trained a traditional style of Karate, one of the three original schools (Goju, Uechi and Shorin) and this is the difference I see between someone that trains actual contact combat sports and someone that trains forms only os point sparring only. It's great, you get to know you body better and all that. Butnof you don't fight then you can't fight. The judgement in only on that aspect of the thing.
@@dacedebeer2697 And you know this because? I mean, I believe what I believe through actually going out and exploring the Kung Fu community, but what the hell, “modern” martial arts practitioners know the truth
After 15 years of internal martial arts I started BJJ a few years ago. There are certainly direct martial applications of tai chi moves as you demonstrate here. I’d say the training time to be effective with them is quite lengthy compared to say Muay Thai or BJJ and there are maybe a handful of people left in the world who really know martial tai chi. That said, the internalized body motions, silk reeling strength, etc… are almost like “superpowers” when combined with more direct forms of combat training. Moreover the type of speed, movement capabilities, and strength you develop are of a type that is much more sustainable past your 20s/30s than conventional conditioning such as heavy weight training. People laugh at the speed with which forms are practiced but moving precisely and correctly at a slow speed builds much more strength and control than using momentum to rush through and cognitively it somehow allows you to slow perceived time and see your opponent in slow motion during an applied scenario. Thanks for the cool content.
:100: I'm in my early fifties with a hilarious list of injuries, and can still give your average grappler a mutually-entertaining surprise. Also can vouch on the slo-mo'ing effect, which can be doubly freaky when you're actually moving more *slowly* than your partner. There's nothing mystical about it, it's just really high level awareness and learning how your core *actually* works so that your whole self is moving in ways that feels like you're doppler'ing your opponent's movements if they leave their torso stable while firing the limbs.
Very well said... What a great video!
This is deeply fascinating, thanks for sharing!
There is a concept in learning to play guitar fast, which is to play fast, play slower. What prevents you from moving fast is poor form, and that can only be corrected by slowing right down and ironing out the errors that are slowing you down.
The creator of Tai Chi Chen Wang Ting was a retried military general so it makes sense to think he created Tai Chi to supplement military Shuai Jiao and not for it to become it's own styles.
I love this kind of content from your channel. There are very few martial arts channels analyzing the movements from "traditional" martial arts in a realistic way. I've done Karate for a little over ten years and learned quite a lot from your videos about Karate "chops" that has inspired me to learn grappling (BJJ) to see what I can apply to Kata. Thank you Ramsey keep up the great work.
Iain Abernethy has really good videos about kata applications too
@@7771Java Yes! I have seen his videos and enjoy them a lot. Same with Jesse Enkamp.
I also went to BJJ after I realized that about traditional martial arts. I met quite a few past and present TMA practitioners in the gym.
I'm wondering whether the other grappling arts are seeing the same influx.
Saw this in my google feed. Very cool break-down. Enjoyed watching.
Yes, most strange forms of Taichi and most Chinese TMA is actually shadow grappling, and the grappling application of the forms was kept as a secret and only taught to only a few close "apprentices" while forms were taught to the general students. And you have to earn your master's appreciation to become "apprentices" to have access to the secret. The "secret" has no value today but while there is no internet, knowing how to grapple probably makes a huge difference in terms of whether you can win or not.
You have always been a breath of fresh air on the internet. Unlike lots of MA youtuber or, worse, keyboard warriors, your take on traditional martial arts is always 200% spot on. Unlike the simplistic dismissal of a style, your explanation is as articulate and informative as someone who has devoted his life to studying fighting. Striking, grappling and even weaponry... Your videos are always a wealth of knowledge. Thank you for all you do.
Xu Xiaodong is convinced that Tai Chi is utterly useless in a fight. Maybe Ramsey Dewey should spar with him?
@@MCSPARTAN501 he did not. He only says a lot of "masters" are fake which is true
Wow I literally just learned snake creeps down last month and wondered about its application and you did it perfectly thanks Ramsey
I had this insight when the owner of my old Judo school pointed out to me what was essentially a shoulder crunch to a straight arm lock from standing from their kata system. I didn't look much further into it then but I did learn to appreciate it more.
Jourdan casting spells in the background
YES! I once studied with a classical tai chi guy who had also won some full contact competitions in Asia. He could be really fast when he wanted to be, and would enter really aggressively, and once in close, that's where Tai Chi really shines, because so much if it is about attacking the opponent's balance. And all those low, kungfu-looking stances work really well in close. If you check out one of those short Tai Chi forms like the 24 or 42 form, you'll probably get a kick out of it.
I used to a go to a Chen Taijiquan class. Mostly, elderly people came for gentle exercise, but the people who wanted to learn what it's FOR got to stay after the class and we did stuff like this :D Once the flowery terms got to reduced to concepts of direction of force, it made loads more sense. There are a good few forms with multiple purposes, too - just a few tweaks and they're adaptable. I do remember some things that worked as strikes, but even then there was an amount of dragging people into the strikes! It's been a decade or so... Makes me wish I could go back!
Taichi has a lot of strikes. Chen Erlu forms has a lot of strikes, kicks, elbows etc.
Being someone that practices combat Tai Chi, I can and do verify everything Ramsey said is spot on. Tai Chi is basically the Chinese version of college wrestling, especially the dropping of your weight when grabbing.
If that’s it, then it has no value, I should just find an old high school wrestling coach.
LOL, Combat Tai Chi... did you make that up?
@@peterwang5660 Untrue. The techniques are the same, but the methods of training are different. For example, Tai Chi is taught through forms while college wrestling is taught through drills. Some people learn faster through forms while others learn faster through drills.
For example, I’m a forms man while other people hate forms and prefer drills. I hate drills. They bore me to tears.
@@peterwang5660 maybe no value to you, but it does to me and while it is grappling heavy art it's also includes strikes which college wrestling doesn't
@@bartfart3847 Did you watch the video?
All "soft" styles are grappling based. Jiu-jitsu means soft art for those who don't know. Just like how boxers do shadow boxing, tai chi forms are shadow wresteling.
I think this a simple explanation about simple principles. As in the Kung Fu Panda Movie, "the secret is that there in no secret". Taichi fighting is wrestling, no magic required.
Love the video. I teach tai chi here in the states and there are some boxing and kicking elements in tai chi but you’re right that most of it is wrestling.
You can you apply the principal of tai chi to striking arts. Before I started tai chi I used to teach tae Kwon do and karate and one of the best ways my Sifu related the teachings back to me was telling me that Mike Tyson was the best tai chi player he ever saw. This never made sense to me right away but years down the road I was able to comprehend and digest that information. When I watch Tyson fight now I’m able to see the principles he implements when fighting are the same we were trying to achieve when practicing the form or fighting ourselves. It made me really rethink and retrain some of practice that I personally do. I personally incorporate more boxing into my own practice using the technique from our form.
Do you think adding tai chi would help with judo & Bjj??
@@deanbaird3559 I do. As a matter of fact I practice judo as well to better understand the Shuai jiao in the form. Tai chi is one of those art that you really need to train with other styles to unlock the information in the form. When I was training the striking aspect, I went and sparred with guys at a Thai school to get honest and real feed back. Plus when you end up seeing movement in the form in the practiced in a practical by other style the tai chi form make so much more sense.
@@deanbaird3559 Definitely. The core Taichi techniques/priniciples basically plays hand in hand with stand up grappling/wrestling. Taichi is however lacking in the ground game as do most CMAs because the fight is largely considered a loss if you go to the ground.
I love it! It is nice to see an application where the guy teaching it is not just dialing it in.
George Foreman said he was surprised that he does Tai Chi in his Boxing style like this😂 I've studied him and his trainers Sandy Saddler and Archie Moore who also applied these principles in Boxing, and so I used them heavily in my own sparring with great success😂 I also shadowbox/wrestle the Boxing clinch heavily and find that so far I am always the more comfortable person there in sparring, but I also cross train Sumo with my Brother and that has also helped tremendously lol
whoa I'm amazed how you have similar thoughts with mine. a newbie who went to the gym I work at last Dec30 asked if stuff like aikido, capoeira, and taichi would be good for fighting... I basically expounded on how I think their concepts, movements, and techniques work best when used or done to wrestle. a ton of people just get stuck with having their minds revolving around striking, small joint manipulation, and all those hubbub and forget about just overall body control and mechanics
I do not care about the naysayers. This video is fantastic. I never looked at Tai Chi in this way before. It looks like alot of fun when you put the forms into practice!
Taiji is stand up grappling and controlling but as in all complete martials art it has kicking and striking as well.. It's a no brainer
Great Video, Ramsey! Tai Chi has a lot of grappling, but few Instructors teach, practice or even realize what the form movements are for! Like any Martial Art, you have to spar, and pressure test the techniques to make them practical.
Most popular Tai Chi forms are clearly full of punches and kicks.
Lord of shin kicks in my style. Buddha palm strikes too. Eye gauges. An internal TaiChi strike feels pretty interesting too when it gets you in the gut.
I think we need to punch and kick before grapp our opponent, that kick and punches also will be usefull if our opponent want to strike us before we can grapp him
If you learn a little a little shuai chiao it becomes clear that those movements are clearly not just punches and kicks.
Two good examples from Yang style Tai Chi would be "Cross Kick" (十字腿) and "Parry Block Punch" (搬拦锤).
@@ShorelineTaiChi are you saying that those movements can be reduced down to just those techniques? Why limit yourself like that?
Tai chi also have striking, standing jiu jitsu, and various weapons. Not just basic wrestling
Great video.
Something to add as a long term Taiji practitioner, the style you e seen might be 90% grappling, but there are lots of different styles of Taiji.
The style I do it more striking based, maybe 70/30.
Meaning the forms and traditional training methods.
Obviously one could focus more on one area then it would seem Taijiquan or a more one thing than another.
The Chen is my favorite internal combat art. If you, if you just really know how to use and apply it's techniques and power, you'll be one bad mofo. It's never let me down!!! Great video brother.
Good confirmation! Since I've had some BJJ/NMA training, it's helping me to better interpret my kungfu and tai chi. The arm drag is holding ball. Wish I could jump in and demo Battle oh th Precious Chickens. It's an undertook, controlling the upper arm w a neck tie to the inside. You crank the arm back dragging the head down. We had a seminar at SBG for law enforcement and was taught this as one of the take downs. I'm taking a break. But when I get back, I realize I need to learn more about wrestling. Not only is it some of the most primitive. It is also the most fundamental to our training . Tai chi, on the other hand, is a product of mastery. People who train for 80 years end up looking like that!
You are absolutely correct about Tai Qi. Another thing it focuses on (at least what I learned was breathing. I had 5 forms of qigong I learned (earth air fire water, and a form that included switching between all 4)
In qigong I just learned the breathing. The Tai chi I learned is where the forms came from and they were all wrestling techniques with a focus on using the correct breathing techniques for the correct wrestling technique.
For example, catching a kick to the chest we world use earth breathing, the leg throw would use fire.
There are striking techniques in the Tai qi I learned, mostly in the fire forms. But it was not a focus.
I noticed you spelled it as "Tai Qi" instead of Tai Chi or Taiji. Are you aware that "Chi" in Tai Chi is a completely different character than "Qi Energy"?
Ramsey Dewey made a video to clarify this common confusion. Qi in "Qigong" does actually refer to Qi energy, but Chi in Tai Chi does not.
Yes I am aware.
The Kung Fu (Gong Fu) i learned was based on Three principles.
Iron body (Physical condition, strength training, etc)
Qigong (Qi Kung anglicized): Breathing. Literally Air Skill.
Qin Na: technique. As afr as i know Qin Na is the oldest form of Chinese Martial art, existing before Indian Breathing techniques came to china.
My striking comes from a southern form of long fist. Not Chang Quan, but simular, and i have not been able to find it's origin. Little Red Fist, and changquan are simular and so i learned Changquan when i could not find it.
Anyway, the Tai Chi i was taight meant Tai (Suprime, or Divine, or Masterful) Qi (breath) and focussed on breathing techniques from Qigong.
To this day if you look up Qigong, it is associated with Tai Chi. Google "Define Qigong "
So to this day anytime hear "Chi" I associate it with "Qi" (for air, breath, etc)
I do the same thing With Wing Tsun (Wing Chun) Chin Na )(Qin Na) and Chang Quan.
Thi are many ways to write Tai Chi and there are are several qualifiers to the term.
Tai Chi Quan, Taiji Tian Tiji, etc. If you google "Tai Qi", you will get Taichi.
By spelling it the way i do i specify that i am focusing on the Qigong. not the fighting fo0rms, or the wrestling. (all of that comes form my study of Qin Na and long Fist, and boxing, and wrestling.
Hope that helps.
Single whip is a punch but backwards. Brush knee is a palm strike. Cloud hands is very deep in its application, and the move is very difficult to do properly.
Brush knee is also a throw, single whip can be both a throw and set of strikes of the lead arm. You cant exactly punch backwards, so I assume you are seeing goose neck as a back fist.
If your point is that Taiji has striking, yes obviously it does.
But almost always in conjunction with grappling.
@@BWater-yq3jx Probably. The correct body mechanics will always make your training more effective. That has been the greatest benefit I got from Chen style Tai Chi.
Appreciate the break-down and insight. A practioner I met once,
of Ba Gua Zhang, Taiji Quan, and grappling arts said to think of
Taiji as wrestling.
I think most martial arts that have forms or kata are wrestling or grappling that people don't realize it's there. Unless it's specifically sports like boxing and Muay Thai (I know they don't have forms but just for the purpose of argument, combinations).
In BJJ, you can find numerous concepts borrowed from traditional martial arts. Turning the toes in, straightening the curve of the spine by tucking the hips, tucking the chin, keeping tall posture, etc.
Oh this video is fantastic Ramsey, so many times westerners have woefully misinterpreted traditional styles this way, they think the slow movements and the katas do nothing but like you point out you are doing the equivalent of shadow boxing and it's also helping to develop muscle memory they also don't know individual styles have their own ways of developing power in the techniques.
One of the reasons the standards can be garbage in dojos that practice traditional martial arts is sadly the instructors haven't learned any of this and are just making it up as they go along which then leads to an overall drop in the standards as I'm sure a lot of us who practice traditional know. It would be really great if you took a look at Shotokan katas because I think these kinds of videos will really help MMA people especially understand what's going on.
Tai Chi Chuan as is is definitely mostly grappling. The history behind it is fascinating. The story I read is that there was a guy who was a famous martial artist who was known to have the best martial art in the land. Then the emperor (I can’t remember which dynasty/period it was) wanted to learn it so he had this guy teach him. However, the Tai Chi he practiced had many difficult and athletic movements, like any other martial art in the East at the time, like jumping stuff and all that, especially like what one would expect any high-level practitioner of other Wu Tang art to be able to do. So, he had to simplify it, otherwise it would be off with his head because the emperor wouldn’t be able to learn it quickly enough. Soon enough, it either became popular or was made law/standardized that everyone in China started doing it. So the simple forms we see most people doing today are really just the basics, and usually grappling in any martial art is crucial and is, therefore, part of the basics. I’ve seen more advanced forms of Tai Chi and it is much more dynamic and fascinating than we’re all used to seeing, but like many other high-flying and dynamic traditional arts, looks like mostly fancy striking that may be powerful, but probably impractical, except maybe for developing athleticism.
It sounds like you're referring to Yang Luchan, the founder of Yang Family Taijiquan. He was the first outsider to learn from the Chen Family, making him essentially a Chen Style Taijiquan practitioner.
But, it's not just jumping, athletic stuff, he removed any movements that involved forming two fists with your hands. A lot of striking applications got removed as well. As such, Yang Taijiquan is a fraction of Chen Taijiquan's curriculum.
@@ShadowParalyzer That’s the one! I committed that story to memory years ago but could never remember Yang’s name 😂 thank you!
Very interesting. You've applied Tai Chi to Grappling. I personally view the katas applied to Striking. They also help with Footwork, Blocking, Parrying, and more. I guess Tai Chi is a Hybrid Martial Art that's very versatile. I've considered some of the Grappling applications naturally, but these Techniques make so much since similar to much of Aikido and Wing Chun.
As a 40 plus years taichi chuan practitioner and former amateur kickboxer,you are right!!
I watched some Zhaobao Taiji (one of, if not the oldest branches of Taiji along with Chen family) applications from an older practitioner named Wang Qingsheng and his students about a year ago and many of the movements have directly translated into my BJJ training, especially in no-gi where I try to spend more time in grappling and trapping range. Zhaobao Taiji has this concept called "San He Yi (三合一, Three Into One)" which means that the movements in the forms translates to how you use it in tuishou and then directly into combat. Of course you have to consider that real combat is much, much more chaotic and spontaneous than in tuishou, but knowing how to use the specific movement and how to control both your opponents' position and your own helps greatly.
Interesting the deeper and more sophisticated striking arts get like karate, capoeira, Kung fu, fencing, even boxing and kick boxing end up in how to grapple.
Yes, you can with many fights without throwing punches but chances are that you will not win that many without grabbing, pushing and throwing your opponent.
Thanks for sharing form application and creating a bridge to common misconceptions of martial content and demonstrating context.
I will be adding taijiquan to my own personal style from now on ... never would've thought I'd live to see this day yet here we are
Nice video with some good content. I have been a martial artist for 35 years and a tai chi player for about 25 of those years. I agree it is mostly useful for upright grappling with the addition of very close-range striking power using chest, shoulders, hips, and elbows that very few people get to a level that they can pull off. It is very structure oriented, and underneath the mysticism are solid biomechancis. There are strikes, but I think it shines the best at a certain range of grappling. I believe the striking misconception came from people not understanding the Supreme ultimate boxing method did not mean what they thought it meant, but was rather a boxing method based off of the Chinese Supreme Ultimate philosophical belief of taiji being the differentiation of the void state giving birth to Ying and yang. It is martial art that tries to associate itself with and emulate that state. It does not mean the Supreme ultimate boxing method in the way we would naturally think of those words in the English language. I have trained with many great martial artists and there are quite a few who can apply tai chi practically, but almost all have to use some other martial art or skill with their tai chi to make it work. I have only met one true master who could actually practically apply tai chi by itself as an effective martial art. I am lucky enough to have him as my primary teacher now. It is a wonderful art that will make everything else you do better, but I would never recommend it as a first choice for someone who just wants to get good at fighting within a reasonable amount of time.
You hit the nail on the head Michael, a lot of the best exported elements Chinese culture is wrapped up in esotericism that is too easy to pass off as superstition, and often times requires a lot of dedicated practice that is made unreasonable for a modern person because they have to decipher the esotericism first.
It’s absolutely pathetic that this is the state of our most successful cultural exports, and Chinese martial arts have it the worst. Chinese Medicine at least has scientific literature backing it (that is ignored and poorly understood by the mainstream medical community but whatever).
@@peterwang5660 Most people don't really bother going past that esotericism, only really appealing to those who are either academically minded or are receptive to it but are rational enough to decipher it. A lot of people who are into fighting only want to get straight to the point, especially westerners with how their civilization and culture is set up. Which is why I see Tai Chi either being lost in translation to become it's woo woo magic healing exercise form (this use is still entirely valid tbf, as the slow methodical movements and breathing exercises massively improve overall health and mind-muscle connection) or is completely dismissed as bullshido/completely ineffective.
Socioeconomic conditions in China might've also been at fault here, as many people end up simply wishing to exploit that esotericism in Tai Chi, with fake masters being in bed with the government to try and grift weak, vulnerable and esoterically minded people outta their cash. Real fighting and combat sports (MMA especially) is often seen as too violent and barbaric in... well, most East Asian cultures for that matter (Basically "fight clean and like a gentleman" but cranked to max, and broken faces or cauliflower ears aren't socially acceptable) and past governments (The Qing Dynasty in particular) used to effectively ban martial arts as a fighting form for hundreds of years, leaving it to decay or buried in mysticism to hide the actual techniques else the masters face brutal punishment.
Tai Chi has chin na techniques which are grappling techniques. Yes there is some striking but the striking is performed off of the grappling techniques
Thank you Ramsey! I finally understand, what it was that I trained for a few years, a long time ago. I was allways confused of, how my coach could throw me around with no effort at all, with these "magical" energies of his...
The is for taking time to explore this topic and be open to different styles. People are so often quick to judge without any knowledge or depth on the topic.
Love these type of videos showcasing the true meaning behind forms ! Keep up the good work !
At 3:44 its a double trap, one of 4 main door openings in chinese kung fu. It´s a contact building / bridging tehcnique. (So like you explained it in the video)
I had a friend once who was big into Tai Chi, and he went so far as to travel to the birthplace the Chen family village in China to study for several weeks. He said he was shocked to see the way they did their push hands exercises looked so much like Greco-Roman wrestling.
I love that Tai Chi is rediscovered time and time again, sure it's seen as just movements these days but a deeper look shows the Martial applications are many
There is a lot more striking in the Chen style than in Yang, but even then, it's a ton of standing grappling. My students are often surprised when they learn that they're learning to fight. It takes a long time to develop the body mechanics, to develop relaxed power, and there are faster ways to learn to fight. Much faster. The difference is that, at 54, I'm a better fighter than I was at 30, and at 30 I was better than I was at 18.
5:17 and 5:20 Well I Know for What they 1- Deflection, Turn rivals Wrists and Open his Arms to Expose Body or Prepare for a Throw, Lock, Submision or Fatal Blow technique 2- Its a Hand Destruction, "Breaking the Palm" by Hiting with your Knuckles the Veins, Nerves and Bones of the Upper side of the Hand so he cant Use it in a Fight anymore.. It resultings in numbness, internal hemorrage or fracture of bones and nerves of the hand.. Its very common move in Chinese, Arabian and FMA styles
That front teep catch and ankle hook sweep thingy was what Gabriel Varga shared during his trip with the hard2hurt gym. Interesting to see it again.
No wonder- Gabriel has fought sanda fighters in China. When you fight those guys, they’ll catch your kicks and throw you all over the place and then you’ll want to learn all of it. I have a made a number of videos on the subject over the years.
Some of the big wide shapes are probably ways to escape/break clinches.
I remember the video when he described the little old man kicking his ass but I don’t think he mentioned he did through wrestling; it makes more sense now
I was always taught that Taiji Quan is very much a style of stand up grappling. There are punches and kicks but the grappling is very often at the forefront.
If we a draw a distinction between Chen Taijiquan (the origin of Taijiquan) and everything else, then....
You could say that striking is largely removed from other families of Taijiquan.
Chen Style has two forms:
Yi Lu - focuses more on softness, yielding, trapping methods, structure manipulation, etc...
Er Lu - focuses more on hardness, striking, more athletic movements. It is built on top of the foundation of Yi Lu.
However... Yang Style, Wu Style, etc... have their forms based on Yi Lu. And even with Yi Lu, they removed any sequence that involved forming two fists with your hands.
So... the degree of which Taijiquan has striking or not depends on which style and lineage you refer to. I suspect Ramsey met someone who practiced either Yang or Wu Style.
In my second grappling class we learned a takedown. It goes a little like this: get to his back and hold him in a bodylock. Then push forward making him resist your push. Then quickly pull back and down while steping to the side. All I could think is:"that looks like tai chi"
when i practiced some forms of Tai Chi a very long time ago, our teacher mentionned it was wrestling and parying more than striking.
I'm looking forward to learn these awesome grappling skills, I'm coming from shotokan karate to learn taichi I enjoy them both
Actually you dont necessarily need to understand *all* moves in a taichi form (however its probably cool to have all those answers)
Its pretty awesome if you can just understand the biomechanics behind your moves, hence you can become organised, stabile, strong end effective during combat. Which would be.. kind of the goal of taichi. To improve your skills as a fighter, in combat.
2:05 That is so a waterbending move.💧🌊🌊
I strongly believe anyone who wants to learn CMA properly should first learn Shuai Jiao. It's basically the sports version of Taichi. They should teach it in high-school or junior high. Whichever Chinese martial art people go into afterwards Shuai Jiao would make them better martial artists and have a better understanding of their art in its true form. You can't expect the average traditional martial artist to take up Sanda, but Shuai Jiao is a good gateway sport.
Taiji has done wonders for my health. Super lovely and peaceful way to train.
That’s all I’m looking for anyway. 💙☯️🙏
This and close range striking, yeah.
The internal stuff is really good once you understand it.
Good explanation of the these techniques. My two cents is that I feel like this should have been an obvious answer from reading tai chi manuscripts. This seems especially evident when they start mentioning following and sticking power, or moving slow when your opponent is moving fast. The yin and yang are important when your opponent attempts to overcommit or does not support a portion of themselves. You are mostly attacking the other individuals balance while maintaining yours.
I do like your efforts and your approach, however there is is no TaiJi in this video. TaiJi is first of all about uprooting and there's none of this. You might like to watch the videos of Ian Sinclair who is a very good explainer. Or you ask Chu King Hung (Head of ITCCA) who lives in Shanghai, maybe he will give you an impression (I doubt it, though).
damn, I dunno how you did it, but somehow this video changed everything for me ... I guess I should like and subscribe now, the least I can do, you can't even begin to imagine how much of an impact this had on me
Old martial arts were probably much less specialized skillsets than they are today (like BJJ, boxing, etc). It has a lot of grappling, some striking as well.
It's the same with kata, it's essentially stand up grappling.
Taijiquan or Taichichuan ( "Tai-Chi" doesn't mean anything other than a philosophical concept) it's a peculiar martial art when in combat. It indeed mixes: grappling, trapping and while doing it striking movements with both legs and arms. This happens all at once rather than one by one as you can see in MMA today. You may want to have a look at my videos for more clarifications.
So, here's a thing relating traditional kung fu to MMA which I was thinking about recently, and guess this might be as good a place as any to ask you about it, even though it's not taijiquan-related.
In a lot of traditional kung fu styles like Hung Gar or Choy Li Fut (especially Choy Li Fut,) there are a bunch of wide sweeping arm movements which are used to strike opponents with hammerfists, ridgehands, forearm blows, etc. And you see a lot of knockouts with things like wide overhand punches in MMA. But these moves are mostly drawn from boxing, whose ruleset limits fighters to striking, not just with the hands, but with the front part of the knuckles. On the other hand, there are a lot of elite competitive boxers and muay thai fighters out there, whereas, as much as their syllabi might contain useful techniques, there are very few practitioners of arts like Choy Li Fut, Hung Gar, Northern Shaolin, etc. who aspire to be successful competitive fighters, let alone having the pool of training partners to achieve that.
Since MMA doesn't have any sort of rule against striking with forearms, backhands, hammerfists, etc. I was wondering if it might benefit from the infusion of techniques from arts which use these sorts of powerful circular hand techniques, which were developed in a context where there weren't such restrictive limitations on what body parts you could strike with. Do you think MMA fighters might benefit from cross-training in these kung fu styles?
Bas Rutten mentioned using forearm strikes in Pancrase
@@daniel-zh9nj6yn6y Karate and taekwondo (which Bas has background in,) also make use of forearm strikes, often as an alternate striking surface for ridgehand techniques. But some schools of kung fu use them much more extensively, from different angles, with different targets, etc. I suspect that these might be a useful arsenal addition for MMA fighters, but even if e.g. Choy Li Fut had a very strong reputation for turning out credible challenge fighters back in the day, there just aren't a lot of fighters from these styles who're making a serious effort to break into modern competition.
Have you ever seen any Push Hands tournaments where chin-na is allowed? I think that would be very interesting.
There's a lot of tai chi and wushu movements in the hapkido system I practice. Obv they're hidden in the techniques, but my instructor points them out to help us remember.
Snake, mantis, tiger, and dragon all have elements of grappling with correct interpretations, perhaps you could look into them as well as most traditional arts have grappling hidden in it.
Good to see you healthy again,Ramsey.
I still have COVID. This video was recorded months ago.
Sorry to hear that.
Thank you for your video, very informative. Sadly, no Tai Chi going in my compound these days due to COVID19.
I have a question for everyone, I was sparring under Kickboxing rules and well... my partner kept clinching me so I did a frame on his wrist into a light shoulder strike to his face. He then suddenly called off the spar and said that was illegal, I am very confused whether if it’s actually illegal or not
Tai chi has strikes, punches, kicks, elbows, knees etc, but they are secondary to the methods that require you to be in contact with the opponent, hence why it looks more like stand-up grappling/wrestling than anything else a modern martial artist would classify. Ramsey's essentially correct in how the movements can be interpreted, but the real gist of tai chi is in how you control your own body's balance, proprioception and structure to make those 'basic' moves more effective than they normally are.
These techniques are effective and are in accord with tai chi principles, however there is more to tai chi than wrestling techniques represented in form. As well as striking, kicking and grappling we also have several two person drills and freestyle 'pushing hands' that develop the principles of ting jin, hua jin and fa jin - 'listening' and detection of intent, diversion redirection and control, discharging.
100% I started in Ba Gua which is very similar. Virtually no one knows that Ba Gua and Tai Chi are almost all wrestling. I've applied similar techniques as you've shown here in my pro fighters, even into the UFC level.
in movies it is shown with Joint locks and take downs.
Now that I recall Taekwondo's double joint blocks or even single joint blocks are basic Wrestling and grappling moves used to trap, sweep and submit an oponent.
I get these challenges every week. I always have the same response. I accept your offer, and I'll see you at the next tournament. They never show.
Thank you, @Ramsey Dewey ! I wish I was rich - if I was, I'd have sponsored your trip to America to, ahem, meet that master :) .
Alas, can't afford to do so... but thank you for keeping an open mind ;) !
I've been saying that Tai Chi is wrestling for years now, after learning some folk wrestling and being surprised by the similarities with kung-fu (gong fu) moves. Then I found an old Shuai Jiao book which confirmed my suspicions.
And then I moved to BJJ, in order to do more grappling.
Excellent presentation linking tai chi forms with practical applications. Thanks for your content.
-Matt’s dad Dan
So is Jujitsu. Karate as well, even though it is perceived to be a striking art. Most of the time, the method of teaching kata is to display their skill, but also to hide their trade secrets at the same time. Whether the techniques can apply in a street situation is a totally different matter altogether, since anything can happen in a chaotic situation.
Tai chi is basically a lot of redirection and hand trapping it's not a "hard style". But don't sleep on the disrespect anymore to Lord if applied correctly and the person has enough experience it can be effective and useful
Unless you're talking about Chen Style Taijiquan (the origin of Taijiquan) which is both soft and hard and also both external and internal.
They have two forms: Yi Lu and Er Lu.
Other styles of Taijiquan only inherited a subset of Yi Lu which focuses on yielding, softness, manipulation of structure, etc... but Er Lu, which is built on top of the foundation of Yi Lu, focuses more on hardness and striking.
The second form looks like this - th-cam.com/video/GMY0bggniNc/w-d-xo.html&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE&t=999
Awesome video as always Coach!
If you’re interested, I would love to hear your thoughts on the grappling match between Gordon Ryan and world strongman athlete Hafthor Bjornson. Is this one of those situations where skill trumps strength? Thank you again for your videos, you are awesome!
Thanks that are some nice interpretations. I don’t know all the tai chi moves but some similar and I’ll try them out with my students This weekend. If anyone got more of these kind of takes on how to realistically applicate tai chi techniques please refer me to them because I really want to make tai chi a functional martial art again and need to get my hands on everything I can get. Thanks
xu xiaodong vs Ramsey dewey when???
Tai chi and developed martial arts include striking, shuai chiao and chin na. How many teachers include them is a different issue. As is how to have a good training methodology for them. Sports wise you see those partially in San Da (striking/shuai Chiao) and MMA having those aspects but more ground fighting than you would have in a battlefield art.
I train Tai Chi/Wushu and have competition in form competitions. I train MMA/Jiujitsu and teach Krav Maga. Tai Chi can be used in all of these martial arts this is why it's confusing for people. One set of movements help you when training with the gi, the other set of movements no-gi then there are those that work with Muay Thai and then there are movements that teach you theories and principles that can honestly cross many different martial arts. You won't get good at Tai Chi unless you pressure test it and the safest way to do this is combat sports.
This is cool, do you think Karate is similarly just a kind of basic kickboxing?
another good video. Great to see you've recovered from covid
This was recorded months ago. I’m still coughing up my lungs.
Perfectly valid basic applications for Tai Chi forms but I think it's impossible to understand the art unless you train with someone who's very good at it, and train it regularly, without training other styles, for an extended period like 6 months to a year. It's a very subtle and powerful art but so easy to misunderstand. Until I met someone who had trained with a lineage holder for many years I had no real idea of what it was. I imposed all the other styles I had learned on it as everyone does until they encounter the real thing. True Tai Chi changes you. It changes your whole approach and understanding of martial arts. It changes your nervous system, your fascia, your muscles and your understanding of power. But it's pointless to say any of this really, you have to encounter it. My advice is to go and see someone genuine and very high level, like Master Ding in Limehouse, London, for one example I can be certain of, before you make your decisions on what it is.
This is well timed, as i'm looking into Tai Chi therapy, and Yang Style Tai Chi, as well as books on Combat applications of Tai Chi once I get more into those first two things.
Jesse Enekamp would be proud;)
For those who dont know. He is a karate guy who firmly tries to show what kata moves actually represent
I think Rokas from Martial Arts Journey had a video awhile back called "90% of Kung Fu is grappling" which talks about the same stuff. Was pretty surprising, especially since I did Northern Shaolin for two years awhile back (def went to a forms school). Would love to see more vids on traditional martial arts applications.
I have a whole playlist of videos on this topic.
That title in the video you mentioned come from a guy who learned Jiang Style Baguazhang which is derived from Cheng Style Baguazhang whose founder has a background in Shuai Jiao and his Bagua teacher caters his teachers to student's prior martial art background and physique. In other words.... bias.
If you look at Southern Chinese martial arts such as Wing Chun - there's not much grappling. They tend to be very striking heavy.
@@ShadowParalyzer the title should’ve been “Kung Fu is the OG MMA.” It makes sense if you think about Lei Tai matches. It makes me think the whole MMA thing we have here we just reinvented the wheel.
@PaMuShin Why are you inventing imaginary problems with Americans? I’m British, by the way. Keep the discrimination based on nationality off my channel. I won’t stand for it no matter what the context.
If you’re insulted at a video demonstrating fighting techniques and that the same time out of the corner of your mouth you’re going to blankety slur 330 million people, then you have lost all of my respect.
Kungfu isn’t a martial art. It’s not a style. It’s not a term for Chinese martial arts (of which there are over 400 unique styles.) Gongfu means a highly developed aptitude or skill. It’s time for you to learn some gongfu in communication.
@PaMuShin Chen village is a tourist trap dude. I have been to Xi'an. I have traveled all over China for 15 years and found only one legitimate master, and found many phonies. I am not interested in your counterfeit healing satanic religion.
Now, what does Zhou Zhi Peng have to do with anything? What statistics are you talking about?
Chen village does wrestling demonstrations too. There's huge wrestling in all of it.
There's almost this other video of a Tai Chu guy wrestling with a famous BJJ guy somewhere.
Chen still teaches the applications, and I believe they are trying to bring back full contact Taichi.
Hi mr. ramsay, my name is rafsan, iam a 15 y old student from Bangladesh (a small country right besides india).i was wondering if you could make a series of videos of setups for striking +grappling for mma??
Plzzz
This is so cool - I had no idea how in-depth Tai-Chi is - fascinating