Guns took away traditional Kung fu. A bullet would stop 10 years of hard training. Wong Fei Hung’s eldest son was stopped by a bullet, he never taught his younger son Hung Gar. The Tong wars and early protection rackets offered by the triads were settled with fists and cold weapons. The coming of guns eliminated the need for real Kung fu.
19th century boxing also didn't have the hands up and close, because back then, like in traditional Chinese martial art, people didn't punch the head, so you didn't need to defend head punches as much. But the thing is, now people DO punch the head, therefore we need to adjust. Maybe you don't want to do the boxing stance and that's fine, but we should have a plan for defending against head punches, preferably a plan that's been tested against contemporary trained fighters.
@@AM-lh7rw I've watched a few videos on this channel and I haven't seen anything that addresses western boxing strategy. Does he talk about what to do against an opponent who throws minimally committed punches and keeps the distance? All the applications I've seen him do assumes the opponent will throw punches that can be easily bridged, which not an assumption you can make about a boxer.
@@ShredST valid questions. I don't know why he doesn't here🤷. I know he has speed, timing and control from personal experience when he was in the UK. It wasn't a fight or pressure testing, he was just doing a demo in the early 2000s. He tapped my throat 3 times in a not prearranged sequence with his fist. He circumnavigated my guard as if it wasn't there while we were moving. I guess your questions depends on who the videos are for. I can't answer your questions and I'm not going to give you a load of bulls droppings. Having boxed, I know having 👊coming at your face is a wake up call, or a goodnight💥 if you are unlucky.🤣
It's similar to a long guard in boxing. If they're close and not connected, they'll guard the head and face, along with the groin and stomach, with something like a Philly Shell. You'll see it in a lot of internal exercises. The target selection is different in boxing vs tai chi, due to rulesets. You're not punching the groin or neck in boxing, whereas tai chi attacks those areas along with incorporating joint locks and off balancing. I've boxed, but the type of power tai chi generates is entirely different from boxing. It's like fighting a bull vs fighting a ghost; a boxer hits hard and moves fast, but a good tai chi player feels like they're not even there. George literally hits like a truck, too.
The antagonism between masters is always bittersweet when it happens. I can understand the desire to prove your method, but I think of how much people can learn when they share lessons and training methods and it feels like the students are the ones who lose.
Hey Marcin! I love all the ages of music alive in you, man.. the wise choice of position with the pure child like glee when you realize you’ve got it! I think it must thrill you to get to have this gift!
This info is so good, it looks like there are always misconceptions about how to use Tai Chi for a fight and this Master brings so much light to the topic, excellent story about his own Master too!! xD Thank you so much for sharing this! 🙏
I have pushed with a few Masters and none were as vexing as Nick Gracenin. It was like trying to grab smoke. If i tried to reach in it was like he vanished and then swallowed me and spit me out. I pushed with some of georges Students and wrecked them but I'm not easy to beat. I'm no master but I'm pretty decent. I think what he meant to say is students are too rigid and haven't figured out how to breathe yet so how can one push if one can't breathe?
Think first of striking with a superior structure, it feels weak until you get the hang of it. Everything come back to dantien connection. In my very humble opinion. I'm no george.
@@StaggeringLion superior structure is a good point to mention. But to rely on the Dantian connection is too slow for modern fighting based on local Jin power.
It’s a good question and I asked MX. He said that in Chinese, the number four is often used to mean “not much.” He also said that it’s not going to be one ounce, because there does have to be at least some force.
Push hands was a way to develop tactile awareness and sensitivity, so you could defend against and read your opponent's attack. It's also a drill to learn how to deal with the opponent's resistance against your attempts to stifle his aggression. Its other purpose was to manipulate the enemy's hands and arms so that he could no longer be able to attack you, so that you could close the distance and execute a throw or a joint lock after applying fast flurries of a variety of striking techniques if necessary, to distract the opponent in order to deliver a fight-ending throw, bone break, or submission. But a hard strike during the exchange can still end it if executed well.
After Tae Kwon Do in the Olympics and the rise of MMA changed all of martial arts. And not for the better. The training and conditioning has been modified and sciencefied. Bastardized the traditional training methods. Turned all the forms into dance move. Nobody breaks forms down and teaches the physics and science behind it. We lost a whole method of knowledge and training. No thanks to people like Bruce Lee, who led people astray. We need to get back to the days of old. When men trained like men not sensitive rainbow half man half frootloop.
If you want to see some good stuff about the fighting techniques and strategies of Tai Chi Chuan and the Pushing hands training, give a look at Dr Yang Jwing Ming's manuals. They are about the Yang school and you'll see how real Tai Chi Chuan is close to external Kung Fu and practical as a self defense system.
Basic level: I have trunk! 😀 Ultimate level (Taiji): You don't know me but I know you! 😁 Ultimate level (Xinyi): Spiritual Fist! 😁 Ultimate level (Lanshou): After doing a lot of things ... breathing & expression still the same. 😁
Save for Wm. C.C. Chen I've never saw a TCC practitioner who could fight for shit. There's a clip on YT of two TCC "Masters" attempting, and failing miserbly, to fight. I think the "fight" was in the 1950s. Pure trash. TCMA in the open to the public (for money) arena has always been garbage. The in the house or club stuff was, and still is, legit. Even with modern protective equipment black eyes, split lips, broken ribs, etc., are common.
What, you mean the Tai Chi master vs the White Crane master fight? I saw that clip and it was a joke fight. Apparently the fight was a fund-raiser for charity. There was no prize-money for the actual fighters involved, so neither master actually wanted to make the other look bad and lose business over this, so they agreed beforehand to throw a only a mock fight. But the way they did it looked completely ridiculous. They should have done the pro-wrestling thing and put on a decent show at least. They decided to just wing it, and what we saw was a whole lot of circling around and hand waving. I bet those people left grumpy and didn't feel like they got their money's worth. It was a complete nothing fight. But at least the charity made money. Yeah, there are good and bad reasons for that. TCC is one of the most "conservative" and "closed door" styles there is. Usually the feeling is that "true skill skill should never go out door". You never show the real stuff outside. Just enough to drive publicity and interest so that the cash doesn't stop flowing in. Real martial skills are completely alien to what you see combat sports. It's not worth it to break the illusion. That just makes things more dangerous for everybody. I like true skill, and hate having my time wasted, but most people are unwilling to endure hardship, and cannot handle the truth of martial arts; that if you practice for real, you get hit. A lot. For a long time. It's uncomfortable and it hurts. Most people can't put up with that. But the Tai Chi Chuan teachers are still left with the problem of needing an income. So they have to get creative and teach other things first that are less than bread and butter material. Even if the TCC teacher knows what they are doing and want to teach the real stuff, if people aren't willing to pay for the real deal -- getting a beating everyday until they internalize proper structure and/or how to dodge well -- then the teacher will have to sell to people whatever it is that keeps students interested and paying their club fees. The teacher needs to keep a roof over their head. That's just the nature of needing to run a business. Unfortunately, the fluff subsidizes and precedes the real stuff usually. And it is true that many never get to the real content. That's why most martial arts clubs -- even in other styles -- tend to devolve into being glorified day-cares. The error comes when one is not able to recognize the difference between the two, and conflates the two together. There is stuff that you do because it is realistic to train and there is stuff that you do because it is safe to train. And there is stuff you do just for marketing and giggles. The trick is to know what belongs to which category, so you don't get the ideas crossed in your head.
@@Rainbow_Oracle When I did saw the fight the first time I was shocked. I couldnt believe that anybody would take these two guys serious as martial art masters. Not even back in their days. I watched several different videos about that to read the comments but this is the first time I read this as explanation.
