Tai-Chi Chuan and Karate principles in Sports

[Ruiner]

Greetings all,

Today at my soccer game I realized that my throw-in wasn't exactly the strongest, considering some of my teammates could throw the ball half the field.

I got to thinking how I could improve my throw.. As I was doing my Tai-chi set. One thing lead to another and I realized if i could break the throw-in down into slow motion and focus on the weight shift from one leg to another, the arm,leg and torso dynamics.

I then deducted that many actions in sports could be subject to the same analysis and one could create a Tai-Chi routine of the most common movements to greatly improve your performance in the sport.

Has anyone explored this kind of idea on the forums?

Cheers

[jorvik]

Tai-Chi isn't just about going slow.....there are principles, and muscle groups that you are trying to get to work, a lot of it IMHO is very like swimming doing the breast stroke, the opening and closing relates to the big muscles of the chest..and by getting close contact and using them in the correct fashion you will ( eventually I hope) be able to defeat younger faster opponents

[Ruiner]

Posted by Jorvik
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Tai-Chi isn't just about going slow.....there are principles, and muscle groups that you are trying to get to work, a lot of it IMHO is very like swimming doing the breast stroke, the opening and closing relates to the big muscles of the chest..and by getting close contact and using them in the correct fashion you will ( eventually I hope) be able to defeat younger faster opponents
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I agree fully, its not just about going slow, but when I slowed down the motion i could add more subtle rotational movements with my torso to increase the effective power. Focusing on Opening and closing the torso was also good to think of when performing the motion

[Tom Faigle]

I commented in a few days ago in the body mind spirit forum that to help my son with his hitting in baseball, we adjusted his stance using Sanchin. He's amost 10 and been playing t-ball and baseball since he was 4 and studying Uechi-Ryu since he was 6. To get his footing right for his batting stance, I had him open like he was opening Sanchin. This got his spacing correct and got his feet parrell and 90 degrees from the plate. (a classic batting stance not used much any more in the pros). With this he was able to get settled and able to drive with his legs. Needless to say he had some great games towards the end of the season. He went 3 for 3 in the last game with two singles and a double!

We're also working on his pitching and he's learning to use his "tiger eyes" to focus strictly on the catchers mit and not on the hitters, the crowd, the ump. or anything else. He also uses his focus and sanchin breathing to tune everything out and simply play catch with the catcher even though tons of things are going on. Just as a thought, if you've seen Bull Duraham, there's a scene where Susan Serandan tells Tim Robins to breath through his eyes while he's pitching. While not exactly the same, the concepts are the same. (focus on breathing to relax, and simply let loose). Both hitting and pitching are so close to karate it's not funny. Afterall all three require you to be real loose but to generate large amounts of power through speed and leverage.

Anyway. just my two cents worth.

[Rick Wilson]

Welcome, Tom thanks for joining in.

[jorvik]

Well I am amazed by the depth of Tai-Chi, although saddened by how few people actually know it for what it is ..Kata done slowly will translate into reflex....and I guess that's deep enough for now

[Tom Faigle]

Wilson Sensei,

Thank you.

Ruiner,

I'm at a stage where I'm really starting to appreciate doing kata very slowly. My Sensei has really been making a point that it is much easier to see mistakes, get good form, etc if you practice slowly.

In my case, I usually do a couple of kata very slow. Looking for "perfection", then I do a couple normal speed, working on power, speed and rythm. (I've given up on grace, as I'm like an elephant on ice! Actually, it's coming slowly!! )

As for Tai-chi, the first time I heard about it was about 12 years ago. I've crossed paths with a few few folks who study it. It's a very intresting style, and I've wondered at times if it would be a good complement to Uechi training. My only "issue" has been figuring out how to know who is well versed, and who is simply teaching the stuff they learned a year or two ago. Well, that and not having enough time for all of the other things I need to do.

[benzocaine]

Jorvik,

Is it full contact Tai Chi you practice

How convincing are the attacks

[jorvik]

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Is it full contact Tai Chi you practice
Yeah, when I do the two man fighting set with my Sifu, he does try to hit me..........and he is quite a powerfully built man, so it can be a bit scary.

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How convincing are the attacks

Well kicks and punches and elbow strikes......so I would say quite convincing........but Tai-Chi is more like an effective version of Aikido ( by the way I have a black belt in Aikido, so I'm not just mouthing off) and not really comparable to karate or striking arts

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" ".................. and back at you ...with knobbs on "

[maxwell ainley]

Runier,

When I first came on these forums I emphasized
slow in uechi learning " by slowing down more is seen less is missed ,the more you rush the less you see and more confused you will be " .
This was old way teaching ,I carry it on .

max.

[Ruiner]

Hey Maxwell,

Slow is definitely the way to go in my books, my shoulder got blown out by doing too much hard kata. Now I do all my kata's slow once, then fast, then as slow as possible.

Jorvik, I would love to get into a class where they do full contact tai chi fighting, but I know it usually takes a long time to get to that level.. and I'm just a yearling Tai Chi student.

Tom, I love Tai Chi, it has complimented my Uechi well. I hope to find another competent sensei like my first.

Cheers