Dmitri wrote:Taste of Death wrote:With a good taiji guy the bjj guy will end up on the ground by himself
I used to think that too, -- it's not always the case, although a good tai chi guy is very hard to take down.
But how about you also add the word "good" to the "bjj guy", in that sentence. Take two similarly-talented guys of the same size from the two respective arts with, say, 5 years of training each, and your above statement will hold almost no water.It's not that we can't fight on the ground
Yes. Yes it is exactly that. "We", i.e. "tai chi guys", can't. It's just as arrogant (or ignorant, or both) to say, as it would be for a BJJ guy to say "it's not like we can't do a tai chi form..." Or for a ballet dancer to say "it's not like I can't play a violin..."
It's a specialized skill that takes training time, like any other.
Most taiji/xingyi/bagua/yiquan guys come from other arts. My taiji sifu learned judo in the marines, his top xingyi student was a former college wrestler and when I was studying judo half the class was newaza. If my brother did bjj for five years vs me doing taiji/yiquan for an equal time he would stand no chance. Just ask willie.