chi

[j]

Okay out of the supposed 70 definitions that there for chi, you call chi energy. Okay, so Chi is energy.

So what?

what is the practical application of this to boxing?

I only posted those videos in response to the dubious claim of the guy saying some master could ring a bell on the other side of the room without touching it using chi.

If chi or any special breathing techniques have some practical benefit to boxing I am open minded to hear about it!

there are a lot of people using trickery to try and make money off of ****** people.

obviously, managing your energy has a practical benefit on everything you do.

you speak of breathing exercises. those are only one form of chi kung. those, depending on what kind you are doing, helps put your body and mind into more of a balanced state. some are used for specific purpose like to help cure an ailment or to make yourself stronger.

[j]

you really had to ask about how energy affects performance?

[Trrmo]

you really had to ask about how energy affects performance?

No, I want to know how you can USE chi to improve boxing performance. Give some examples, exercises boxers can do etc.

[j]

chi is not a special kind of energy or something mystical like that.


boxers strive to develope certain qualities - like punching hard or moving skillfully, etc...

a straight right for example, has straight energy. how you develope it is up to you.

[danny stash]

i guess i am somewhat obligated to speak on this subject.

1 - ignorance. anyone here actually know or understand what "chi" is? not according to what i read here. responses here sound like nothing but misconceptions. anyone here even speak chinese or understand the basis of the philosophy from which the concept of chi came from?

2 - no chi, no life. that should help clear things up.

3 - no chi, nothing moves. that should clear things up a little more.

so, what is chi? there are something like 70 definitions for it. it is a somewhat abstract concept. chi is very real. magic tricks are two. but chi is not magic trick. too many people watching dragon ball z or listening to hippy taiji teachers.

for the sake of this discussion, i will try to limit what "chi" i am talking about. so, what would be a more accurate description is that chi is energy. that is why it is linked so closely with breath as breath is life and life is movement and you cannot have life or movement without energy. breath, again, can even be a metaphor for expansion and contraction/open and close/in and out/etc.... in other words - movement. the very essence of movement. and what is movement? life.

a lot of times, when you read about chi, you can simply replace the word chi with energy. energy is everywhere and everything. in one way, you could use chi to describe the quality - harmony or disharmony of a state of being as example. it is not limited to people or martial artists.

it would do you guys well to understand that the way of thinking that brought about the understanding of this concept is one of personal experience. typical western thinking is to disassociate yourself and use analytical thought to understand a situation or whatever. however, analytical thought itself is cold and dead without its opposite - experience and feeling/being. neither can exist by itself or on it's own. knowing and understanding are two different things - but both are linked together.

to understand and know chi and t be able to use it to describe the harmony of a situation or state, you have to know and understand the yin yang symbol. i see the yin yang aka taiji symbol in a lot of places; yoga studios, alternative medicine clinics, martial arts gyms. but, who actually understands what the symbol means? many people think yin is different than yang. it is not. they are simply two opposite ends of the same scale. understand? so this gives us a measurement that you can describe any state of being/existence/situation. it is very simple really.

anyways, everybody who breathes has life. life is movement. movement is energy. energy is chi.

in relation to fighting, you want to use chi efficiently so that you have a lot of it. again, simply replace the word chi with energy. and i am speaking on a very broad level. we could go into a specific kind of chi. example - you have chi that is available for you to use for activity such as boxing or basketball. that is different from the chi that keeps your heart beating. there is postnatal and prenatal chi as well - meaning the energy you are born with and then the energy you extract and store from food, air, etc....

anyways, it is not magic. you do not have to believe in it. it is not a religion. many people try to make money off of the concept because people are easily fooled by things they do not understand. this is what makes people think of it as mystical and ****. they not have understanding of it.



and in fighting, yi is the focus, not chi.



let me ask you, what is chi?

and a superstition of buddhism? lol? u sort of owned your own self on that one man.

thank you so much for this awesome post. I did not even dignify a response to some of the morons on here. Glad we have some intelligent free thinkers such as yourself here...

[j]

your welcome man.

i didn't like these misconceptions that these half-assed hippie kung fu teachers throw out there to lure in curious people. and, as this thread has shown, many people tend to think that is what real traditionally trained fighters do.

there is a pretend dragon ball z world - especially with young teenagers these days. and these little ****s hurt the traditional arts community just as much as "teachers" who don't believe in sparring.

and then there is the real ****. the real martial arts skills that seem almost supernatural sometimes. this type of **** comes from years and years of perfecting the manipulation of the way people act and react.

the real **** is a bit hard to find. maybe 1 in 200 or 300 teachers have at least one remarkable skill that would leave you speechless. but, all most people know is the silly ****ing sales pitches and empty skills of many martial arts "teachers" who would get ass ****d by a teenage streetfighter.

don't misunderstand, there are many great fighters out there, but there are not many at a really really truly high level. when you meet one, you know instantly. especially when they throw your ass around effortlessly like you are a toy. a lot of these guys are underground though. so, finding them is hard because they usually don't give a **** about owning a mcdonalds-like chain of schools. of the few extremely high skilled fighters i have met, i have found that they are the most humble and casual people. you would never know that they were champion fighters except they always seem to give off a certain palpable vibe. a vibe that feels like they have complete control over themselves. crazy **** i know.

[Pork Chop]

I do a tai chi (taiji) warm up (24 step) before I start muay thai class.
Sometimes the guys laugh at me; but I know it helps.
It warms my body up, gets the blood flowing, and it stretches me out/gets me loose without causing any injuries.
It also helps me regulate my breathing.
I use "dan tien breathing" in muay thai & boxing and I find it really does wonders for my relaxation & endurance.

I always equated that warm feeling you get when the blood's flowing out to all your extremities and your breathing's nice & regulated as being the feeling of "chi".
If a muscle's overly tense, you don't get that warm feeling - so feeling it means you've got a nice level of relaxation.
Relaxed punches simply hit harder - they transfer more energy.
Aside from that, I never thought much about the "magical" type aspects of chi, coz they always came off as parlor tricks.

[j]

I do a tai chi (taiji) warm up (24 step) before I start muay thai class.
Sometimes the guys laugh at me; but I know it helps.
It warms my body up, gets the blood flowing, and it stretches me out/gets me loose without causing any injuries.
It also helps me regulate my breathing.
I use "dan tien breathing" in muay thai & boxing and I find it really does wonders for my relaxation & endurance.

I always equated that warm feeling you get when the blood's flowing out to all your extremities and your breathing's nice & regulated as being the feeling of "chi".
If a muscle's overly tense, you don't get that warm feeling - so feeling it means you've got a nice level of relaxation.
Relaxed punches simply hit harder - they transfer more energy.
Aside from that, I never thought much about the "magical" type aspects of chi, coz they always came off as parlor tricks.

people laugh at a taiji warmup? why? start beating people's ass with those warm ups. you know a warm up is really just a secret way of power training, right?


yes! you are right about relaxed punches.

yeah, that warm feeling is a good thing. it feels like a wave right? it washes over the body? if you can do that without even using movement, it is good.

wow, you know dan tien?

[Pork Chop]

Yah, I know the wave feeling that radiates out.

As for dan tien, I thought I told you, I'm a kung fu guy from way back (1994).
I switched to sport stuff coz continuous sparring wasn't doing it for me as a format to take my stuff out for test drives. I also had some teachers that either didn't give apps, or mainly taught apps i couldn't jive with. Sanshou and Muay Thai are more inline with the way I think and fight anyway.

As far as the laughing; usually it's just joking by my muay thai coach. He keeps telling me to continue doing it - saying the mixture is good, but I'm not sure if it's getting on his nerves that I'm doing outside stuff. I use the taichi stuff in the clinch a lot- I get told I'm powerful/strong, but it's really just sensitivity to know how to yank someone off balance the right way.

[Stormin' Norman]

I'd like to learn more about meditation. I'd like to get good enough at it to do it between rounds. That would be nice. After rd 1, you'd see me sat down and eyes closed, smiling....