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Are internal chinese martial arts street effective?

i know all martial arts are for self defense but can these really help you in a situation of danger arts such as bagua zhang, Hsing Yi, Ba Ji, Tai Chi etc.

Public Comments

1. any martial art depends on how you train. the ones you mentioned can be very effective, but nowdays the emphasis is mainly on health and gentle exercise so that the fighting aspect is left out, or not even known by the instructor. finding a good sifu to teach you how to actually fight with them can be a challenge. also, even if you do find a good sifu, it is generally acknowledged that becoming efective in fighting with the internal arts takes longer than other styles. read wong kiew kit's website, he has a question and answer series, and deals with this kind of question often. his opinion is that not only are they effective for fightig, but that the best health benefits are gained from training in the traditional way, ie for fighting.
2. yes it can be if you are very skilled and it can be very deadly. I dont recommend you to use it on anyone unless you really need to.
3. hahaha..you are watching to much movies and martial art exhibitions man....you can use your art on someone who also believe in martial; art or fight within the martial art style...but it wont work on me....cause i can mess up your style..ive been street fighter for yrs and never came across anyone who could throw me like steven seagal uses his aikido in the movies...or like bruce lee one inch punch..hahaha....in real world of fight...things dont go the way like in the movies or martial demonstration....those Dim Mak or death touch??could really kill a boy maybe..but not a man.Humans are not puppet or dolls who dont react..or retaliate...our threshold are unlimited....it depends on individual...stop dreaming learning internal martial art can make you super strong....ive heard a lot ppl get kill with a guns,firearms and knife...but not legendary death touch...wake up!!
4. Yes, very. But it takes a long time to gain enough skill to use them effectively.
5. No... NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
6. depends on how you train it and your teacher's approach to teaching and what they are teaching. I would say that 99.9% of all cma schools not just cima schools are NOT effective because they aren't training with resistance and not training realistically. tai chi bieng among the worst of the bunch because it has the reputation for only bieng for "health" and has been taught to old farts in the park as a way to improve health totally ignoring any combative aspect of it. If you are looking for a CIMA, it is more difficult to find a good school and a good teacher that teaches realistically than many other arts. I currently train in xing yi, and have come across a teacher that came highly reccomended. If the class doesn't have you buying pads and sparring equipment to go hard or full contact (eventually, they don't expect you to on the first day), chances are it is not realistically trained. CMA schools are notorious for not sparring and substituting "pushing hands" for it. Make sure you have a school that either does not do this and does spar, or have an outlet you can spar in regularly (group of friends taking MAs, bullshido throwdown, etc.). One thing many cma's are guilty of is training in a vaccum, meaning (wing chun in particular from what I have seen of it) they train thier techniques as if the opponent will always only be using thier style- and only pressure testing techniques in the contexts of how someone would attack using the same style in reality that is not the case. Why chose a CMA then? IF you find a good teacher and train realistically then it can work, but if your class consists of dressing up in funny pajamas, kneeling before buddha and doing forms by yourself chances are you are LARPing not training (Live Action Role Playing). Why do I shit on cmas so much if I take one? Quite frankly if fucking pisses me off and embarasses me that so many flim flam teachers out there pass this crap off on people and make them think they are actually fighting by doing forms. Yes there is a place in cma training for training by yourself just as there is a place in boxing training for shadowboxing. However this should not be 100% of your training like it is with many cma schools. Not sure which is the worse offenders of the big three: Aikido which trains pretty much with slowed down opponents and compliant opponents. or TKD with its emphasis on point sparring and pretending it is realistic fighting and gears its techniques to what works only under that very limited ruleset. or CMA which may (or may not depending on teacher) be teaching you legit techniques but doesn't train realistically. Yes, I'm venting, but the basic point is that you need to find a good teacher that trains realistically, but your bs meter should be turned on when you walk in. Check out www.bullshido.net for general martial arts info and more on the emphasis and importance of resistance training. And check out emptyflower.com for more specific info on CIMAs If you want more info contact me on bullshido but you are not going to hear anything different- same name.
7. i agree with madhusudan, i study yang taijiquan and hsing-i, and i luckily found a teacher who is a skilled martial artist and not just a homeopathic practicioner with a certificate to teach for health.. and as far as taijiquan, it can be an extremely effective martial art, once you learn how to apply it, which can take a while.. now i love taiji and it's my primary art, but i've always looked at personal self defense from a practical stand point.. which is nice to find a sifu that understands that.. my sifu says that if someone is coming at him he's most likely not going to do a fancy, intriquite taiji move, he's most likely going to knee the guy in the groin.. see people will argue that there's no such difference between self defense and martial arts.. i beg to differ martial arts is an intriquite art form that takes years to master and is a life long journey into the combat, philisophical and mechanical aspects of a style.. where as self defense training systems are tailor made to be easily learned, remembered and executed in a short amount of time.. we're talking gross motor skills, natural reative training.. something that comes naturally and is easily applied and universal.. like the pluck for instance.. when someone grabs you by the neck, where do your hands naturally go? to the point of danger, so why not use that natural response and turn it into a defense mechanism.. hense pluck.. don't get me wrong, i love taijiquan and my other internal martial arts, hsing-i, i-chuan, qigong.. but i know that if i tried to use them in a life or death situation i might or might not succeed.. that's why i study krav maga, which i know gives me simple, straight forward defensive movements that won't take much thought to execute in a paniced situation where thinking is the last thing you can think about.. oooh a little long winded but i hope i got my view across.. ~*winkz*~
8. Based on my experience the intenal arts like bagua zhang is really real and in asia specially in Indonesia there is unique self defense using internal arts and you can find www.tridaya-innerpower.com by Master Lukman he is my guru and I have amazing experience when come back from my scholl some body try to hit me and suddently he thrown back without I do touching him. Beside that you can find Empty Forces by Paul Dong this is also interesting internal martial arts. Good Luck, Nanda Gautama