Hi Tim, and anyone else nice enough to read this,

What are the best systems to seek out and crosstrain in to balance out Taiji training? I would assume, obviously, BJJ--but what else would you sugget as complimentary/supplimentary to Taiji. To help you gague, let me describe my Taiji training.

I do a medium frame Yang form--probobly Chien Hou lineage, similar to the large frame but more circles and variety of movement and some follow steps. We do lots of push-hands, self-defense applications, and, yep, at high lvls non-cooperative drills and some sparring.

Thanks for any information you can provide--and for this great forum.

i think there's a thread arguing whether it is more productive for a striker to study judo or bjj. Look that up. (i go judo)

Yeah, bjj is good. Try some greco roman wrestling or any other flavor of grappling available near you. I haven't found a grappling style I didn't like.

Muay Thai is lots of fun too.

TC Rich
My humble opinion is the BJJ is great for TaiJI adjunct
First because Taiji has no groundwork and this is the emphisis of BJJ.

BOB Tai Chi has many throws and locks (Chin Na)and strikes (kicking and punching)endless styles, schools or thought emphasise one or more aspects of these.
Aikido, Judo, Hap Ki Do- the list is endless
See what is avalible in your area and find a place you like for what ever reasons that attract you. Anything that works can round out or improve one or more aspect of your art, it can be very individualized.

I like to use all of them (kicking and punching, throwing and locking) in a well rounded moving step- Shuai Jiao type push hands with and without a jacket and then bring it to the ground. When I can find an open minded partner. For me this makes a fun Tai Chi experiance, too bad the mainstream tounaments don't find even a close realative of this idea to compete in for sport. They prefer the slow moving dances and extreamly limited and subjective push hand drills.
But mainly Taji lacks groundwork- and any type of groundfighting that is avalible to you is a great place to start.

All good suggestions. I would also suggest doing some boxing. When I started in CMA my teacher made me learn boxing and get in the ring and spar.
If you get even just a little boxing experience it will make you feel much better. It helped me a lot.
I don't know a lot about grappling yet. I just go around to schools my friends go to every few months to open mat days. I really enjoy the attitudes of most grapplers I have met. Most, not all. But it's a lot of fun.

Richard,

I'd recommend any system that includes a lot of contact sparring, and especially clinch/groundfighting.

I have to agree with Tim... find a cute girl and apply lots of wrestling techniques.

Let her win though and visualize the chicken brabs the rice techniques and such.

i've advocated judo before, b/c you will practice standing throwing and ground. Some schools of judo however, seem to emphasize standing more, or emphasize randori less. Any shcool of wrestling will be a great addition, the question is probably more about how the teacher runs the school, rather than the style. I train in an 'olympic' style school, and there seems to be about 1/2 the class on technical and 1/2 the class on randori. The randori is usually 1/2 and 1/2 standing throws and groundwork. But your unlikely to find a grappling school that doesn't emphasize sparring at least for a portion of the class. Watch the class, and anyone who won't let you watch before joining, or anyone that forces you to sign a contract, it's probably best if you run like hell!