How to Train Tai Chi Pushers
1. Tai Chi Pushing Hands is an important stage in training learners to master Tai Ji Chuan's actual combat skills, and it is also an important stage between fighting and attacking. Its accomplishment comes from the training of posture and basic skills, and it is necessary to practice pushing hands after having a certain basic accomplishment of Tai Ji Chuan, which is the only way from knowledge to knowledge. Nowadays, pushers in Tai Ji Chuan generally follow the training procedures of single pushers, double pushers, fixed pushers, moving pushers, long-distance pushers and disorderly flower arrangement (note: there is no such fixed pattern in Tai Ji Chuan). In the formal training of pushers, beginners can master some basic training procedures of pushers and some key points of offensive and defensive conversion of pushers. Formal things give beginners a way to follow, and they can learn from their predecessors' experience to verify what they have learned, but this is by no means the essence of Tai Chi pushing hands. Pushing hands, as an antagonistic training of offensive and defensive skills, must be flexible and eclectic in the transformation of offensive and defensive skills, and it has nothing artificially formalized. A certain sense of tactile strain and strong internal force guarantee can make a qualitative leap in the level of pushing hands. What is the purpose of pushing hands? In a word, it is nothing more than understanding and understanding. If we blindly pursue fixed procedures, stick to the form and push hands for the sake of pushing hands, it is a waste of time and it is boring to practice. After all, pushers directly serve Wushu, so we must not confuse fitness pushers with competitive pushers with real traditional Wushu pushers. 2. At each stage of pushing hands, it is best to find more teachers or boxing friends with higher level than yourself to push hands and take over training, but don't care about winning or losing. Instead, try to find your own shortcomings in pushing hands, constantly sum up experiences and lessons in failure, and you can make your own efforts to the next level. Qian Xianyun: I don't know the taste of being beaten. How can I understand the taste of hitting people? When pushing hands, players must carry out targeted training under various conditions, which is more conducive to the improvement of Tai Ji Chuan's martial arts level. As Tai Chi Chuan said: He doesn't move, and I don't move; He moves, I move first. If you are anxious, you must be anxious, and if you are slow, you must be slow. In actual Tai Chi fighting, the slower the better, but the slower the better. There is a saying in society that "practice slowly and use quickly": the slower you practice Tai Ji Chuan, the better. Practice slowly, and you will get there soon. This is actually impossible. If you don't practice fast, you can't get up at all. It will be difficult to adapt to the rapid changes of the other side, and you will only fail in the real enemy's actual combat. Some famous Tai Chi masters haven't touched their hands in actual combat, but their opponents' fists hit him, and they haven't reacted when they were knocked down. Therefore, speed training plays an important role in traditional Tai Ji Chuan. Chen Fuyuan, a famous Chen teacher in Tai Ji Chuan, said: "There are three levels of kung fu in practicing Tai Ji Chuan: the first step is not suitable for dementia; The second step is to learn quickly and quickly; The third step is to slow down quickly. " Only in this way can we achieve "quick response, slow response". In actual combat, in the face of different schools and styles of martial arts, a real Tai Chi master will show real fighting characteristics. In order to adapt to the opponent's attack, you must be faster than me, and the opponent can't play slowly with you. You must go through a certain period of high-speed, high-intensity and varied rigorous training, so that your long-term accumulation of Tai Chi skills can be fully exerted and you can calmly face all boxers. As the saying goes: "the heart is like a gunpowder hand, and the bird flies with a brainwave; The body is like a bowstring, the hand is like an arrow, and the bird with a string falls hard. Hands are like lightning, and lightning is not as good as eyes; If the enemy is struck by lightning, the thunder will not cover their ears. "The predecessors' understanding of Tai Ji Chuan's high-speed characteristics in actual combat is worth pondering for the younger generation. No matter what kind of martial arts, it is difficult to play its due power in actual combat without "fast" training. Tai Ji Chuan's training of pushing hands must follow the principle of step by step, and the most taboo is to encourage others and push people for the sake of pushing hands. Some people practice pushing hands directly in order to participate in the competitive competition of pushing hands, without Tai Ji Chuan foundation, or by learning a set of boxing skills temporarily, which in itself loses the true connotation of Tai Ji Chuan. A single pusher has nothing to do with boxing and actual combat, and loses its significance as an important link between boxing and actual combat. It should be pointed out that there is still a certain distance between pushing hands and fighting skills. Pushing hands doesn't mean martial arts. Shelves are bodies, and martial arts are used. The disadvantages of uselessness remain unchanged, and the disadvantages of usefulness without body have no roots. Only by effectively combining the two can we lose the meaning of pushing hands. The strength of the bosom friend in the bookshelf, the strength of oneself in the ever-changing situation, and the strength of others are understandable, and the more you practice, the more refined you become. 3. There is nothing complicated and fancy about the real traditional Tai Ji Chuan fighting practice. According to the author's years of martial arts practice experience, we should focus on strengthening the training of feeding and changing strength, so as to better learn and improve Tai Ji Chuan's kung fu. What is feeding power? Figuratively speaking, it's like a mother nursing a baby. Tai Chi Pushing Hands, that is, the teacher lets the students experience the changes of the thirteen styles, eight doors and five steps of Tai Chi, and fundamentally has a direct understanding of the eight doors and five steps, and enables the students to initially master the application methods after practice. Feeding training is divided into two processes: asking and giving, which complement each other and are indispensable. Ask questions first. Artest Tai Ji Chuan practitioners who have received the master's biography can learn from the practice of Tai Chi Kung Fu that learning and practicing Tai Ji Chuan is absolutely different from learning any other pure knowledge. We should not only understand the truth, but also let scholars really understand and master it through practical training. We must never understand it in a formal way, otherwise we will never enter the door of Taiji. For the Tai Chi Chuan family, the strength contained in different body movements may be the same, but the hidden opportunities in seemingly the same movements are different, and the subtleties are difficult to know without actual combat. Then when practicing, you should "ask" the teacher about the strength, key points such as focus and temperature, as well as the characteristics of strength transformation and change. For example, Jin Peng, the first of the Eight Methods of Taiji, is ubiquitous in Tai Ji Chuan's fighting skills. It is a kind of power without a fixed pattern, which is produced on the basis of the whole body's qi and blood flowing up and down and blending with other qualities such as strength. In practical application, it is not just a circular bracket with two arms as described by some famous artists. In essence, the target of the opponent's attack will never stop at the arm, but may be any part of the body. In terms of strength, if the strength of the other party is completely surrounded by arms, so that the strength of the other party cannot enter, how can it be "failed to introduce?" "If you can't stop each other, each other's power can come in directly and point to your center of gravity, then you will be subject to each other's system. Things are so contradictory, completely holding each other's strength, not letting in, not enough to take; It's no use letting the other side's strength come in completely. So how can we really understand the strength of Taiji Chuan? It can be mastered not by secrets or oral transmission by famous experts, but by practical training and application. In actual combat training, when a scholar puts his hand on the teacher's arm or body, he will immediately feel the feeling that he wants to exert himself but has no place to exert himself, and he will feel that his center of gravity is erratic and unstable. In the case of different opponents, the change of power point is also different. The change of contact point should be just right and beyond, these subtle things can't be described in words. Just like people who have never eaten plums, no matter how others describe them, you can't know what the taste of plums is. Only by tasting them yourself can you know their taste. The change of Tai Ji Chuan's inner strength can't be understood only by appearances. Only by personal experience, repeated speculation and constant tracing can we have a profound understanding. Take gold, for example. Gold is not confined to a certain point or part, but confined to the whole body. It is full of qi and blood, like an airbag, everywhere, from the outside to the inside, and its mystery is beyond words. If you are not full of energy everywhere, how can you introduce it easily? This is the case with "Gui" strength, and so is the understanding of other strength methods. As the saying goes, "A good teacher makes a good apprentice." In fact, it should be "Ming" teachers who make excellent students. If the master is not "clear", where can the students learn? Therefore, it is not enough to practice Tai Ji Chuan literally. Only when you truly experience the teacher's power and have a deep understanding can you speak, let alone understand. Let's talk about awesome again. For those who have been practicing Tai Ji Chuan for many years, "People only follow me" and "People only follow me" are all frequently used words. So what is "people follow me" and what is "I follow others"? How to make use of the situation of "people follow me"? How to make my back smooth under the condition of "I am obedient to others"? This requires intensive training. In the training of pushing hands, teachers will give students some appropriate strength according to the depth of their kung fu and their mastery of strength, so that they can get started and embark on the right track of Tai Chi. First of all, in the case of "follow me", practice all kinds of methods of exerting strength, such as pressing, smoothing, squeezing, pressing, picking, arranging, elbow and leaning. A real teacher should first deliberately give students some direct power to resolve it, gradually from the beginning to the end, mainly following the power. Compared with the training that requires strength, the training that gives strength goes further and is active training. Learners should carefully understand how they change with the change of teachers. This step of training is more important among the thugs (pushers) and is the key to getting started with pushers. If the students' own experience is correct, the teacher will follow the students' path; If the students' strength is not correct, the teacher will cut off the students' movements according to the situation to help them find their own shortcomings and correct their mistakes. For practitioners, this stage of training is like a toddler, following the teacher step by step, and the teacher is like a target, allowing students to imagine themselves as enemies, creating various training conditions, creating various situations and guiding students. In this stage of training, the responsible master will clearly give his center of gravity to the students, so that the students can better grasp the opportunity and not give each other the opportunity. Make students familiar with how to seize the opportunity and win the battle under various favorable conditions. Next, in the case of "the teacher is behind me", the teacher will guide the students to demonstrate how to turn their backs smoothly, and then the other side will attack first, so that the other side will lose its center of gravity and be at a disadvantage. At this stage, compared with students, teachers are helpless. At this time, the teacher can cooperate with the students to make all kinds of real fighting forms that the students think are "obeying the teacher". For example, students can grasp the teacher with both hands, fall with one hand, or even twist their joints with one finger. They can also use any means to assign teachers to make students in a favorable position, while teachers make students powerless in every situation or a certain contact point. At this stage, students need to seriously understand how to better grasp the opportunity in the introduction and distribution, and use the least strength to maximize the effect, so as to have a deeper understanding of the use of strength. "Striving for strength" and "giving strength" are extremely important steps in the ancient biography of Taiji's "thugs", and scholars must work hard at this depth and lay a good foundation. Variable strength training is carried out on the basis of demanding and giving strength training, and it is a further deepening training for Tai Chi pushers. The difficulty of training increases accordingly, and the requirements for the transformation of strength and the application of skills are higher. Variable strength training is different from the training that requires and gives strength, and it is a kung fu that follows the trend and guides the situation. If feeding training still belongs to the level of obeying the rules, then variable force training has entered the stage of breaking the rules. In the feeding stage, students should strictly abide by the training procedures and learn to explore the correct methods of mastering strength under the correct guidance. There is no other way. Strength change is to carry out in-depth training on the basis of feeding, and strive to achieve the ability to use strength freely. In any case, you can accept, induce and release each other's motivation. Actual combat is different from competitive pushers. In the process of introduction and development, the opponent is a moving person, not a stationary plant for you to hit, and it will not attack in the way you imagine. Its strength, attack position and contact point are by no means fixed, so it is difficult to apply various artificial specific imaginary usages to high-level, high-quality, high-speed and high-intensity actual combat. In order to adapt to the ever-changing and unpredictable actual combat, we must carry out corresponding training to be foolproof. In the cold weapon era when martial arts prevailed, the martial arts faced the bandits who ransacked their homes and fought to the death in the blind road circle, fighting with Jin Ge who saw the red sword and the gun. It can be said that all-day unlimited super free fighting, life and death depend on each other. Without the strong backing of Wushu, it is difficult for Tai Ji Chuan to prevail and spread to this day. Variable strength training is one of the important means to make learners have the actual combat function of Tai Ji Chuan and adapt to various combat situations. There is no fixed pattern in variable force training itself, but it is required to gradually adapt to the changefulness of the other side in training, especially to the offensive launched by the other side from different angles and directions, and to destroy the balance of the other side while maintaining its own balance. In variable force training, it is necessary to include different connotations in a style of play, and there are many technical changes to realize various styles under different circumstances. From the perspective of strength, does strength imply seven kinds of strength: rowing, squeezing, pressing, picking, elbowing and leaning? Similarly, does every other force imply power? In practical application, there is no fixed formula to follow in the transformation of various forces, so we should improvise and let nature take its course, that is, a force is changeable as mentioned by predecessors. The ancients said: the beauty of management lies in one heart, which is also called. In the stage of strength change, the training of strength method is more profound, which requires the use of strength method to form a natural instinct, which can be used freely in any form. Take strength as an example, no matter which direction the other side attacks from up, down, left and right, I can undertake and develop strength, no matter what strength the other side takes, I can undertake momentum. This is strength, and so is strength, in order to understand the true meaning of Tai Chi more deeply. Many Tai Ji Chuan fans confuse competitive pushers with martial arts, but they are not the same thing. Because in actual combat, the Taj family can't only face the insiders, but probably fighters from Shaolin, Wudang, Emei and other sects. The other party can't "cooperate" with you to set up the boxing frame and slowly push the hand, and its attack is often rapid and unexpected. How can I get a chance at the moment of contact between the two sides and make me obey? This requires further training in pushing hands (also called taking over) to solve the problem of touching hands and taking over, which is the first problem to be solved in Tai Ji Chuan Wushu, and it is also an important link in pushing hands training. This level is more difficult than programmed pushing hands. Because in actual combat, it is impossible to wait for the two sides to touch their hands before attacking, so how to solve the problem of grasping each other's momentum and contacts in the high-speed and high-density offensive and defensive conversion of the other side can perceive the changes of the other side, so that people don't know me and I know everyone. Some fans have practiced Tai Ji Chuan for many years, and they have a certain level in pushing the program, but they have never been able to integrate with actual combat. They lost in actual combat because they didn't train according to the ancient Tai Ji Chuan method. In actual combat, the first contact point plays a vital role in winning or losing. In actual combat, there will be no possibility that the two-handed catcher will switch between attack and defense after sensing the change of the opponent's strength (except novices or fitness pushers). The ancient taiji tui method is how to grasp each other's strength when there is no contact between the two sides, perceive the change of each other's strength at the moment of contact, and at the same time achieve a situation of obedience. In any case, the two sides must have contact points when they collide with each other, otherwise it is impossible to knock the other side down, and the change of contact points is the most direct and fastest. Therefore, Tai Ji Chuan practitioners who take over this level should concentrate on understanding. After the variable force training has a certain foundation, if the hands-on training is carried out again, the application level can be further improved and the real coordination and unity of practice and use can be achieved. The above is what I learned from my teacher about the basic training methods of pushing hands in ancient Tai Ji Chuan. As far as pushing hands is concerned, all factions in Tai Ji Chuan have their own unique methods, but no matter which faction, in order to truly grasp the essence of pushing hands, in addition to the guidance of the master, it is necessary to communicate with teachers and friends frequently, and more importantly, to be diligent.