http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8RNgsoyJv8
I’m on a PH kick lately. This clip shows some nice, smooth PH by Fu. I love the way that he mixes it up and shows lots of different techniques. Doing this is the way it should be, not just doing push all the time.
Fu does one thing that I look for to see if the person knows what they are doing in PH: he controls the opponent’s elbow. Far too many people miss this. Notice where his left hand is every time the circle comes back around. He has his left hand just above the guy’s right elbow, allowing him to control the second gate. The wrist is the first gate. From the pulls he’s doing, it’s obvious he is controlling that gate as well.
Doing so gives Fu lots of freedom to use pull-pluck (cai) to pull down the opponent, leaving them open to an upwards uproot when they resist getting pulled down. Notice how the students place their hands on Fu’s forearm when they push, but they seem to have no idea about pushing on the wrist and near his elbow, allowing them to control the first and second gate. Failing to do so gives Fu many chances (most which he doesn’t take, probably for the student’s sake) to use the elbows. If you don’t control the first and second gates when pushing, it gives the other guys lots of oppotunities to fold.
For example, look at his use of the elbow in ji at around 00:38. Notice how Fu’s elbow comes over the top. That is a devastating move. There is so much that he could do with that. He chose to make it into an elbow ji to the guy’s shoulder, but he could have ji’ed the guy’s face just as easily.
There’s lots of little stuff in this clip if you take the time to look. Enjoy.
Edit: One other point I’d like to make about the clip above — notice how NONE of the students are controlling the elbow, but Fu ALWAYS is. Hmmm…
Are certain things that could fairly quickly lead to tangible skills not being corrected? But isn’t it interesting that they are being shown in the clip?
8 responses so far ↓
1 Hermann // Apr 14, 2007 at 9:14 am
Yes, that’s all in the Yang style PH curriculum, but each school has it’s own additions and specialities.
What I didn’t like was the change of stance in dingbu, strange, too slow to be ever used. Huobu was quite agil, though.
Dave, if you are so much into PH lately, why not try Master Wu Ronghui from Yijian, say hello from me and try what he got.
2 chessman71 // Apr 14, 2007 at 9:46 am
Hermann,
Well, I’m not very interested in challenging anyone. And I’m still a beginner.
I was thinking of attending his week long training in PH. It says that it’s open to people from all styles.
Have you been?
3 Hermann // Apr 14, 2007 at 4:15 pm
No, no, no need to challenge anybody. Sorry, my Englihs is often misunderstood.
Just get a feel, and if you can learn something, give it a few lessons.
He is rather nice, not a real mean fighter, as far as I know him, open to anybody and also eager to meet people on a friendly level, really!
I myself trained as a beginner with him only a few weeks, then met him 15 years later, he advanced more than I could on myself in Germany.
4 chessman71 // Apr 14, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Hermann,
No problem. Yeah, I misunderstood. As I said, I was thinking of attending the week long training they have here in Taipei every year. I hear a lot of foreigners come over to train with him and do intensive push hands for a whole week. They hda the last training in February so I just missed it.
Oh well, maybe next year.
5 taijiquestion // Apr 14, 2007 at 11:49 pm
>>one thing that I look for to see if the person knows what they are doing in PH: he controls the opponent’s elbow. Far too many people miss this>Are certain things… not being corrected?
6 taijiquestion // Apr 14, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Some day I’m going to have to figure out why I can spend 10 minutes composing a concise comment, and then hit “submit” and only the first sentence survives. The internet gods are messing with me. Guess I’ll just say, thanks for a stimulating post on a fundamental issue!
7 chessman71 // Apr 15, 2007 at 12:28 am
Sorry the rest of the comment didn’t survive. I’ve had a lot of trouble lately with servers not responding on other forums and blogs.
One thing I would suggest doing to copy the comment first. if the server doesn’t repsond or the comment gets lost, all you have to do is open the comment box and paste.
Again, apologies.
8 tuishou // Apr 29, 2007 at 10:03 pm
How about ThAikido, the martial Arts alwayslikes to control one’s elbow! That’s just my own opinion.I felt that the Master’s opponent is grotty by doing the programs. why they need to hit the wall so hardly, are they also learned “the hit wall magic kung fu”? In my words, they were just being a show! And it’s suit for some guilds who want to experience Taiji pushhand or practice “chi” anymore. If the opponent had some breast, therefore it will become gawkiness show.
I am a Taiwanese, and my English is not well enough!
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