For john wang or others: adding leg to Press

[everything]

I've noticed John Wang often comments that it's strange taiji people don't put some leg action into certain moves. I have to agree it seems weird as well. Lately I am into Press. It seems good to add a leg block, reap, bite, cut, etc. unless it's fixed step push hands with a reset on a small foot move. demo vid's seem to usually show a slight offbalancing only. Do you practice this move both with and without a leg action? Why?

[Ian]

press is not a move, it's a principle of movement.

[everything]

right, an "energy" ... change "press" to "a typical press move"

for example i like the press moves in this vid viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4084

[johnwang]

Taiji has many good moves but If you add:

- "leg scoop" in Peng (ward off),
- "leg spring" in Lu (pull back),
- "Leg bite" in Gi (press forward),
- "Inner leg hook" in An (push),
- "leg sweep" in cloud hand,
- "leg hook" in brush knee,
- "outer leg hook" in diagonal fly,
- ...

then those moves will be much more combat effective. There are only a finite number of leg moves that exist and it's not that hard to integrate those moves if desired.

[bailewen]

Well we haven't got all of those in baguataiji but. . .

- "leg scoop" in Peng (ward off): http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/tk ... directlink

- "leg spring" in Lu (pull back): http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Bt ... directlink

- "Inner leg hook" in An (push): http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YF ... directlink

And just for kicks, since we're talking about shuai-fa in Taiji...

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/uv ... directlink

Not to mention our own, fairly unusual "high pat horse": http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/q7 ... directlink

[cdobe]

I've noticed John Wang often comments that it's strange taiji people don't put some leg action into certain moves. I have to agree it seems weird as well. Lately I am into Press. It seems good to add a leg block, reap, bite, cut, etc. unless it's fixed step push hands with a reset on a small foot move. demo vid's seem to usually show a slight offbalancing only. Do you practice this move both with and without a leg action? Why?

At 0:28 in the below clip you can see how you can combine leg biting and a Ji technique. The left leg gets into a T-stance and the weight shifts forward onto that leg, while the hands do a typical Ji posture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E0XNRawUYw


CD

[johnwang]

Here is an example of adding "outer hook" into "diagonal fly". It's much harder for your opponent to escape out of it. It's an "enhancement" IMO. The only requirement is "you have to feel comfortable by standing on one leg only".

http://johnswang.com/shoulder_strike1.wmv

[Daniel]

Good topic, Everything. I agree, it´s a bit strange that most people in Taiji don´t, but I think it´s due to a lack of information.

I was taught that every time a foot is empty or lifted in the Yang forms, that´s a leg or foot-technique. Later I got a teacher who actually taught exercises for these too, but that´s really rare.

The basic Four energies are energies, quite true, but also remember (maybe you take it for granted, if so, sorry ) remember that the Four are used in legwork too. Once you have learned them thoroughly in normal usage, you start manifesting them in your legs too. Knowing Chen-style push hands where you have leg-contact makes this part of the work a hell of a lot easier. Bagua roushou does the same. It´s also from this work all the basic techniques stem that use the Four to injure, lock or throw your opponent´s spine through his legs, or to triangulate even stronger with the arms.



D.

Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[everything]

Thanks a lot for those examples. It's funny how one small change can make a big difference. Also, I always think about "3 contact points" now after reading John's advice many times here.

I don't take that those 4 energies are in the legs for granted. I've seen demos of the Chen style legs-connected and active push hands but not done it. Usually I think my right arm is "alive" and my left arm less so and my legs are pretty much sleeping on the job.

[johnwang]

You can see some difference feet position between the normal Taiji "diagonal fly" vs. SC "shoulder strike" in the following clip. You can also see an extream SC principle, "run your opponent down" used there. When my teacher used "shoulder strike" to defeat Taiji master Li Jin-Lin (God of the sword) in a PH match, master Li was very surprised to find out how similar these 2 different arts were. That was the birthday of the "Chang style Taiji" (in Taiwan, people call it SC Taiji), the integration between Taiji and SC.

http://johnswang.com/shoulder_strike.wmv