Variant speed Taiji

[johnwang]

One assignment that I gave to one of my students is to change his constant speed Taiji form training into variant speed Taiji form training. Here is an example of how variant speed Taiji may look like. I like it very much. What's your opinion on this?

[Bao]

"Tai Chi is like the great river". A river moves sometimes fast, sometimes slow, so why not? One of my teachers thought that it's good to change speed, and also to try to find rhythm in the changes. Personally, I believe it's more about the purpose of the practice. Sometimes you practice for one purpose, sometimes another. So what is your purpose of changing speed?

[johnwang]

So what is your purpose of changing speed?

To add personal "art flavor" into the form training.

It's boring to hear the drum beat as "slow, slow, slow". It's fun to hear drum beat as "slow, fast, slow", or "slow, slow, fast". Also slow is used for defense, and fast is used for offense. One has to know his form well in order to put the right speed at the right move.

[Steve James]

Several tcc systems have forms with fast and slow parts. Those are dedicated forms, though. Imo, a slow form is meant to be practiced slowly, but a student is free to experiment. Of course, if precision of technique is a goal, slower is better. And, if the technique is faulty, doing it faster won't improve it.

That said, we always used to separate parts of the form out and practice them at full speed. That's how they would be used in sparring. We wouldn't spar as if we were doing a form.

Hey, pick the parts of the form you plan to use against an opponent and link them together to make a fast form sequence and insert it into your slow form randomly.

[wayne hansen]

Theatrical is my first thought
Speed is irrelevant
He also varies height and uses indépendant arm action
The way he does reminds me of Yu Hai doing Chen
He is putting on a performance right from the start indicated by the hat theatrics

[johnwang]

A 100% fast form training is also boring.

[johnwang]

Speed is irrelevant

A marathon runner may not do good in short distance full speed running. It's completely different training.

[Bao]

Speed doesn't matter. But speed does matter. Again it depends on the purpose of the practice.
Form practice with very, very slow and with even movement (pulling silk) is good for meditation, to empty and clear your mind.
But if you want to build up heat and energy, that ideal meditation pace is sometimes too slow. You shouldn't block your body's own momentum. There's something called gravity and you should make it work with you instead of against you.
When you really understand how to build up energy, which means you get really warm internally when practice, changing rhythm and speed can help you to control the energy. This is why you should know how to combine small and larger movements, and understand how to vary speed. Then you can learn to cool yourself down while continuing to build up and storing energy. Otherwise you need to release it to not overheat yourself. But every time you release energy, it takes time to build up again. (Too large and too fast becomes external, there's no internal movement and no possibility to built up internal movement)

Sorry if it sounds philosophically or woo woo-ish, it's in fact all practical, something you should learn how to feel.

[D_Glenn]

I’ve mentioned this many times before. At a seminar with Chen Xiao Wang someone asked about Hand and Foot Harmony. He said there’s 3 speeds that you need to practice the form at. #1, which everyone practices, is Walking speed, where you step first then move. But #2 is Jogging speed where you move just fast enough to have Hand and Foot harmony. Then #3 is Sprinting /combat speed. He demonstrated all three.

We also practice at 3 different speeds in our Bagua forms.

Why is hand and foot harmony important? A) It’s really important in FaLi because of how your flesh move’s both up and down after you jolt your abdomen. But B) it’s even more important to get at least 2 points of contact hitting the opponent at the same time. It distracts them and also makes any tripping move more effective.

[wayne hansen]

When I said speed doesn’t matter what I meant was you can practice at all 3 speeds
In fact I don’t know any martial art that doesn’t practice at all speeds
It comes into real play in freestyle pushing hands not the bull at gate style

[johnwang]

Form practice with very, very slow and with even movement (pulling silk) is good for meditation, to empty and clear your mind.

I may be the last person on earth who doesn't care about "meditation". I didn't care when I was young. I also don't care when I'm older. My mom must drop my head on the ground when I was a baby.

[johnwang]

B) it’s even more important to get at least 2 points of contact hitting the opponent at the same time. It distracts them and also makes any tripping move more effective.

This is why in Taiji PH, when your arm touches on your opponent's arm, your leg should also touch on your opponent's leg. It makes no sense that if you do one but not the other.

[Doc Stier]

Speed doesn't matter. But speed does matter. Again it depends on the purpose of the practice.
Form practice with very, very slow and with even movement (pulling silk) is good for meditation, to empty and clear your mind.
But if you want to build up heat and energy, that ideal meditation pace is sometimes too slow. You shouldn't block your body's own momentum. There's something called gravity and you should make it work with you instead of against you.
When you really understand how to build up energy, which means you get really warm internally when practice, changing rhythm and speed can help you to control the energy. This is why you should know how to combine small and larger movements, and understand how to vary speed. Then you can learn to cool yourself down while continuing to build up and storing energy. Otherwise you need to release it to not overheat yourself. But every time you release energy, it takes time to build up again. (Too large and too fast becomes external, there's no internal movement and no possibility to built up internal movement)

Sorry if it sounds philosophically or woo woo-ish, it's in fact all practical, something you should learn how to feel.

Agreed completely. Excellent points and well stated.

[johnwang]

Form practice with very, very slow and with even movement (pulling silk) is good for meditation, to empty and clear your mind.

I believe slow training is designed for old people who can no longer move fast. Even at my age, I feel young if I move fast. I feel old if I move slow. Since I prefer to feel young than to feel old, when I throw 4 punches within 1 second, I fell I'm 20 years young again. I just can't find any good reason for me to train slow.

[Trick]

Speed is irrelevant

A marathon runner may not do good in short distance full speed running. It's completely different training.

Yet the winner of the marathon is the fastest