Formosa Neijia wrote:
Some people commenting aren't even watching the clips. I've noticed this problem a lot here. This idea that "we already do this in taiji form" etc. is totally insane. The whole premise here is TO GET THE KNEE PAST THE TOE AND MAKE YOU STRONG IN THAT POSITION. I still remember when a certain version of the Chen Pan-ling taiji form was shared that was designed to extend the range of motion and the knee went a little past the toe and some people commenting above lost their minds. "How dare you! This violates the sacred taiji classics!" This also showed up numerous times when horse stance was brought up. Such movement always violates some sacred principle.
Does me bringing up the Chen Pan-ling taiji example contradict my statement that people aren't already doing this? No. Again, I learned the entire CPL taiji system from 2 different people. I understand that training but IT'S A TOP-DOWN APPROACH WHEN ATG IS A BOTTOMS-UP APPROACH. Doing taiji forms like that is about whole-body unity. ATG is about ISOLATE THEN INTEGRATE. It's not the same.
So this is very similar to part of the jibengong I practice. I haven't gone full hammy to calf because I'm trying to keep my heel on the ground. Might be worth throwing one or two of these into the mix. I did find it hard to do without compromising form at this point, which is great.
Asian squat is also a regular part of jibengong/warmup, and there the hammies do hit the calves. I had trouble with that when I was missing my ACL, mainly due to fear of also snapping the PCL. Now I could sit there all day honestly.
Have been working on holding post in horse stance for increasing intervals. Up to five minutes.
The knees past the toes is for form, where it is applicable, which in my experience and research is not absolutely everywhere. It has nothing to do with jibengong.
Since you mentioned Alex, he recommends adding wrist and ankle weights, a vest, as you progress to increase the load and resistance.
The high rep low resistance stuff with loaded extremities is pretty much what we do, though, isn't it? Cheng Man Ching said that if you were properly Sung (relax is such a poor translation) then you should hurt at the end of the short form.
I definitely learned bottom up.
I suppose if your Taijiquan is nothing but light loosening, maybe, and some chill forms , then yeah, a lot of your criticism is valid.
What I learned was to dissect every movement and make sure I was strong and smooth in every part, and exercises to grow strong in those specific ways.
And I know, I'm nowhere near good or strong enough as I'd be if I'd been a good and dedicated student, but for real, I can't lie with the results. Even with my slack ass training schedule, I keep getting better with pretty minimal overall effort. The stuff works.