Came across this documentary on my surfings, on the martial side of Taijiquan. At around 29 mins, there is even some sparring involved!! [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnwNU4MoR6k"]KUNG FU QUEST - TAICHI EP 5 (ENG SUB) - YouTube[/ame] While a few of the techniques demonstrated may be a bit questionable, I liked the overall episode. Thoughts?
Very nice! Looks like he can actually motor! I saw a previous unpushable demo with Chen against a bodybuilder/strongman that I thought was "meh" (but generally I dislike those as they are pretty much parlour tricks) but looking at his mechanics you can see the energy there. Damn fine stuff!!
I found Mr Chen's (I can never spell his name - Xiaoyang?) much more interesting than the Wu stuff. Mr Chen really puts definition into his postures and movement, and critically deadens the impact - as it is training - not sparring. I actually do this myself, sudden bursts which I deaden as impact gets nearer. The Wu (which is very near the Chen Tin Hung TCC that I do) guys were game, enthousiastic and effective, but pretty stiff and tense in their movement, as aknowledged by the teacher. Probably down to a lack of competition training. The teacher's movement is much smoother. No sure about some of the footwork here and there - especially on the turning throws/applications - a lot of TCC folk suffer from this IMHO i.e. upper body turning is perfectly effective, but footwork is not always there/studied/developed enough. The Wu guys at the end are much more fluid in their movement, probably much more experienced. THe old fellow with the beard certainly explains a lot of relevance in the subtlety of technique - its a pity it wasn't more detailed. The subtlety and development of applied martial technique is where TCC really gets interesting.
What you can't easily see there is how the contact quality changes according to the yield/repulse cycle of the pushing hands, applications and sparring; as distance, weight change/orientation, rythym and bridging(closing the gap to control and enter), changes the dynamic. This is where the old fellow was hinting at, but not fully explaining; as its easier to feel these than it is to see them, especially in a video. If were there, you might be able to see it better, but its best to experience and develop these contact changes
