My wife and I decided to visit her parents in New York City for the Thanksgiving holiday.
We also decided to maintain our fitness level during this time. This is a difficult task to do, especially with having lots of food to our disposal.
My wife and I ran on Black Friday in the city. A good 4.5 miler in hometown neighborhood. Nothing eventual during our run.
Saturday morning, my wife and I went to work out Manhattan. I went to Renzo Gracie NYC while my wife went to Sacred Sounds Yoga. My wife asked if I could meet her at the studio and join her for one the classes after my session.
Well… I had an interesting experience at this yoga studio. The owner of the studio, very good friends of ours, offered a Tai Chi class that day called “Push Hands.” The theory behind this technique, as was explained to me, is to use your opponent’s strength against them to render them off balance. Your opponent will lose a point in this exchange if this individual loses their footing or is pushed off balance first.
“Push Hands” was explained to me by Calum Douglas-Reid, the instructor, as “Sumo wrestling for the little guys”. The instructor seemed interested in me since I informed him about my Muay Thai and MMA background. He had worked with fighters in the past and enjoyed teaching other martial artists different ways in which Tai Chi can be applied to other disciplines.
The class started with a form that focused on shifting your body weight from one leg to the other and various circular movements with your arms and hands. Calum then split us up into pairs so that we could start to “play” and get the feel of the “push hands” game. As we played the game, the instructor would teach us different techniques.
One technique he taught was that if you want to push or throw someone, your power comes from your feet, into your legs, and you turn your hips into the motion and push the person depending on where there momentum the person’s momentum is going. Calum also mentioned that you need to be aware of your own body stance with every movement you make. This point made a lot of sense. The objective of “push hands is to maintain your balance while forcing your opponent to lose their balance.
This is definitely a new and different way of thinking for me. By following this theory, a smaller person can generate a lot more force without generate much muscle strength. Very similar to Judo or jiu-jitsu (right?). The instructor also explained how this can work well in a clench situation. From a different perspective, if an opponent tries to throw you, you will feel your feet coming off the ground first. If you are in a squatted position, your opponent will find it harder to throw you because your center of gravity is much lower than when you are standing. This is a concept that I’ve done many times but never really thought about it.
This was definitely a fun experience but somewhat frustrating because I am not used to being pushed around… literally. Lol. It is good to keep an open mind and learn different ideas.
Some of the techniques that I learned at “Push Hands” may not apply to Muay Thai or MMA. However, I did take something away from the experience that I could use to improve my skills.
It would be interesting to see how these Tai Chi practitioners would perform in an MMA fight. Because being “pushed” around is a different experience than getting punched in the face!
