Friday, February 09, 2007

Relax but Peng

I learnt something new again today. It has to do with relaxing (song) and peng. While pushing hands today, I tried to relax so as to feel my opponent's force, and from there neutralise it. But I forgot to do a very important thing. While relaxing, I forgot to peng too. The result was that my opponent was able to push in quite close to me before I turn and ward off his attacks.

After a while, I recalled my teacher saying that when I peng, I need to make the force at both my wrist and my elbow the same. When one is heavier than the other, my opponent will be able to exploit this and enter where my hand is lighter. That was when I realised that I have not used peng when he pushed. What I had been doing as my opponent pushed was to relax, let him push in, sense his force, then turn it away. But this allowed him close to my body, putting myself at great risk should he suddenly use brute force.

So I tried to peng while relaxing when my opponent pushed. The result was totally different. I was able to keep him away from my body, yet at the same time, I was able to feel when his force is coming. I was able to neutralise his attacks far from my body. The next question is to find out how to use the strength of the back leg to peng while relaxing and letting my opponent push towards me.

1 comment:

Teck said...

I asked my teacher about relaxing and peng today. When someone pushes me, how do I avoid resisting his force, yet don't allow him close to my body?

The answer lies in doing peng correctly. First, keep the upper body relaxed. Which means don't use the strength of your arm to try to redirect your opponent's force. Instead, relax your arm and kua. Then use the force of your back leg to push forward, turn your kua and from the force generate by the back leg and the turning, you redirect your opponent's force.