Chen Style Basics Series -- Zuǒyòu chājiǎo (left and right rub with heel)
- Thread starter Appledog
- Start date
What's the difference between Taiji kick and non-Taiji kick?This kind of practice can help you improve your Tai Chi Kicks!
The reason that I ask because I train both Taiji kick and long fist kick. When I kick, I truly don't know whether I'm doing Taiji kick or long fist kick.
- Thread Starter
- #3
Great Question. I am not 100% sure what exactly your style of longfist does but in our school we have "six kicks". It is a line kicking practice which includes:
1. Front stretch kick
2. Outside Kick
3. Inside Kick
4. Front Slap Kick (I call them "Zombie" kicks because you hold your arms out in this one, although in some schools I have seen them hold the arms out to the sides like in 1, 2 and 3)
5. Side stretch Kick
6. Back kicks (like a throw).
This is similar to "front slap kick" more or less, except front slap kick is performed walking straight ahead and this is more turned to the side. In front slap kick, the focus is on agility in the sense of proper stepping, such as keeping the legs and arms straight, not wobbling, not popping up onto the toes (or moving the bottom heel), executing the kick at a certain height, and other technical requirements.
However in the tai chi version, we are concerned with winding up and down the momentum. So we kneel down a bit or rotate inwards and down, then push up from the bottom leg to assist the kick. So it uses power from the opposite leg to rise up. Secondly, after the kick we don't place the foot next to the standing foot, we step forward directly into a cross stance. The idea is to not stop moving -- to move at a constant, smooth pace, and thusly to follow the Tai Chi principles.
Another interesting difference is that when you are finished the line kicking, you have to step off the line and return to the start to allow the next person to go. In contrast, I've put a transition move in here to turn around and repeat another 5-10 kicks. This way you can perform a larger number of kicks at one time. I would say this way is intended for solo practice or small groups, whereas the longfist style of walking in a line seems more useful for larger classes so the teacher can quickly evaluate students in the group.
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