Jesse thought Tai Chi was useless.

[Tony Dismukes]

My guess is, I don’t think Jesse ever thought Tai-Chi was useless. He’s been in Martial Arts for a while and has trained with a lot of good people.

It’s just a little click bait and that’s fine, he’s a businessman. Him posting that video just spreads the word about Tai-Chi and might increase its popularity.
Which I’m also guessing was his plan.

Yeah, Jesse will often put on a wide-eyed "Wow, I had no idea that martial art X included such-and-such", when I'm quite certain that he knew perfectly well that it did.

 

[Same Trick]

My guess is, I don’t think Jesse ever thought Tai-Chi was useless. He’s been in Martial Arts for a while and has trained with a lot of good people.

It’s just a little click bait and that’s fine, he’s a businessman. Him posting that video just spreads the word about Tai-Chi and might increase its popularity.
Which I’m also guessing was his plan.

Yes, Enkamp is practically born into the martial arts world, his father is/was one of the pioneering karatekas/budokas in Sweden, however Taijiquan(Tai Chi) in Sweden is a pretty small entity where most if not all of the few schools do it the usual “health” way, actually kung fu in general is a quite small thing in the Swedish martial arts world,

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I don’t think Jesse ever thought Tai-Chi was useless.

I'm confused. Is Jesse = Mark Cheng?

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I'm confused. Is Jesse = Mark Cheng?

No, Jesse Enkamp aka The Karate Nerd, is the guy who is interviewing Mark Cheng in the video.

Jesse is a karate practitioner and instructor, but he has spent a lot of time meeting and training with a wide variety of practitioners of other arts, including a number of Chinese systems.

 

[Prince_Alarming]

Oh wow, Jesse is cool but I really wanna see more by Mark Cheng!

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Taiji has all the tools for combat. But Taiji people don't want to talk about those tools. They only want to talk about "push".

Jab - vital punch.
Cross - brush knee.
Hook - striking tiger.
Uppercut - snake extend tone.
Back fist - turn around hammer.
Hammer fist - fetching arm.
Front toe kick - separate leg.
Front heel kick - turn around kick.
Reverse side kick - cross leg.
Outside crescent kick - swing leg like lotus.
Knee strike - hammer under elbow.
Wrist lock - needle at the bottom of the sea.
Elbow lock - defending hand.
Shoulder strike - diagonal fly.
Firemen's carry - slant body down.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Taiji has all the tools for combat. But Taiji people don't want to talk about those tools. They only want to talk about "push".

Mark Cheng talks about more than push
But you are right in many cases. Many taiji people don’t even want to talk about, or apply, push properly

Jab - vital punch.
Cross - brush knee.
Hook - striking tiger.
Uppercut - snake extend tone.
Back fist - turn around hammer.
Hammer fist - fetching arm.
Front toe kick - separate leg.
Front heel kick - turn around kick.
Reverse side kick - cross leg.
Outside crescent kick - swing leg like lotus.
Knee strike - hammer under elbow.
Wrist lock - needle at the bottom of the sea.
Elbow lock - defending hand.
Shoulder strike - diagonal fly.
Firemen's carry - slant body down.

Those applications would depend on style
Needle at the sea bottom for instance, not exactly a wrist lock the way my shifu taught it. But it is definitely a wrist grab and a yank that can give you whiplash

Block parry punch has block punch back fist and an elbow strike diagonal flying is a take down and can be a shoulder strike

Wu style has something similar to a fireman’s carry

Chen has the cross step and side kick

Etc.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

- Taiji likes to push.
- Wrestling likes to pull.

When push meet pull, push will fail. The reason is simple. When your opponent gets you into

- under hook,
- over hook,
- head lock,
- bear hug,
- ...

it's very difficult for you to push him away. This is why Taiji meet wrestling, it will turn into wrestling. After your opponent has passed your wrist gate and enter your elbow gate, or shoulder gate, push will no longer work.

 

[Xue Sheng]

- Taiji likes to push.
- Wrestling likes to pull.

When push meet pull, push will fail. When your opponent gets you into

- under hook,
- over hook,
- head lock,
- bear hug,
- ...

it's very difficult for you to push him away. This is why Taiji meet wrestling, it will turn into wrestling.

Push only fails if one is using force and over committing

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Push only fails if one is using force and over committing

To slide your arm from your opponent's wrist position into his elbow and then reach to his shoulder doesn't take much force. Your opponent's arm is like a tree branch. Your arm is like a snake.

 

[Xue Sheng]

To slide your arm from your opponent's wrist position into his elbow and then reach to his shoulder doesn't take much force. Your opponent's arm is like a tree branch. Your arm is like a snake.

You always focus on push, even after I post there is more to taijiquan than push. You give scenarios that appear to be based on someone holding their arm out their waiting for you to grab, and if you do grab, resisting and not going with the flow and changing it to something else.

There is more than one way to push and it is not all a school yard push. ALso push hands is NOT the way you fight in taijiquan, it is a training tool. This, by the way, is explained in Mark Cheng's videos, if you bothered to watch them.

You and I have been down this road multiple times in the past and I really do not want to rehash it with you again. You are saying IF I do 'A' you do 'B', but there is no set way that I will do 'A', angle can be different, energy differnet, force differnt. Also you should know that a palm strike is not a push. Also how I respond to what you do, may not be what you expect

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

You always focus on push, even after I post there is more to taijiquan than push. You give scenarios that appear to be based on someone holding their arm out their waiting for you to grab, and if you do grab, resisting and not going with the flow and changing it to something else.

There is more than one way to push and it is not all a school yard push. ALso push hands is NOT the way you fight in taijiquan, it is a training tool. This, by the way, is explained in Mark Cheng's videos, if you bothered to watch them.

You and I have been down this road multiple times in the past and I really do not want to rehash it with you again. You are saying IF I do 'A' you do 'B', but there is no set way that I will do 'A', angle can be different, energy differnet, force differnt. Also you should know that a palm strike is not a push. Also how I respond to what you do, may not be what you expect

I don't understand what we are arguing here.

If you grab my wrist, can I push you back? I don't think I can. The reason is simple. Our bodies are connected.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I don't understand what we are arguing here.

If you grab my wrist, can I push you back? I don't think I can. The reason is simple. Our bodies are connected.

Question is, if I grab your wrist, why would you push me back, that would be silly. However I grab your wrist and pull, you do not resist, you go forward and change things, There is no if I do 'A' you do 'B' in a real world confrontation. The if I do 'A' you do 'B' is a drill, like push hands thst is all

From my taijiquan experience, if I grab your wrist it is likely for qinna, if you grab my wrist, I redirect, does not need to be a push, and likely will not be. Remember the body is a fist, I can hit you more ways than just with my foot or fist

Did you watch the Mark Cheng videos? If so he already explained that. If not, then there is no reaosn to discuss further.

You seem to think all taijiquan has is a push, and maybe that is your training, but it is not mine. Taiji has kicking, punching, qinna ans shauijiao.

 

[Same Trick]

Taiji has all the tools for combat. But Taiji people don't want to talk about those tools. They only want to talk about "push".

Jab - vital punch.
Cross - brush knee.
Hook - striking tiger.
Uppercut - snake extend tone.
Back fist - turn around hammer.
Hammer fist - fetching arm.
Front toe kick - separate leg.
Front heel kick - turn around kick.
Reverse side kick - cross leg.
Outside crescent kick - swing leg like lotus.
Knee strike - hammer under elbow.
Wrist lock - needle at the bottom of the sea.
Elbow lock - defending hand.
Shoulder strike - diagonal fly.
Firemen's carry - slant body down.

Taiji has all the tools for combat. But Taiji people don't want to talk about those tools. They only want to talk about "push".

Jab - vital punch.
Cross - brush knee.
Hook - striking tiger.
Uppercut - snake extend tone.
Back fist - turn around hammer.
Hammer fist - fetching arm.
Front toe kick - separate leg.
Front heel kick - turn around kick.
Reverse side kick - cross leg.
Outside crescent kick - swing leg like lotus.
Knee strike - hammer under elbow.
Wrist lock - needle at the bottom of the sea.
Elbow lock - defending hand.
Shoulder strike - diagonal fly.
Firemen's carry - slant body down.

Sure, there are 108 postures, they are variations of the original 13 postures wherein are the essential six directions that boil down to understand harmonizing two opposing forces. So from a Taiji sense, speaking of push one also consider pull, as speaking of punch then parry is part of it …..

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

I don't understand what we are arguing here.

If you grab my wrist, can I push you back? I don't think I can. The reason is simple. Our bodies are connected.

You often seem to only see things in a binary context. That’s what you are most often arguing about. Many people will object to black and white thinking. If my solution to every hypothetical attack is bullet meets head, people will object to that idea for multitudinous reasons.