The footwork of Tai Chi is very important. In the Nine Essentials of Zhaobao Tai Chi, there is a more detailed description of the footwork. All human body movements and combat applications depend on the movement of the footwork. It is said that “the five sense organs and the bones are responsible for movement, and the actual operation is in the footwork. The footwork is the foundation of the body and the hub of movement.” In actual combat, the footwork often plays a decisive role. To learn Tai Chi, you must learn and practice the footwork, such as forward, backward, reverse, twisting, falling, following, oblique, penetrating, and covering. The flexibility and adaptability of the hands are also based on the operation of the footwork.
The Nine Essentials says: “Advance, retreat, turn around, how can you use the footwork to move without the footwork? If you don’t want to stretch and contract, you can’t change the wonderfulness without the footwork.” Therefore, when training any kind of boxing, special attention is paid to the use of footwork. The Nine Essentials also says: “So the observer’s eyes change in the heart, and the one who turns and twists and turns, changes in a thousand ways, and does not get embarrassed, is the footwork that controls everything”. Therefore, if you learn Zhaobao Taijiquan, you must learn the purpose of footwork from the beginning, and how to implement it in pushing hands.
When the teacher teaches us to push hands, he often makes good use of various body-locking and leg-locking methods, such as advancing through the crotch, inner locking steps, outer locking steps, and step-grabbing and position-seizing methods, advancing and retreating. When pushing hands with the teacher, before I know it, the teacher’s legs have been forced into my middle gate, and controlled my two feet, making me unable to move forward or backward. When I want to attack the teacher, I always can’t reach him. The key reason is the footwork. When the teacher uses moves to attack, he is often quick and decisive. In addition to the more accurate and quick moves, the more important thing is that the teacher’s footwork is very flexible, and he takes the initiative without knowing it, while I am passively beaten. This is also the unique sneak step method of Zhaobao Taijiquan, which uses footwork to defeat the opponent in a clever and flexible way. The Nine Essentials says: “When the body wants to move, the footwork has already circulated it, and when the hand is about to move, the footwork has already urged it.” This requires the upper and lower parts to be consistent, the hands and feet, the mind and the strength to be completed in one go.
There are many footworks in Wudang Zhaobao Taijiquan, some of which need to be practiced separately, such as when to advance, when to advance, how to advance, and how much to advance. There are deep meanings in it, and it must be neither too much nor too little, neither too much nor too little. The same is true for retreating or reverse stepping, and it is also necessary to practice according to the boxing theory, with room for front and back, and advance and retreat in response. The Nine Essentials also says: “There are two types of steps: front and back. Steps with a fixed position are steps, but steps without a fixed position are also steps. For example, when the front step is followed by the back step, the front and back are freely fixed. If the front step is back and the back step is front, and the front step is the back step and the back step is the front and back step, then there is no fixed position for the front and back.”
When fighting with others, look at the opponent’s eyes and use the corner of your eyes to observe the opponent’s shoulders, and fight back according to the way he attacks. The two sides are about an arm’s length apart. He hits and I dodge, and I hit him and he dodges, just like in a boxing ring. Most of the time, we punch the opponent or punch in groups, and retreat quickly after the punch to prevent the opponent from hitting back. The free fighting method of Tai Chi is very different from this. In addition to the conventional fighting method, it also has a close-range fighting method, which requires the coordination of footwork. When the opponent comes forward to hit you, instead of running away, you suddenly move forward and get close to the opponent’s body. In boxing, one party quickly hugs the other party after hitting him, one is to avoid the opponent’s counterattack, and the other is to have a chance to rest. In free-hand Tai Chi, you can use close combat, such as the cover-hand punch, the body punch, the elbow punch, the string punch, etc. You can also use the body-pushing and elbow-pushing, such as the face-pushing, the body-pushing, the seven-inch punch, the heart-piercing elbow, the banlan elbow, etc. These are short-distance strikes. Tai Chi is particularly good at close-range grabbing and neutralizing strikes, but you must master the correct footwork, and always follow the opponent’s back, so you must know the footwork when practicing martial arts. In addition to having a solid foundation, martial arts practitioners must also have flexible footwork. Baguazhang’s Bagua footwork is unique; Xingyiquan is good at using the chicken step; Tai Chi’s footwork is mainly the Yin-Yang virtual and real steps, so-called “left heavy, left empty, right heavy, right empty”. It is said that “footwork is the foundation of the body and the hub of movement”. If you practice boxing without footwork, you have no foundation; without a foundation, how can you talk about martial arts!
In Wudang Zhaobao Taijiquan, almost every form has various footwork, some of which are not found in other Taijiquan. For example, in the Lazy Tie Clothes form, while changing the movements of both hands in the starting form, the left foot moves half a step backward to the right and falls behind the right foot. Usually this backward step is suitable for retreating while receiving the opponent’s hand, keeping a certain distance from the opponent, and at the same time sneaking half a step to the right, which is also a method of sneaking in. For example, in the White Crane Spreads Wings form, temporarily retract the right foot to ease the opponent’s attack, making the opponent’s attack miss, and then step forward to attack the opponent. The Single Whip form of Zhaobao Taijiquan is also slightly different from other forms. At the beginning of the Single Whip, the left foot takes a half step to the left, and then the palms swing to the right, and the whole movement sneaks half a step to the left.
The so-called sneak step, as the name suggests, is to sneak forward one or half a step without the opponent noticing, also called sneaking to seize the position. In pushing hands, the back foot sneaks one step or half a step, and the front foot immediately follows one step or half a step, and the back foot takes the front foot. This kind of footwork is collectively called continuous footwork in Zhaobao frame. That is, “occupying the center” without noticing. Although it is relatively difficult, it is very powerful because of its strong combative nature. There are right foot sneaking and left foot sneaking, as well as continuous attack footwork.
The victory or defeat of a fight is mostly determined by the quality of footwork. For example, in Zhaobao Taiji Chengjia, the use of reverse roll arm can break the wild horse split mane. If the opponent uses the left shoulder and arm to hit me with the wild horse split mane, it is both the leaning force of the shoulder and back, the rolling force of the arm and elbow, and a horizontal attack method. I quickly withdraw my right foot and take the opportunity to hook the opponent’s left foot, rolling my hands forward to make him lose weight and fall. This is the reverse roll arm to break the wild horse split mane. The wild horse split mane can also break the reverse roll arm. If, while the opponent is retreating, I quickly follow his force and take a step or half a step forward, so that his reverse roll arm cannot use the hook and trip kick method, I will use my shoulder to lean on him, and use the rolling arm to hit the horizontal force, causing him to fall backwards. The “Boxing Classic” says: “The hands must be flexible, the steps must be light, and the advance, retreat and rotation must be like a cat; the body must be straight, the eyes must be sharp, and the hands and feet must be coordinated to win.” So whether the reverse roll arm can break the wild horse split mane, or the wild horse split mane breaks the reverse roll arm, the key is whether the footwork can be better. Therefore, anyone who is determined to learn Tai Chi well must learn to master the footwork. Otherwise, no matter how good your kung fu is, your moves will not work, you will be dragging your feet, or you will not know where to start, you will be brave but have no place to use your skills, or you will be caught in a dilemma and unable to get off the tiger. Just like playing chess, you should have won the game, but you lost, and in the end you only ended up with “building a mountain nine feet high, but failing at the last hurdle.”