"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell"
~ Buddha
11th June 2019
Pushing Hands & Sticky Hands
We react much faster to our sense of touch than our sight.
Training The Whole Body
We spend a lot of time practicing these touch sensitivity drills and it is time very well spent. They greatly improve reactions, teach a great deal about sensing balance, allow us to get used to physical contact without creating a great risk of injury and train us to sense where an opponent’s strength is and then work around it following a path of least resistance.
We train this using two different drills.
Pushing Hands
Fixed step pushing hands. Feet are kept firmly rooted to the floor; each partner tries to upset their opponent’s balance so as to dislodge their feet from the floor (uproot them); no striking is employed, only pushing, pulling, levering etc.
Touch contact is maintained throughout.
Sticky Hands
Keeping touch contact, each partner tries to strike, unbalance, throw, lock and restrain their opponent. Strikes are controlled so as not to cause injury. Upper body techniques are mainly used ( i.e. hand, forearm, elbow, shoulder, head etc.), but sweeping with the legs is permitted.
These drills are fun but incredibly useful.
