I recently had the pleasure of pushing hands with instructor Ken Wildner of the Tampa Bay Martial Arts Group, who contacted me earlier to see if I was interested in sharing and exchanging. Ken has a background in water boxing (from different lineages than mine). After seeing some of the vids of his group, including this one, I was impressed with how they approached push hands in a variety of ways, from fixed step to almost anything goes, so I invited him to one of my classes so that my students could also benefit from his knowledge and experience.
Ken didn’t disappoint. He’s highly skilled in the chess game of push hands, and he’s a good guy. If you click on the link above (or here), you can see raw, unedited footage of Ken and me engaging in a fairly freestyle version of push hands. I tasted the ground at least a couple times during our play—but still had a hell of a lot of fun getting out of my comfort zone. (Note: You’ll see my wife, a hung gar instructor, first in the video. Although she’s never trained push hands, she catches on very quickly and is gung ho about almost all things gung fu.)
Now you might wonder why I’d post a video where I, as an instructor, end up on my ass. After all, in the world of traditional Chinese martial arts, it seems like 99.9% of vids are of instructors, well, looking good and saving face, especially in front of their students. However, I think this is often achieved because instructors stick only to their own styles and schools, closing themselves (and their students) off, which can actually hurt the students and the arts more than it helps them. Many, many instructors only do and show stuff that makes them look good—or, hell, look practically invincible—in order to build themselves up.
It was clear to me from watching the vids of Ken and his group that this wasn’t their modus operandi and that “win” or “lose,” everybody was gaining something in the process. This is the same approach I myself follow, including with my students, which is why I invited Ken to class in the first place and why I’ve posted the vid. Whether you’re a student or instructor, you should push yourself, even if it means you end up on your ass. There’s no shame in that if you’ve gained something. In general, I’d rather lose face than lose an opportunity to learn something that makes me better.
Needless to say, we had a blast with Ken and are looking forward to the next time he’s in town. If you’re ever in Tampa Bay, I highly suggest you reach out to Ken to check out his group. Whenever you have the opportunity to get out of your comfort zone (in a way that’s safe, of course), I say to go ahead and just do—or push—it.