Tuishou 推手

Shili for two

Tuishou is the partner exercise of Yiquan — the stage at which the force developed in Zhan Zhuang, Shili and Mocabu meets another person for the first time, instead of an imagined resistance. The Chinese primary text says exactly this:

“Tuishou is a form of reality training in Yiquan. It is the concrete embodiment of Shili and Zou Bu Fa Li. Tuishou can supplement the weaknesses of Sanshou and is an auxiliary exercise for Sanshou training. From a training perspective it may also be called two-person Shili.”

That last phrase is the most useful framing: Shili for two. What the imagined water did in solo practice, the partner does here — except that the partner is not predictable.

What is practised

Two people stick, hang, press, push, turn and squeeze against each other. Out of the contact you are to sense the other's strength, weakness and direction of force, and to control them. Attack and defence are not two phases here but one movement.

The practice repertoire includes Dan Tuishou (单推手, single-handed) and Shuang Tuishou (双推手, double-handed), along with stepping versions, the integration of Fa Li downward and sideways, strikes with head, shoulder, elbow and knee, and Fan Ying Xun Lian (反应训练), reaction training. The position returned to is always the Cheng Bao triangle.

A historical shift

Under Wang Xiangzhai, Tuishou was still worked fixed — without steps. The moving form with footwork is a later development within the lineage. Anyone laying old and new accounts side by side should know this before concluding there is a contradiction.

In a recorded class, Yao Chengrong explains why Tuishou needs to stay close to fighting at all. Among the older generation there was hardly any two-handed Tuishou in a fight: making contact meant striking — as with Guo Yunshen's half-step crushing fist (半步崩拳). Hence his sentence: “The frame of standing is the frame of fighting” (站桩的肩架就是技击的肩架), the most sensible position between attack and defence. The usual one-handed Tuishou with the feet toe to toe on the outside is therefore “fine as a basic exercise, not as a fighting exercise — in a fight nobody stands still”. The same school puts it briefly: “The final aim of Tuishou is to serve Sanshou” — pushing and striking belong together (推打相合), rather than “pushing is pushing, striking is striking”.

The wheel: the hand always threatens the centre line

In two-handed Tuishou the first step is the “wheel” (打轮): both partners turn their arms in contact. A recorded class from the same school, commented in detail, says what matters:

• Every hand aims at the centre. Whether it is above, below or to the side — even the side hand keeps its direction towards the other's body, with noticeable pressure.
• Do not look at the hands, but at the partner's chest and face.
• The turning is not an end in itself. It explores where the other is solid and where empty (了解虚实), and keeps the release of force onto his centre line ready at any moment.
• “Don't let yourself be turned — listen” (Ting Jin). Hook the other's arm and lead it aside, and the way is open.

Two mistakes keep recurring: sliding off to the side — the elbow goes flat and the hand loses its attacking power — and sticking to the other's body instead of keeping distance. First the wheel on the spot, then the same while walking with Mocabu.