XINGYIQUAN AGAINST BOXING
Xingyiquan
Question
I sparred with an expert boxer friend to test myself. The last time I tested myself with him, I was mostly reacting to his attacks -- deflecting, deflecting, looking for an opening and then counter-attacking.
My boxer friend is shorter but far more muscular than me. He skips rope for stamina, punches a heavy sandbag regularly and lifts weight every day. I only practice santi shi and the five elemental fists daily.
Nevertheless I found I had the initiative in this sparring, constantly brushing aside his guard or his punches, and attacking him again and again. I was also relatively comfortable with my breathing, whereas he was panting and had to stop after a while.
My first question popped up during this sparring. My boxer friend shot out a left jab to my chest. I used my leading left forearm to intercept and deflect his left jab. While our forearms were still in contact, I pulled my left fist to my waist and simultaneously attacked his chest with a right pi quan (thrust-palm). However when I pulled back my left fist, my forearm somehow "stuck" to his forearm and jerked him forward and downward. I didn't grab or hook his forearm in any way. My pi quan nearly smashed him in the face. Luckily I managed to stop in time or I may have lost a friend.
When I think about it, this has happened a few times before when I practised partner drills. Sometimes, my partners would complain they didn't understand why they lost their balance forward or to the side when they attacked me and I deflected their attack.
My boxer friend landed a couple of heavy blows to my chest while I was attacking him. The next day, I felt pain when I breathed. I immediately did chi flow that day. The next day when I breathed the pain was gone, but there was still pain when I stretched my chest. Today, the pain is almost gone. While I'm happy I recovered quickly, it still made me realize I was very weak in covering properly and ensuring my safety first before attacking.
— Max, Malaysia
Answer
I am glad you have made much progress as evident from your sparring with a Boxing expert.
In my opinion, practicing Santi Shi and the Five Elemental Fist is better than rope skipping, heavy sandbag punching and lifting weight. When you practice Santi Shi and the Five Elemental Fists, you increase your essence, energy and spirit, or in kungfu terminology, you increase your "jing", "qi" and "shen", the three essentials that make up any being; when you skip a rope, punch a heavy sandbag and lift weight, not only you work at a physical level (and not at the energy level and the spiritual level), but more significantly you lose energy. You have to rest for some time before doing any physical and mental work.
Congratulations for having developed "qi" at your arms, as is evident in pulling the Boxer forward and in unbalancing your partners in your drills. The qi at your arms is alive; it will flow to other parts of your body to give you good health, vitality, longevity, peak performance and spiritual joys. There is no special name for this qi. Just carry on your usual training.
It is important to cover your opponent adequately before attacking him. You can refer to my website for Xingyiquan material.
Qi is excellent in overcoming pain. Just practice your qigong, especially Self-Manifested Qi Movement.
The above is taken from Question 2 of August 2020 Part 3 of the Selection of Questions and Answers
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