Mr. Wang Peisheng emphasized the principle of “zero resultant force” in Taijiquan, explaining that maintaining balance in push hands requires ensuring one’s total force equals zero. He linked this concept to mechanics, stating that a stable body must have balanced forces in all directions, allowing for flexibility and preventing collisions or resistance.
This balance principle is grounded in human biomechanics, particularly in relation to gravity. Key factors include the center of gravity, the line of gravity, and the support surface of the body. Wang noted that when standing with relaxed shoulders, the body’s center of gravity aligns with the dantian. His contributions provide a scientific and rigorous understanding of balance in martial arts.
Master Wang Peisheng : The resultant force is zero
Mr. Wang Peisheng devoted his whole life to the cause of Taijiquan, devoted himself to research, learned from others’ strengths, and brought forth the new through the old. He organically combined the traditional Chinese Yijing, Qigong, Chinese medicine, modern mechanics, kinematics and other disciplines, greatly enriching and developing Taiji. boxing theory. It has been three years since Mr. Wang Peisheng passed away, but his martial arts virtues and martial arts will always shine.
This article is just to talk about our understanding of Mr. Wang’s idea of zero balance, which is like picking up a small shell in the ocean of Mr. Wang’s boxing theory, so as to express our memory and respect for Mr. Wang.
Body balance is very important to Taijiquan. There have been different opinions and opinions from ancient times to the present, but Mr. Wang Peisheng summed it up in four words: “the resultant force is zero”.
When Mr. Wang Peisheng taught Taijiquan, he expounded the balance theory of “zero resultant force” many times. For example, when discussing “the four positive push hands rules and the relationship between Taijiquan and mechanics”, In the whole process of push hands martial arts, always keep your own resultant force at zero, which is balance.
” He also said: “Always keep your qi round, which is actually a kind of resultant force, and seek your own resultant force to be zero. The body is balanced in all directions, there is no collision, obstacle, or involvement, and it is flexible in all aspects. Another example is Mr. Wang Peisheng when discussing “the static phenomenon of Taijiquan push hands”: “A rigid body remains stable.
The necessary condition is that in the plane co-point force system, the sum of all forces should be equal to zero. If it is not zero, the object must move in the direction of the line of action of the resultant force.
When Mr. Wang Peisheng taught Taijiquan, he expounded the balance theory of “zero resultant force” many times. For example, when discussing “the four positive push hands rules and the relationship between Taijiquan and mechanics”, In the whole process of push hands martial arts, always keep your own resultant force at zero, which is balance.”
He also said: “Always keep your qi round, which is actually a kind of resultant force, and seek your own resultant force to be zero. The body is balanced in all directions, there is no collision, obstacle, or involvement, and it is flexible in all aspects.
Another example is Mr. Wang Peisheng when discussing “the static phenomenon of Taijiquan push hands”: “A rigid body remains stable. The necessary condition is that in the plane co-point force system, the sum of all forces should be equal to zero. If it is not zero, the object must move in the direction of the line of action of the resultant force.
Mr. Wang Peisheng’s idea of balance with zero combined force reveals the core mechanism of human body balance in one sentence, which is scientific and rigorous. It is one of Mr. Wang Peisheng’s contributions to Chinese martial arts.
1. Use Mr. Wang Peisheng’s zero sum balance principle when making a shelf
2. Our understanding of the balance mechanism of “the resultant force is zero”
Mr. Wang Peisheng’s idea that the resultant force is zero balance can be explained by human mechanics.
In our sports, almost all skeletal muscle movements are against gravity, so let’s first introduce three concepts related to gravity: the center of gravity of the human body, the line of gravity of the human body and the support surface of the human body.
Center of gravity of the human body: the human body is a combination of head, torso, limbs and other limbs. Each limb has its own center of gravity, which is called the “center of gravity of the limbs”. center of gravity”.
The position of the center of gravity of the human body changes with the position of the limbs. When the shoulders droop and stand together, the center of gravity of the human body is located at the dantian.
Center of gravity line of the human body: the vertical projection line of the center of gravity of the human body to the ground is called the “line of gravity of the human body” . If the support surface is large, it can generate restoring moment, and the body will be stable; if the support surface is small, the body weight will easily generate breaking moment, and the body will easily tilt.
The size of the supporting surface of the human body is related to the position of the supporting feet (when the double footsteps are large and the lateral distance is wide, the ellipse domain increases; when the body is supported by one foot, the ellipse domain is the smallest), and it is also proportional to the friction coefficient of the ground. Falling easily on the ground is related to the reduction of the supporting surface of the human body.
The condition of human body balance is that the body’s gravity line falls within the area of the support surface. The larger the support surface, the lower the center of gravity, and the closer the body’s gravity line falls to the center of the support surface, the greater the stability of the body.
Because all aspects of the human body (self-gravity or external force) act on the center of gravity of the human body, these forces are called “common point forces” in mechanics. According to Newton’s second law, when the resultant force on an object is zero, the acceleration is zero, and the object will remain at rest or move in a straight line at a uniform speed, that is, the object is in a state of equilibrium.
Therefore, under the action of the common point force, the balance condition of the object is that the resultant force is zero, and its mathematical expression is Fhe=0ΣFfen=0. There are two necessary and sufficient conditions for a force system to be a balanced force system. One is that the sum of the forces in the force system is zero, that is, the principal moment of the force system is zero; the other is that the force pairs in the force system are zero.
The moment sum of the moment at a certain point is zero, that is, the principal moment of the force system to a certain point is zero.
When a person stands upright and the arms are symmetrical, the gravity line of the human body runs through the central axis of the body, and its lower end falls on the center of the supporting surface. At this time, the human body is in a symmetrical state, the resultant force and moment of the gravity of each limb acting on the body’s gravity line are zero, and the human body is balanced and stable.
When a person is exercising, the displacement of each limb segment causes the center of gravity of the limb segment to move accordingly. When the resultant force or moment they act on the line of gravity of the body is no longer zero, the human body will lose its balance and tilt. At this time, the human body must adjust the positions of the limbs so that the resultant force they act on the gravity line is zero, thereby restoring or establishing a new equilibrium state.
When the human body is subjected to external force, it will break the symmetrical balance formed by the original free body segments. At this time, there are two ways to maintain body balance: one is to generate a force equal to the external force and opposite in direction to counteract it, but this is prone to “double” mistakes in Taijiquan; Axis, sticking to the opponent, using a small force to draw a circle to change the direction of the external force, introducing a void, so that the opponent cannot attack your own gravity line, so as to maintain your own balance.
Master Wang Peisheng said: “How is the void formed in Taijiquan?
It is composed of two forces: tangential force and normal force.
The tangential direction rotates in a circle, which is actually a tangent plane. You are moving forward in a flat direction. After entering again, it will be empty. After the straight force comes, the resistance force is gone, and it moves forward in an arc on the left and right wings.
This force is round and straight, and has a kind of elastic force. It is composed of two kinds of force. It exists in emptiness. What is ’emptiness’? It means that the real resultant force of the whole body is equal to zero.”
After understanding Mr. Wang Peisheng’s principle that the resultant force is zero, rereading ancient and modern classic boxing theory will give you a sense of enlightenment.
In Wang Zongyue’s “Taijiquan Theory”, there is a famous saying “stand like a level, live like a wheel”. “Standing like a balance” compares the human body to a balance, the spine is like the center column of the balance, the tail is like the pointer on the center column, and the internal force and external force are like the scale pan of the balance.
To make the balance balanced, the weights of the weighing pans on both sides must be equal, and the resultant force acting on the center column is zero; to make the human body balance, the forces on all sides of the body must be symmetrical, and the resultant force acting on the human body’s gravity line is zero.
“Live like a wheel” compares the line of gravity of the human body to the axle, and the trajectory of the limbs is the wheel, so as to achieve the zero-combination balance of the body.
There is also a saying in “Taijiquan Theory” that “if the left is heavy, the left will be empty, and if the right is heavy, the right will be empty”. “Yao” is synonymous with “virtual”, and “heavy” is synonymous with “solid”.
When punching, the upper and lower limbs on the same side of our body should be one solid and one empty. Tilting occurs due to the violation of the equilibrium condition in which the resultant force is zero.
Wu Yuxiang said in “Taijiquan Theory”: “If there is up, there will be down, and if there is left, there will be right.” This sentence reveals the symmetrical legislation of Tai Chi movement. The moves are interchanged left and right, and the body shapes complement each other up and down, forming a symmetrical movement.
The pumping and changing style emphasizes that you want to go left first and right, and you want to go up first and down; when exerting force, it is required to push forward and back, push up and pick down, and the limbs are drawn and pulled in opposite directions, and the central axis is symmetrical with the gravity line of the body everywhere.
This conforms to the balance idea that the resultant force is zero.
Chen Xin said in “Ten Essentials of Taijiquan”: “The combination of hands and feet, elbows and knees, shoulders and hips, and the outer three. The left hand and the right foot are combined, the left elbow is combined with the right knee, and the left shoulder is combined with the right knee.
The right crotch is in harmony, and the same is true for the right shoulder and left crotch. One move without moving, one close without disagreement.”
The mechanics of the outer three-fold are also based on the balance principle that the resultant force is zero. The external three-in-one requires that the root joints, middle joints, and slight joints of the upper and lower limbs on both sides of the body cross and join together, so that the centers of the limbs can be symmetrical about the body’s gravity line, so as to achieve a balanced state where the resultant force is zero.
The outer three-in-one is the basic essentials of Taijiquan body method. When punching, one side of the body is required to move and the other side must move synchronously and symmetrically. It maintains the zero-in-one balance of the body at all times. This is what Chen Xin said. Saying: “One move and nothing does not move, one unit and no disagreement.” The truth lies.
3. The application of Mr. Wang Peisheng’s principle of zero-sum equilibrium state
The main point of balance when doing the racket is to keep the resultant force of the weight of each limb acting on the line of gravity of the body to be zero during exercise. For example, when we step up, we must pay attention to pulling the hips, so as to maintain the balance state of zero resultant force, so that the legs can be stretched freely, so that “stepping up like a cat walks”; another example is when we do single-leg support.
During the balance movement, the line of gravity of the body must run through the supporting leg, and the rear hand must be extended synchronously when kicking (dividing) the foot, so as to maintain a zero-combination balance state. Master Wang Peisheng has an extraordinary understanding of this.
Mr. Wang Peisheng said: “How is it ‘close’? How is it ‘zero’? The actual point is to keep your body upright and comfortable. The center of gravity is actually the cerebellum and the support point always keep vertical. If you move your left foot, you don’t need your left foot. , When you stretch out your right hand, you move your hands and feet whenever you think about it. When you sink your elbows, you raise your waist, and when you loosen your shoulders, you move your hips.
As soon as you stretch out your hand, you can see that the foot will come out, and as soon as you retract it, it will return, very stable.
The above words contain three main points of boxing: (1) stand upright and comfortable; (2) keep the cerebellum and the support point vertical; (3) keep the spirit in different positions.
(1) Standing upright and comfortable
Mr. Wang Peisheng said: “‘Upright’ means being impartial, not left or right.” Since the human body structure is symmetrical with the spine as the axis, standing upright can make the resultant force on the human body’s gravity line zero. What can I do to stand upright?
The master further said: “Today I will be more detailed and specific, so that everyone can grasp it, that is, the eyes look straight ahead, and the ‘middle’ can be achieved. Once the eyes look straight ahead, the yin and yang dimensions inside will maintain balance.”
The master also made An apt metaphor was used to say: “The crown of the head is like a fixed star.” These words of Master Wang Peisheng have been proved by modern medicine.
Since humans walked upright, the human body has been in a typical state of unstable balance. Where does the human body’s ability to maintain balance come from? It turns out that there is a very small inner ear with a complex structure in the human skull, and the control of human body balance is achieved by the semicircular canal in the inner ear and the two cysts in front of the semicircular canal.
The semicircular canals are three-dimensional tubes perpendicular to each other, and the two capsules are position sensors, which are specially used to sense changes in the position of the head, and play the role of “fixing stars” in human body movements.
When they perceive changes in the position of the head in three-dimensional space, the semicircular canals transmit information about these changes to the central nervous system, and the central nervous system issues movement instructions accordingly. A new balance is established.
When people suffer from inner ear disease, the human body will stagger and stand unsteadily due to the failure of position sensors. Therefore, when our body balance is not good, we can make the semicircular canals of the two ears symmetrical and balanced by holding the neck upright and looking straight at the eyes.
(2) Keep the cerebellum perpendicular to the support point
“Keep the cerebellum perpendicular to the support point” is to always maintain the gravity line of your body. The key to this sentence is the word “old”, which is the key to mastering balance in any situation. In this regard, Mr. Wang Peisheng further explained: “The mastery of balance in any situation is still what I just said.
The cerebellum masters balance, that is, the cerebellum is kept perpendicular to the support point, that is, it is kept perpendicular to the leg supporting the weight, forming a plumb line. If it is stable, it will be stable, and if it is stable, it will be balanced in any situation.” “The cerebellum is always perpendicular to the support point” is to keep the resultant force on its own gravity line at zero continuously and dynamically.
(3) God’s will is different
“Different positions of divine will” is Mr. Wang Peisheng’s important contribution to Chinese martial arts. The boxing principle of “Different positions of God’s will” is also the application of Mr. Wang Peisheng’s balance thought that the resultant force is zero.
In the long-term standing life and sports, human beings have formed a natural sense of body balance. For example, when we feel that the body is tilted to one side and is out of balance, we often stretch the limbs on the opposite side without thinking; for example, when we usually walk, we don’t have to think that when we step forward, we must swing the arm on the same side backward. It can be seen that this natural balance consciousness of human beings is also based on the principle that the resultant force is zero.
If we take the initiative to use this natural sense of balance, wouldn’t it be more coordinated and easier to punch? For example, when we want to stretch our left foot, instead of thinking about our left foot, we stretch out our right hand in the opposite direction. The stretching of our right hand increases the torque on the right side of the body and destroys the original zero-combination balance. In order to maintain balance, we will naturally Extend your left foot out to achieve a new zero-in balance.
When Mr. Wang Peisheng taught the 37-style Taijiquan he created, all the moves contained the wonderful boxing theory of “differing spirits and intentions”.
For example, in the “rising pose”, the left foot should be opened horizontally. Master Wang Peisheng said: “When walking, don’t think about the feet, think about the little finger of the right hand touching the ground 10 cm outside the right heel, and look at the distance. The left foot will automatically open. “For another example, when splitting, kicking, and kicking, the master said: “There are seven kinds of Taijiquan kicks, called Qijiao.
There are left and right feet, turning around and kicking, and kicking with clothes, etc., mainly in the hands. In operation, if you want to separate your feet, you want to point your fingertips. If you want to stretch your fingers, you can stretch your feet. When kicking, think of the heel of the palm, and you can see that the heel will come out naturally.
When you tap your toes, it is called ‘kicking the chest and pointing the ribs’, and you need to stretch your fingertips at this time.”
The most difficult thing to achieve in Taijiquan is the word “loose”. If we can follow Mr. Wang Peisheng’s boxing theory of “differing from the will of the gods” and achieve “do not think about moving, do not think about hitting”, then there is no reason for the body not to relax ?
2. The application of the principle of zero balance of resultant force in Tai Chi Push Hands
When pushing the hands, because the body is subjected to constantly changing external forces, its balance control is much more complicated than that of the rack. Master Wang Peisheng’s balance theory of “the resultant force is zero” is not only applicable to push hands, but also the magic weapon for “waiting for work with ease”.
Wu Yuxiang said in “Taijiquan Thirteen Poses and Exercises and Heart Explanations”: “The heart is the order, and the breath is the flag, and it must be done.” It means: “The brain is the headquarters of the three armies, and the inner breath is the banner officer (herald) , the waist spine is the great banner of the Chinese army.”
The Chinese army banner mentioned here is the gravity line of the human body that runs through the waist and spine. If the military flag falls, the whole army will die. When performing martial arts, you must always guard your own gravity line to attack and destroy the opponent’s gravity line. Master Wang Peisheng said: “In the whole process of pushing hands martial arts, always keep your own resultant force at zero.”
How to keep your own resultant force at zero? The master further said: “What Zhongzheng masters is verticality, that is, the cerebellum is perpendicular to the supporting feet. With this central axis, you can wait for work with ease.
What does waiting for work with ease refer to? It refers to the center of gravity. You always play the role of an axis. , use the shaft through the wheel as an axis to dominate the opponent.
This is very important. After you master this, you will make a big progress in pushing hands.” An important principle of force in human mechanics is: “Use the principle of leverage, use as much as possible For large muscles or multiple muscle groups, use the minimum amount of muscle strength to do work.” It can be seen that Master Wang Peisheng applies the principles of human mechanics with ease.
“Double will stagnate, heavy will follow.” Taijiquan pays attention to the unity of calmness and lightness, especially in pushing hands and martial arts, it pays more attention to flexible and changeable balance. When the boxing frame is low, the center of gravity is low, the support surface is large, and the stability of the body is certainly increased, but when the boxing frame is too low, it is difficult to change the body flexibly. In this regard,
Master Wang Peisheng has a wonderful and witty metaphor: “Tai Chi martial arts, push hands exercise, if you can get the ball’s balance mechanism, you will be in a wonderful situation that will never fail.
For example, no matter how big the pile step ( strength) is not as good as a deep-buried concrete utility pole, and the utility pole has been hit, and no one has ever heard of the ball being kicked into a somersault.”
The sphere has two characteristics: one is that the center of gravity of the sphere is located at the center of the
ball (When the mass of the sphere is evenly distributed), one is that there is only one point of contact between the sphere and the ground. The line of gravity of the sphere is always the connection line between the center of the sphere and the contact point on the ground.
The height of the center of gravity of the sphere is constant and the resultant force on the line of gravity is always zero, so no matter how the ball rolls, the balance of the sphere cannot be destroyed. This is a typical Balance whatever happens.
With two feet in life, how can we achieve balance like a sphere? The key lies in “dual stagnation, partial heaviness, following”, that is, virtual and real are interchanged, and virtual and real are mutually rooted. Taijiquan of all schools emphasizes the distinction between actuality and actuality, and avoids duplication.
In Chen style and Yang style Taijiquan, the degree of virtuality and solidity of the feet is mostly three to seven, while Wu style Taijiquan is more distinct, requiring solid legs to basically support the whole body.
According to Master Zhang Yaozhong, it is “liberating four points The third”, since the body has only one grounding point, it can be flexibly transformed like a sphere. Therefore, Mr. Wang Peisheng said: “Taijiquan is based on the principles of psychology, physiology, and mechanics.
It takes itself as the axis and the opponent as the wheel. Use the opponent, command the opponent, and wait for work at leisure. Keep the stable balance of your body’s center of gravity at any time, that is, whatever you encounter. Balance, so that the center of gravity neither rises nor falls, just like a tumbler, just like a ball; at the same time, peep and detect whether the opponent’s center of gravity is hindered, whether the spirit is concentrated, find the opponent’s weakness, and destroy the balance of the opponent’s center of gravity.”
Mr. Wang Peisheng Although it has left us, its profound and profound Taijiquan theory treasure house is worth digging for our whole life. Comprehension and benefit. The above is our rough understanding of Mr. Wang Peisheng’s theory of zero-sum balance.
empty circle taiji 