Opinions wanted on: "Rooster scratches wallet with one foot"

[Stumblefist]

Ok so there's this guy in the beijing, practice at one of the universities. His master is very famous and some german guy is translating a book called "mind over matter". Anyway the master knows some kind of Chen/Wu style but rare because only keep in small circle.
He wants to get me to take lots and lots of private lessons for 10 to 100 american dollars/hour so he wants to impress me.
He stands on one leg and dares me to push him over. During the encounter he brags how 2 or 3 americans together couldn't topple him.
So what's he doing?
What's the idea?
When i asked him to share, like what should i do practice to be able to do that or what is the meaning etc, he just gave vague answers. Like so many of these guys the point is just to demonstrate to for the purpose of impressing not for the purpose of training.
Comments on what he was doing?
By the way, do you think i toppled him? ... :)

[Prairie]

I think you toppled him

[origenx]

I know someone who does that too. Does he hold out one arm in front and raise the same leg and tell you to grab his wrist and push him back? Of course, it is impossible to push him.

I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it may just be physics* and not "qi." Regardless, it's actually not hard to do and u can try it yourself.

*Here's my current theory. The leg up is a red herring, he's simply got all his weight going thru 1 leg instead of 2 now. But the force vector (direction) is still the same. It just requires SLIGHTLY more balance now, that's all. By sticking his arm straight fwd, he's increasing the horizontal component of your force, which in essence gives him a longer "base." That's like stretching the wheelbase on a car for more stability. Basically, he's actually just as stable as u r, and w/o a mechanical advantage, u can't move him anymore than he can move u.
Or maybe "qi," or at least mind-focus, has something to do with it too.

Frankly, in my opinion, one clue to tell if something's a stage or magic trick or not is if they require a specific tightly-controlled set-up or not. All magic tricks require specific controlled viewing angles, procedures, etc. Whereas if it was a genuine skill, none of that would matter at all. You could just do it on the spur anyway u wanted

[woliveri]

Actually the point of the demonstration is to gain
dollars if I read your description correctly.

I don't know, did you see "The mystery of Chi" a
Bill Moyers segment? In that tape an American
student trys to throw this master but cannot. The
Master said he uses his thinking (Yi). I believe
this is pure Qi Gong where the master has to have
reached a level of accumalated Qi that he can
control it with his mind intent. After that I'm
not sure but I believe this is the case.

I would be wary unless you have an unlimited cash
flow and can spend to see his cards.

There is no spoon. "The Matrix"
There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. "The Matrix"