difference between push hands and sticky hands

[Shaolin Dude]

so what is it?

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

The most observable difference is that sticky-hands incorporates strikes.. traditional push-hands doesn't.. to go into the more subtle differences is not practical in this forum.. too many opinions will clash on simple concepts..

Be well..

[[Censored]]

IMO the biggest difference is in the amount of leading; WC desires a smaller opening.

[chen zhen]

it's two totally different kinds of exercises, yes, push-hands uses more leading, bigger motions, different footpositions, develops different kinds of sensitivity. A little hard to explain, it's the FEEWING of the movement that's different.

they both develop sticking incredibly well, though

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Push-hands seems to be more adaptable when encountering or training for various attack scenarios.. sticky-hands seems somewhat limited in its variations.. Conversely, sticky-hands does a few things very well, push-hands does many things adequately..

Advice: train in both.. cover your bases.. if you have a background in push-hands, sticky-hands will be an easy transition.. a few sessions with good Wing Chung players and you will be on your way to new and practical skills, skills with much the same internal flavor to which you are already accustomed..

Be well

[Kevin Wallbridge]

Push hands is about mid-range grappling. It relates to both hitting and throwing. Its the range for Chinna. Owning the mid-range smothers striking and keeps grapplers away. Unfortunately many people have never advanced past the simplest levels of push hands and have come to see it as an end in itself or a simple drill of stealing balance.

Sticky hands is all about getting the hit in and in this light I see it as more limited. The trapping skills are useful, but not enough.

To my mind if there is a practical difference between IMA and EMA it lies in the skills of mid-range grappling.

[Kumkuat]

yeah it's basically sticky hands is trying to hit while pushing hands is trying to disrupt the other guy using throws, pushes, qinna, and hits.

[Ao Qin]

Hi,

Why can't you use "throws, pushes, cum-nah, and hits in sticky" hand practice? Also, isn't a "push", by definition, a "strike"?

I see sticky hands as "advanced push hands", where you can put the theory of push hands combined with your style's "sticking" / "listening", etc. techniques into a less structured and more intuitive / realistic exercise.

My two cents...

Ao Qin

[Zhuge Liang]

Hello,

IMO, the two are fairly close. Depending on your school and teacher, the emphasis can differ from a small to large degree. In the very very general sense, I agree that push hands ephasizes balance disruption while sticky hands emphasizes hits. But there is absolutely no reason why sticky hands can't do balance disruption and push hands can't hit. In my particular Wing Chun training, I tend to favor playing with balance myself. So which is better? Irrelevant question, IMO. It's more a question of who is better, regardless of style.

Regards,
Zhuge Liang

[foolinthedeck]

sticky hands is not about hitting, if it was there would be no sticking only striking. in my wing chun i sticky in order to stick, learn about the opponent - listen to the silent talk.

IMO both push and sticky are a game, they are play. its great that they work together, doing sticky with a pusher is great fun, its a stand off if both are off equal skill.

whats the difference?
sticky uses triangulation and angles more, i try to find the centre and exploit it.
push - from my exp, tries to offbalance me.

zhuge liang is correct when he says

Irrelevant question, IMO. It's more a question of who is better, regardless of style