08/06/2026
Sifu and the Old Man.
I want to mention two experiences to illustrate why I have doubts as to the use of heavy weights
somehow ‘enhancing’ Tai Chi. One day an elderly gentleman visited Sifu’s gym. He was around
five foot six or so and of very slight build. Sifu asked me to push hands with him. I suspected that
he was invited up for this reason. We were doing the basic Four Directions pushing hands. He
was relaxed and soft yet he felt like twice the weight he looked. He effortlessly had me rocking all
over the place, all done with a smile and good humour. When we stopped, he said, ‘very good.’
Which was nice of him but I knew then something very different was going on within this art.
There was no way of ‘knowing’ this gentleman just by looking at him. What I found fascinating
was the skill and obvious ability of this small man. After pushing with him my only thought was,
‘what just happened?’ When I first pushed hands with Sifu Cheng Tin Hung, it felt like being in a
rough sea, being pulled and pushed all over the place, again relaxed and soft yet felt as though he
could have done anything he wanted, all done with a smile. I have never experienced or felt
anything like it since. I never saw the elderly gentleman again but he sure left an impression.
These two instances show that the use of heavy weights in Tai Chi training are unnecessary in
developing the strength of the type used in Tai Chi. When Sifu Cheng himself was asked this
question on the use of weights said, “There is nothing wrong with using weights, but it is not the
type of strength needed in Tai Chi.” Neither of these two gentlemen needed weights to have good
Tai Chi. They were examples of the results from training over many years and the kind of level that
can be reached with long practice. Call me old fashioned, but I enjoy the ‘old ways’ and as these
two men proved, all you need, is to practice them.
The only weights we ever used when training at Sifu Cheng Tin Hung’s gym were small hand (5lb)
weights. There were old fruit juice tins filled with solder and covered with tape. Used purely to
develop speed of punch not to build muscle. One hundred punches per minute for twenty
minutes. We then had to do as many punches without the weights as with them.
I’ve always believed that if you can do Tai Chi, you don’t need weights. If you can’t do Tai Chi,
weights won’t help. Nowhere in the Classics is the use of weights mentioned. In fact, they point in
the opposite direction, of old men overcoming younger, emphasising softness, sensitivity, skill, Tai
Chi power and tactics all through the practice of Tai Chi itself.
It is too easy to resort to using strength in overcoming an opponent rather than use Tai Chi skills.
If this is the case, there is a problem. What happens when strength runs out against a more skilful
opponent?
Tai Chi Classics: When there is chi, effort/audible breath, there is no strength. When there is no
chi, relaxed power/ quiet breath, there is pure steel.
I’m curious where the need to use heavy weights when training Tai Chi Chuan comes from. Is it a
feeling of ‘building’ an extra layer of protective ‘armour?’ Some kind of ‘insurance,’ of being
‘stronger?’ And, do weights add to the skills required in Tai Chi?
We have the Internal Strength system that develops the kind of body and strength required in Tai
Chi. I’ve seen people who have never lifted a weight in their lives take blows to the body without
coming to harm and who are also able to issue considerable power.
Maybe there is an underlying feeling that Tai Chi training itself isn’t enough. Who knows? Use
weights by all means, but I think time would be better spent practicing the art itself.
It’s not for me to tell anyone how to train, everyone can do whatever they like, my only wish is that
they give thought to their training and ask the question, do heavy weights really do anything for
Tai Chi? Ian Cameron
