A martial art derived from Tai Chi Boxing, pushing hands is a name for two-person training routines. When exercised in a combined way, Tai Chi Boxing and pushing hands can bring out the best in each other. Pushing hands basically coincides in movement with Tai Chi Boxing: meeting the offensive with stillness, overcoming hardness with softness, fitting movement with stillness, and tempering hardness with softness. Tai Chi Boxing focuses on “body” , and stresses life nourishing and fitness so that the spirit and form unite into one, while pushing hands focuses on “application” , and stresses interchange and opposition.

As a sparring exercise featuring mutual constraint, combined hardness and softness, and equilibratory movement and stillness, pushing hands can exercise one's responsiveness and movement coordination. To practice pushing hands, one should first be acquainted to a certain degree with Tai Chi Boxing, then begin with solo training to strengthen waist and leg techniques, and after getting acquainted with movements, perform two-person sparring training. The exercise, first of all, requires fast responsiveness, and to achieve this, every posture and form must be practiced proficiently so that the waist and legs are flexible and powerful – which is essential to respond to the opponent agilely, flexibly and subtly.