In Sun Lutang's book A Study of Taijiquan it mentions an exercise that Sun did to demonstrate balance.It involved standing against the wall with the shoulder and outside of the foot pressed against the wall whilst the other leg is raised as if doing a knee kick.Sounds easy but no one I have shown it to can do it.One sports scientist scoffed at it and then found he couldn't even move when in this position!He declared the exercise as physically impossible.Has anyone here tried it?

It is possible if you have very narrow shoulders.

well count me out, im too buff.

but interesting, it does feel quite impossible to do.

Greetings,

When I first read about that exercise, it made me extremely curious. As described, it does seem impossible. It is a center of gravity issue, similar to trying to stand up from a chair while keeping your back perpendicular to the floor. I can’t imagine how he was able to do this.

Take care,
Louis

Tim,

you could also do it if you had very wide feet!

I can do it. But only on the left side of my body, and the back of my shoulder.

Bawahahahh... I can do it ! I can do it !

The trick is I lift my leg up but really really fast like, like going to do a knee kick but.... I do it really fast and then put it back down on the floor really fast before I even begin to topple over.. eureka !