I've recently begun studying xing yi quan and I also recently obtained a copy of Tim's great book xing yi nei gong, and after reading it i had a question.. On page 6 of the book under the section on Dai style xing yi quan when Cao examines Dai Long Bang he says " Because you have lifted heavy weights, your body is very hard and tight, with this type of body there is no way you can practice xing yi." I've been lifting weights in conjunction with martial arts training for quite a while and was wondering if weight lifting would be detrimental to the practice of Xing Yi?

Mike,

It's the making your body "hard and tight" part you want to avoid, lifting correctly will make you stronger, and stronger is always better.

I read an article in inside kung fu about 10 years ago... it was a tai chi and wing chun artist out of hong kong. The dude was ripped and cut beyond belief and was a devout body builder, and the main question was ... doesnt that go against all of tai chi's rules.

And he absolutely not. If you do your tai chi correctly muscle size will not have any negative effects. and he basically stated that since most people can not separate the two, that is why it was not recommended and that most people were rather built from hard work in those days anyways,