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Tán Tuǐ (Chinese: 彈腿) is a famous Northern wushu routine and has several versions due to its incorporation into various styles. For this reason the name can be translated to mean "spring" or "springing leg" (the most popular) or "pond" or "lake leg".
Styles that incorporate Tán Tuǐ include Northern Praying Mantis, Chángquán, and Northern Shaolin as well as many other minor styles and systems.
Tán Tuǐ is composed of a series of forms, which emphasize blocking, stances, footwork, and most of all, kicks. Tán Tuǐ exists as a style on its own, but is commonly used as a basic form for styles like Chāquán.
Today Tán Tuǐ forms the basis for the Bei Chang Quan/Northern Long Fist systems. It is taught to improve fighting skills, balance, strength, flexibility, and focus, and contains the basic skills required in advanced forms. A common saying among Chinese martial artists is "If your Tán Tuǐ is good, your kung fu will be good."
Tán Tuǐ is deeply rooted in China's Hui Muslim community.[1] One such reference to the Islamic influence is the posture of holding one punch out in front of body as a punch is thrown to the rear with the other hand. The body is turned sideways so that both the front and the rear punches reach maximum range. Besides being a good exercise to train the fighter to get full shoulder and body thrust behind each punch, it also belies the form's Islamic heritage; the same distinctive technique can be found in other Islamic long fist forms, such as San Lu Pao (三路跑袍) and Si Lu Cha Quan (四路查拳). The technique is also used to increase the practitioner's sensitivity - by forcing the martial artist to send power in two directions, the form increases awareness of one's surroundings [2].