Lu Rollback

Lu Rollback is the second physical jing traditionally learned in Tai Chi training. In America Lu Rollback is a bit more well known as a result of having been publicly stated to be Chen Man Ching’s favorite move / action of Tai Chi.

Essentially Lu Rollback jing generally refers to the idea of getting out of the way of an incoming force simply by turning in a way so that the force is diverted out and / or away from you. Moving the arm(s) in a circle that diverts an incoming push or strike is the most common way that most folks have seen this action performed. Cloud Hands is a very Lu Rollback oriented Tai Chi move.

Lu jing is also classically noted for the practitioner receiving and collecting energy that they can then return to the attacker.

All of the first 4 primary Tai Chi jings can be performed with the arms and with other body parts as well including the torso. The first 4 primary Tai Chi jings can also be performed in large, medium and small frame manners.

I will cite an example of performing Lu Rollback with the torso using a large frame movement. Person A puts their hand on Person B chest and pushes straight in. Person B simply circles their entire torso so that Person A’s push does not go in and Person A stumbles if they keep trying to push as they are now pushing against / into air. The push is effectively neutralized by Person B’s movement.

An example of performing an internal small frame Lu Rollback movement is that Person A pushes into Person B’s chest and Person B receives the Push and routes it through their body so that it comes back out into Person A’s hand and pushes or hits them sending them back or breaking the wrist or arm. At a high level there is no physical movement that can be seen on the part of Person B. This is a skill that will come relatively quickly to anyone who completes our Internal Skill through Internal Push Hands video(s) that will be coming out soon.


  1. Thanks for sharing this, I’m starting to get a feel for Peng at last, I need to improve my understand of Lu now…

    • Matt Holker says:

      Hello Mike,

      You’re very welcome! I’m glad our material is helping you develop your skills. I wish you much success in your training!

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