First of all Qigong training is exponential, what a practitioner gets out of a half hour in their first month will be nothing compared to what they get of the same time after 2 or 3 years.  This pushes many people away, but if you want to get the most out of your training or are in it for the long run Qigong can an invaluable training tool.

Qigong practice for martial arts training teaches a practitioner many things about their own body which they can use for self defense, while also physically developing the practitioner.  Through consistent practice the body learns to conserve strength and put less strain on itself, giving the practitioner more endurance and the ability to recover more quickly.   This increase in energy (or chi) can allow for other types of exercises (strength training, or cardio) to be done more regularly with less waiting period between exercises.  Qigong also teaches a practitioner to use and connect more of their muscle structure.  For example using structural alignment (the bodies correct posture) can increase a practitioners power and root (balance).  Qigong also helps a practitioner develop better control over differents muscles.  The exterior muscle groups are often lost at a very early age, such as the interior and exterior oblique's. By learning to utilize these muscles a practitioner can learn to develop a lot of power in Li or pulling techniques.   Chi gung also develops sinsitivity, increasing awerness of touch, this can allow a practioner to control their opponent according to where the oppenets wieght or force it directed.        

Besides what you can learn through chi gung practice, their are also many physical benefits to chi gung practice.    Relaxed muscle structure is one of the most common and immediate benefits (though the level of relaxation can increase practically indefiantely).  Relaxed muscle structure will increase speed, power (learning to drop the energy into strikes), iron shirt, and allow a practioner to move comfortably through awkward postions (bagwa and grappling are great examples of this).     Lengthening and strenghting of ligaments and connective tissue.  This can reduce damage to the joints (through training or attacks).  

 Push hands is a practice of martial arts which is usually seen of as an internal martial’s exercise.   However, the benefits of this type of training can be practiced by chi gung kung fu or kenpo practitioners, or as an art itself.   Push hands can also be practiced in different ways with varying goals.   As well as practiced for different reasons; health focus and self defense which all can be trained through regular push hands training. There are many different ways to push.   Depending on what you are trying to develop.  One of the more challenging methods is elephant style.  For this method two partners stand about arms length from each other with their feet shoulder width apart, or wuji.  As you first start to play this and get comfortable with it only slow movements should be allowed.   Learn to effectively root against force and gain control of you partners’ centerline.  The match is won when one partner looses his footing and moves’ one of their feet.  The same game can be played usually a bit easier standing in a forward or bow stance.  This way is more applicable for self defense and can be good for the hips and knees.

       If you are interested more in the self defense aspects of push hands or just want to play it in different ways here is a few different ideas as well.  However, if you don’t practice and develop good root and sensitivity these exercises will be done incorrectly and infectively.  Chin Na: where the goal is to control your opponent using joint manipulation.   Throws or Take Downs:  this is played with the feet not stationary and the goal is to offset an opponent’s balance enough that they end up on the ground.  Hip throws, sweeps or any other takedowns are fine.

         Push hands can be played for many different reasons as well.  It can be considered chi gung or internal message.  Progression in push hands forces it’s practitioner to further develop relaxation, correct alignment, and even breathing (your opponent should not be able to hear your breathing).   One of the most interesting developments of push hands is sensitivity.  As you play push hands you begin to feel and exchange energy with your partner.  This expands your ability to feel chi externally and internally, which will further enhance the benefits of solo chi gung or tai chi practice.

Playing with some of equal strength at first will help you learn the concepts effectively.  However, eventually size and strength means less and less.  You begin to focus more on sensitivity, structure, how to correctly root, etc.  For self defense these are important aspects to understand.  If your opponent is bigger and stronger than you, these elements will keep you from tiring quickly and going with force instead of fighting against it.

Remember your goal in push hands is not to win or lose, it is to develop.  If you have more experience, try to uproot and off balance your opponent with the lightest push (or even allow them to up root themselves) or just allow them to try to push you off balance to increase your own stability.  If you have less experience, try different things and feel how your opponent deals with them so that you can excel faster.  Push hands will take some time and dedication to begin to develop root, sensitivity, and correct alignment, but it can lead to an entirely new way of looking at forms and self defense.