Yes, I thought it was a bit "way out" but I deliberately try new things at
night school. I have been doing T'ai Chi since September, just once per
week, and am surprised at how effective the exercises feel, in terms of
strengthening, balance and range of movement. Is it also all in the mind
that my hands & feet feel warmer too ? Or is it that definition-defying
"Chi" ??. I certainly have not done enough to raise my pulse rate or
breathing rate significantly. What is particularly interesting about many of
the exercises is that strong rotation is combined with end-of-range
movements in many joints at the same time - as a profession we generally
keep things to one or two joints at once so that we are in with a fighting
chance of working out where might be the offending structure. Mel, I agree
this is a paradox, and I will be very interested to see other replies on
this.
Nikki Adams Wakefield UK
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 3:51 AM
Subject: Chi-ward Conditioning & Therapy?
> We often argue the merits and weaknesses of different types of strength
and
> fitness conditioning and rehabilitation, but we have not examined
something
> that might appear a bit "way out" to those who grace the halls of irondom,
> aerobichood or therapy.
>
> In particular, something that is not often mentioned in sports scientific
> circles is the fact that Tai Chi has been shown by Chinese and Western
> research to increase cardiovascular, strength, speed, power and various
other
> motor qualities, despite it not fitting conveniently into the standard
> categories of what supposedly constitutes 'aerobic' or strength training.
> As a martial artist who spent a great deal of time with some very close
Tai
> Chi Master friends, I was always amazed that they managed to develop these
> motor and metabolic qualities despite the fact that they did not seem to
do
> the same sort of typical Eastern 'training to destruction' that we did as
> karateka.
>
> Then, they gave me translations of Chinese research and later I carried
out
> my own literature review and learned that these apparently undemanding
> movement forms (including some forms of yoga) were more than adequate to
> offer very significant conditioning for many people. Maybe there is
> something way beyond HIT, Olympic lifting and ultramarathon training which
> lies hidden in the form of some ancient movement forms. It just
frustrates
> me somewhat that we rarely if ever find out what their capabilities are,
> ostensibly because their Masters stress that competition, egotistical
> superiority and "proving oneself" in conflict are irrelevant in human
> development.
>
> Would anyone else care to comment on this apparent paradox about the
> conditioning and rehabilitating effects of seemingly gentle Tai Chi and
> yoga? Would anyone venture some comments on the physiological processes
> which may be involved in producing different types of fitness under these
> conditions? In doing so, it would be a grave omission to ignore the role
of
> mental processes in the overall scheme of events. Is there something to
> beliefs about the intangible energy known variously as "chi", "ki" or
> "kundalini" or are these just semantic concepts which have been blown out
of
> all proportion?
>
> Dr Mel C Siff
> Denver, USA
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/
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