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/
|