3 Kinds of Work Out

Push Ups - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Physical_Fitness_Test

When I wrote the title for the latest video installment on Reviving Taiji — In-Tense, Work-Out — I meant it to be a touch humorous. I didn’t mean to be misleading.

So forgive me if I was misleading, and consider with me, for a moment, 3 Intentional Exercise Methods.

What’s An Intense Workout?

The first, and most obvious, is where my play on words comes from…

When you hear Intense Workout what do you think of? Is it… Sweating, heavy breathing, working hard, enduring, pushing your limits…things like this?

This is the obvious workout. It’s the fitness training, the reason to go to the gym. And it conjures images of your normal health concerns:

  • Lose Weight
  • Get Fit
  • Look Good
  • Get Ripped

Intensity of this workout depends upon your level fitness, amount of gritty willpower, and the gear you’ve got. These are very serious concerns, too… balancing body-weight, having muscle tone, and looking good (no matter how egoless you are) are valid, real-world, real-life concerns.

Sometimes we joke about such concerns in the internal arts, as if they are trivial. They’re not.

I make a slight inner shift for internal arts, but the result is the same…

When we discover better posture and when we relax into our bodies, we begin to look better. Somehow… a Taiji Form can help balance weight, and push hands (just by adding a little pressure) can bring proper muscle tone.

But there’s more…

How Do You Do An In-Tense, Work-Out?

My subtle play on words means this: Breath-In while Tensing-Your-Muscles… Breathe-Out while Relaxing-Your-Muscles.

This is a well-known and simple psychological tool, used in mental health clinics and meditation classes all over the world. (I don’t have the specifics, but it’s a good guess… )

You can practice it with me on the Move-Naturally Page. But before you do consider this:

This simple tool has infinite variations. It’s used to explore mind-body connections in a precise and in-depth way.

We connect inhaling with the desire and ability to flush specific tissues with tension. It’s a burden — it’s work — and the relief derived from letting go of the breath and the tension can be amazing.

This method allows for Great Extremes.

We find that we can increase the tension with each In-Tense Inhale. We can increase the precise and the dynamic muscular output needed to tense-up. We get better at producing tension and we notice, more and more, what parts of the body act in unison, which parts have difficulty manifesting tension, and which parts really dig it!

Then we find that we can relax more deeply. We see more accurately and deeper into our residual tensions (you know: those little chronic tensions that never want to go away). As we release, more and more, we discover that we can release with more precision and more detail. We can let go.

Go Beyond: Workout Intention

(I know, the title’s not as cool, but this is what I mean…)

A long Taijiquan form, for example, is both and neither. It doesn’t qualify as fitness: there’s no running on treadmills. And, while it uses some ideas from in-tense work-out, it’s not so hyper-focused on an outcome or result.

A long form engages all systems. It hones attention by letting us extend more and more into our world, and it expands our awareness, letting us reach out with our whole-body and energy field.

We extend our vision peripherally and out, to the horizon. We finesse in extra exhaling twists, extending a bit more.

We endure 30, 40, 60 minutes of quiet breathing coupled with consistent, circling motion.

That’s a work-out.

But it doesn’t feel like one. A well done long form effects life longer and in richer, more rejuvenating ways.

At least, that’s the intention.

Give Pressure Release a try at In-Tense Work-Out.

7 Responses to 3 Kinds of Work Out

  1. Ben Weiss says:
    8 December 2009 at 9:03 am

    Taichi? Make you stronger? It’s for old people what the hell are you talking about!!!……..(joke)
    I find, upon observing people work out and becoming aware of myself as I work out that there is so little emphasis placed upon connecting the body that people can and do hurt and damage themselves when they are trying to get more healthy. For example, running. The human body is designed to run. We are running machines. In ancient days (and primitive folks nowadays) people would hunt deer by running them to the point where the deer would overheat and physically could not run anymore. they would run it to death. Many people nowadays who run to stay in shape damage their knees and back by taking strides that are too big, as a result their heel hits the floor with an outstretched leg and a shock of two times the runners body weight goes through their structure. Not only is this damaging but is so damn hard to do! It is freaking hard! The body is designed to run with little effort using the entire body in perfect balance of tension and release. The tension and release of tension propels the body forward and strengthens not only the muscles but the connective tissues. So much of modern strength training, working out, focuses on isolating muscles. The connective tissues are neglected and the body doesn’t learn how to function in a natural, seeming effortless way. Rather the body un-learns how to function the way it is intended. What good is it if a sky scraper is made of the strongest metals, but those metals are secured together by duct tape?

    Exercise, training, working out, all need connective-ness. the body has to be connected as a whole. the mind and the body need to be in sync for optimum function. Movement and breath need to be connected. It all has to be connected. The human existence is a web, not a rope.

  2. josh young says:
    8 December 2009 at 9:26 am

    Interesting.
    In the line I was initiated it is said that if your legs do not get sore, you are not doing it right. There are days where after doing proper form work it is very hard to even walk up stairs. The physical development associated with this form of taiji is very impressive when done properly.

    I find it interesting you associated a gym with health. I do not, I associate it with body building, which is anything but healthy and balanced. It is for people who want form, not function, at least this is all I have ever seen in gym built people.

  3. Ben Weiss says:
    8 December 2009 at 5:49 pm

    I agree.
    I associate the Gym with psychological issues.
    I associate the mountains with health.

  4. S.Smith says:
    9 December 2009 at 9:45 am

    It is all connected, huh?! When the soles of my feet get sore, I know it’s been a good push-hands session.

    Gyms are a starting point. They represent the first step for some folks down the healthy path. And – there’s a variety of gym-ish places that initiate health. Remember: the last WTBA workshop in Utah was in a small, local gym.

    But I’m with you two… I want deeper balance and the mountains (and other outdoor spots) inevitably help me go deeper.

  5. Josh Young says:
    24 December 2009 at 10:32 am

    I was totally ignorant about gyms in my comment here. A gym is a good place to work on kung-fu. I’ve been integrating martial arts and working in some gym settings lately. That makes me an MMA gym going guy! What a fool I have been, thinking that gyms and MMA were categorically bad.

  6. Josh Young says:
    24 December 2009 at 10:34 am

    Mountains do kick major ass though.
    Gyms are nice when it is colder than… (some very cold thing) outside.

  7. S.Smith says:
    2 January 2010 at 10:13 am

    Yep. Barefoot is better indoors in the winter. The trouble comes, me thinks, when one avoids outdoor martial activities. A slick sleet storm makes pushing hands a whole new game.