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Tai chi reduces blood pressure better than aerobic exercise

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Re: Tai chi reduces blood pressure better than aerobic exercise

#81

Post by mtremsal »

shwaj wrote: post #69
mtremsal wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of possibly exaggerated, and somewhat dubious, legends about Cheng Man Ching (who created the "Yang style" I believe). In one such story, he performs an exhibition match at the British Embassy in Chungking during WWII, and none of the British soldiers manage to land a single hit. In the story, the British army ends up so impressed they decide to study T'ai Chi.

Yang Luchan was the creator of Yang style taijiquan.

Ah yes, thank you! The Cheng Man Ching so-called "short form" would be considered a descendant/variation of Yang style then. I assume we're more familiar with Cheng Man Ching in the West due to his travels and teachings in the US. Hard to say how closely related to the source modern-day lessons are TBH.

Re: Tai chi reduces blood pressure better than aerobic exercise

#82

Post by hosh »

adrian_b wrote: post #43
beezlebroxxxxxx wrote: post #11

There doesn't really seem to be anything unique to single out tai chi in particular in this study. The benefits pointed out in the article --- that it's meditative, encourages stretching and relaxation, improves balance --- seem to also be associated with things like yoga, or just going through a general stretching and mobility routine. They idea that calming yourself (removing stress or just relaxing) will lower you…

Yoga is not really comparable, because it is much more static. Of course, there is nothing magic about the Tai chi sequences and many other sequences of movements executed in a similar manner should have a similar effect. A general stretching and mobility routine could be equivalent, but only if it would be similarly complete in exercising the whole body. Presumably the manner of executing Tai chi sequences, i.e. slo…

It isn't the sequences or even the outward shape of Tai Chi so much as what is happening within the body that generates the shapes and sequences. There are long-term, transformative effect on the body. For example, my own musculature have developed structures you cannot develop through weight-lifting.

I can tell you for example, xingyiquan, baguazhang, bajiquan, wing chun, akijutsu (among many others) all (historically) share a common set of practice principles (yijinjing) with taijiquan, yet what ends up happening under the cover are vastly different. For example, at some level of practice, taijiquan is like working with a beach ball floating on water, but baguazhang is more like winding up wires in different planes of motion. Yet both share a smaller set of common principles.

Although the forms and sequences are now taught as foundations and the source of these changes, they are probably better taught as a capstone in which a practitioner builds up and constructs from primitives over the years of practice. There are some taijiquan practitioners who get into the art a lot deeper than the mainstream, and end up practicing holding specific taijiquan postures statically. (In fact, the historical taijiquan manuals shows the set of core postures, not necessarily the sequence of them).

Re: Tai chi reduces blood pressure better than aerobic exercise

#83

Post by thenobsta »

cassianoleal wrote: post #66
thisismyhna wrote: post #56

I do Tai Chi twice a week and it is great for the knees as well. We have a few Yang style groups around us. I would recommend to anyone.

It's the only thing that helps me longer term with shoulder issues as well. I work on the computer, play the guitar and am a rock climber. All those activities have the same tendency of rotating the shoulder forward. As you can imagine, RSI runs big, especially on my right shoulder. I've had many injuries over the years, tried all sorts of treatments - massages, yoga, physiotherapy, accupuncture, you name it. They al…

For computer work, I use a split keyboard. It allows me avoid internally rotating my shoulder. I highly recommend it. Split keyboards can be kinda expensive. It can be tested out cheaply by using a laptop and external keyboard -- left hand on the laptop right hand on the external keyboard. If you have a mac, I had to install karabiner to get keys from both keyboards to work in concert (e.g. to enable left shift and right 'k' to capitalize k).

Re: Tai chi reduces blood pressure better than aerobic exercise

#84

Post by shwaj »

renewiltord wrote: post #63
corysama wrote: post #44

Long ago, maybe before the consumer internet, I saw a video claiming to showcase people who studied tai chi as a fighting art instead of just exercise. It was a lot of being able to follow the other person's movements to the point that "Fighting a tai chi master is like wrestling with an empty jacket". There was also a demonstration where a master pushed a student's middle finger back using an open palm. No matter ho…

Yeah, here are some more videos. Some of them barely need to breathe in the direction to drop a fully grown man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8uZVyq4NIc There are some ancient arts that are unbelievably powerful. We have forgotten breath techniques that allow you to survive in space and travel backwards through time. It is said that some of the great warriors of the past practised these techniques. How could Davi…

The word sling also refers to a weapon used to thow projectiles. https://youtu.be/6irNkhLdApk

Re: Tai chi reduces blood pressure better than aerobic exercise

#86

Post by krisoft »

mbivert wrote: post #75
thesz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to learn some tai chi long ago and found that it is not possible to perform tai chi correctly if you are thinking about anything, including thinking about performing tai chi correctly. And "not thinking about anything" is exceptionally hard.

Well, it's surprisingly trivial for newborns! More seriously, I can't think of a single reason as to why it could not be at least trained; there must be ways. Not that I disagree with you, far from it.

> it's surprisingly trivial for newborns!

how do you know?

Re: Tai chi reduces blood pressure better than aerobic exercise

#87

Post by tmtvl »

renewiltord wrote: post #63
corysama wrote: post #44

Long ago, maybe before the consumer internet, I saw a video claiming to showcase people who studied tai chi as a fighting art instead of just exercise. It was a lot of being able to follow the other person's movements to the point that "Fighting a tai chi master is like wrestling with an empty jacket". There was also a demonstration where a master pushed a student's middle finger back using an open palm. No matter ho…

Yeah, here are some more videos. Some of them barely need to breathe in the direction to drop a fully grown man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8uZVyq4NIc There are some ancient arts that are unbelievably powerful. We have forgotten breath techniques that allow you to survive in space and travel backwards through time. It is said that some of the great warriors of the past practised these techniques. How could Davi…

Poe's law is strong with this one. The Superman bit makes me inclined to believe this is just a joke, but I know there's real believers out there.

Re: Tai chi reduces blood pressure better than aerobic exercise

#88

Post by livueta »

bunderbunder wrote: post #60
corysama wrote: post #44

Long ago, maybe before the consumer internet, I saw a video claiming to showcase people who studied tai chi as a fighting art instead of just exercise. It was a lot of being able to follow the other person's movements to the point that "Fighting a tai chi master is like wrestling with an empty jacket". There was also a demonstration where a master pushed a student's middle finger back using an open palm. No matter ho…

Alarm bells go off in my head whenever the demonstration of an extraordinary martial arts skill is being done by a master and his student. Maybe the most egregious example of how this sort of dynamic can work out is George Dillman and his "no touch knockouts". It's easy enough to find amusing YouTube videos showing how that worked out when someone roped him into trying to demonstrate the technique on someone who wasn…

Reminds me of this guy, who got a ton of blowback for calling out fake martial arts masters, goading them into fights and humiliating them: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Xiaodong

> Xu started a dispute with Wei on social media, beginning with a demand that Wei provide evidence of his abilities, and culminating in a bare-knuckle fight in a basement in Chengdu in 2017, where Xu won convincingly in less than 20 seconds.

Re: Tai chi reduces blood pressure better than aerobic exercise

#89

Post by ra7 »

neaden wrote: post #53
ra7 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Purists like me would object to Chai being referred to its redundant form Chai Tea :)

You're not a purist, you're just incorrect. We are speaking English, so saying that it is redundant isn't true. Just like how Hound means generic dog in German but hunting dog in English, or rouge means red in French but means a kind of makeup in English, Chai doesn't mean tea in English and thus there is no redundancy here.

Chai means (Indian) tea with milk. It’s a borrowed term in English that already includes the meaning. Just like you don’t use “yoga exercise” in English because yoga already means a form of exercise. Or the usage of “karma” in English. You don’t say “karma fate”.

You might want to revisit who’s incorrect.

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