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tri2bmt
02-21-2002, 05:44 PM
I use very little weights but maximize my household items in my supplemental training. What sort of devices have you utilized?
I've invented various exercises and routines using anything in my room or basement I can find.
Three exercises I am currently experimenting with are:
Throwups
Hanging situps
Beer walks

Ish
02-22-2002, 05:06 AM
the beer walks sound fun how do you do it/ what benefits do you get?

Ford Prefect
02-22-2002, 07:55 AM
I've used sand bags of varying weight (50-200 lbs), 5 gallon buckets full of water or sand, kettlebells, and my own bodyweight. After using all those, I've come full circle to see why almost all pro-athletes use weights combined with aerobic/anaerobic training to condition themselves... because they work the best!

hkphooey
02-22-2002, 08:54 AM
somehow i'm guessing the "throwups" come AFTER the "beer walks"???

=)

tri2bmt
02-22-2002, 06:41 PM
Beer walks are intense if done properly and focus mainly on the forearms, the triceps, abs and lower back.

To perform the beer walk;
hold an empty beer in each hand
start with just your knees and the bottoms of the beer bottles in each hand. . Then walk your hands out as far as you can without touching the ground with your body. Try to get them as overhead as possible and then slowly walk back.
Eventually the goal is to do them on your toes and go straight out and then back

Throwups
simply lie on your back and throw a medicine ball or a small punching bag into the air. Upon catching it, pull your knees to your chest and crunch your body and use the momentum to stand up. As you stand up, holding under the ball, swing it upwards with a large arc and throw it into the air above your head. When it comes down catch it and then squat down and back onto the floor.

Lots of fun

Silumkid
02-22-2002, 07:47 PM
Unconventional is defintely the word for those. You are far more brave then I am using beer bottles...hope they don't break on you.

I am, though, having a heck of a time figuring how the "beer walk" hits the tris....sounds like you have to keep your arms locked throughout the movement, yes? Not a lot of tri recruitment there it seems.

Throwups sounds like you are combining a few different exercises. The crunchup with the ball part is a Pilates movement. The ground throw is a basic plyometric move. This is just my opinion, but it seems to me like you might get more muscle-specific results from breaking the movements up. For instance, you don't see a lot of guys perform a bench press rep, bring it down, roll up off the bench then throw the weight in the air. But again, that's just my opinion. If it works for you, cool. :cool:

Ka
02-23-2002, 12:42 AM
hey there
Try finding some5 -10 L water contianers fill them up and start walking holding them by your sides.
I like good old pack walking but its best done out in the bush.

yenhoi
02-23-2002, 11:56 AM
I have a 1-inch diameter, 3 foot long steel bar that I "workout" with.

I have a forearm thingie: tie a rope around a heavy weight, tie the other end around a shortened broomstick or something similar. Then holding the 'handle' in both hands, slowly wrap the rope around the middle of the handle, kind of "winding" the weight up from the ground to your hands, then back down, and just before it gets to the ground, reverse and repeat. This has to be done slowly. I think I got this from the Tao of Jeet Kune Do or some Bruce Lee book.

SCUBA DIVING WEIGHTS!
You can get them in nearly any weight (from 1/2lb to probably 40lb) The kinds that are basically just shot poored into a mesh bag are the best, you can throw those around without worrying about really breaking anything (like tables and floorboards etc.)
You can get the kind that have zippers and handles, so you can add as much shot as you want. I like to keep a 5lb one and a 10lb one at my desk at work, much fun.

David Jamieson
02-23-2002, 01:07 PM
heavy weapons, brass rings and leg weights.

Instead of using a rattan staff, I use a double dragon oak staff.
I do sets with brass rings and do regular workouts with leg weights.

I have never used wushu performance weapons and always use full/true weighted swords, knives and halbierds. Nor do I use the tapered or thin staffs that one sees, only rattan for performance and heavy oak for working out and basics.

peace

tri2bmt
02-23-2002, 02:04 PM
The triceps is targeted in a constant pressure. While you walk out one at a time, the triceps holds you up.

Kungfu boy
02-24-2002, 12:11 AM
swinging an ax.....

I did this one today. I had a friend who needs to clear out space in his backyard and there were some fallen trees back there that need to be chopped up so it can be hauled off. Man, thats tough stuff. We took turns taking hacks at the timber and we got pretty tired. It seemed like a good upper body workout.

Just a thought......

Ka
02-24-2002, 02:10 AM
How about you just start doing laboring jobs;)

tri2bmt
02-24-2002, 11:38 AM
Axes are excellent workouts as well as hauling all the wood you'll be cutting up. Also portaging and rowing a boat at sea is an excellent back workout.
Another couple I've pulled out of my ass are:
High Walking
Rollies
Throwing Randow Heavy Objects
Scale a Wall
Walking on your hands

High walking is simple; as you walk raise your heel for every step and fiercely flex your calves to achieve maximum height. Looks stupid but works and makes walking interesting.

Rollies; lay on your back and raise your entire body three or so inches off the ground with just your ass on it. Now roll over to the left onto your hip and then to the right. That's one. Keep going and feel a complete abdomen workout.

Throwing heavy objects and scaling a wall are pretty straight forward as well as walking on your hands.

Tai-Jutsuka
02-26-2002, 05:30 PM
I got a good one for the abs and the lower back. Its called "The Thinker." To do it you have to get down in the pushup position, but instead of putting your hands on the ground you rest your elbows on the ground and your hands on your chin. Keep the rest of your body off the ground and you will feel the burn after a little bit.

tri2bmt
02-26-2002, 07:00 PM
"The Thinker"! Great! That sounds good I will do it next workout. Have you ever played Hackey Sack? That'll do your cooridination, balance a workout. Fun too.

Tai-Jutsuka
02-26-2002, 08:22 PM
Originally posted by tri2bmt
Have you ever played Hackey Sack? That'll do your cooridination, balance a workout. Fun too.

I am always playing hackey sack in school. I usually get in trouble for it and any martial arts or meditation that I do. It does help with coordination though.

greyseal
03-05-2002, 04:30 PM
Hey.
The exercise with two heavy weights in each hand that you then walk with is called the farmer's walk. Dumbells are the best to use at first; it will strengthen your legs, back and grip--make sure you use somethinhg that will assist your grip.
Lifting akward objects will build your strength too.
There is a training referrede to as Dinsosuar trainign where they do such a thing.
They lift anvils, or canvas bags filled with sand or weight plates; the shifting weight needs more control than a standard plate.
Try this: Take a barbell weight, at least 35 pounds, and try to pick it up by the edge and lift it up. Hard. Or, for forearm, lift a sledgehammer by the handle and try to lift it up with one hand.

Crazy dog
03-06-2002, 08:20 AM
How about bending freebar with your bare hands. (you know that stuff that is placed inside the cement to add support.)

OR wearing a 30 pound vest with 2.5 pound leg weights at all times.

Or Attaching some 5 foot long bungie cords to tree trunks. Get a hold of them and stand a few feet away and start punching away.

Rock climing(enuff said).

Get a large back pack and fill it with a rock ever few miles. And don't stop until it is full.

Get some rope and make a harness. Attach the ropes to your car or truck and start pulling your car to
where you want to go:)

Jump on Jupiter(not possible. ha ha ha)

:D

madhusudan
09-19-2014, 04:23 PM
What do you do for strength that isn't exactly mainstream? I like activities that have multiple purposes, which I call true multitasking.

I walk fair distances at work and purposely carry a briefcase. I'd estimate it may get up to 20lbs or more.

I just finished splitting 4 cords of wood.

How about you?

madhusudan
09-19-2014, 05:02 PM
To clarify, I'm interested in how people integrate strength training into their existing routine / life instead of an actual workout. For example, squeezing a gripper during a subway commute.

YouKnowWho
09-19-2014, 05:46 PM
I'll let my right hand to grab on my left wrist. My right hand tries to hold on tight while my left hand tries to break the grip. Sometime my right hand wins. Other time my left hand wins.

Kellen Bassette
09-19-2014, 07:42 PM
I'm in the masonry trade. Sometimes when I stock concrete blocks, instead of letting them hang and swinging them upwards, (the natural motion used when you carry two and stock them,) I'll grab the middle web and extend my arm horizontally parallel to the ground. It develops the grip and forearm. Things like lifting scaffold up a jump with one arm, instead of two, bringing the 80 pound mortar bags to my chest and throwing them.

A lot of what I do is already heavy work, but the weight is usually consistent and lifted the same way, so your always using certain muscles. I try to occasionally change up the way I naturally pick up and carry things to work out different muscles.

MarathonTmatt
09-20-2014, 10:10 PM
The other year I did a lot of work clearing about 1.5 acres of land full of saplings/ young trees growing up. Before you couldn't even walk through anywhere, everything was growing up everywhere. Now the space is more opened up, still enough trees (I did leave some saplings) but is more park-like with paths. I also cleared around the old stone wall enclosure (hundreds of years of top soil/dirt building up) to where the base in the wall was. I did everything by hand, no machines. I used a hand-saw to get trees down that were way too big for me to just pull up. Sometimes I also dug some of the bigger tree's roots up with a shovel, but I used no power machines, those are too invasive, just some good elbow grease.

I would make piles of the young trees near where I pulled them up, and then lift up a large pile, and get it over my head, slinging it on top of my back and the top of my head for support. I would walk up, hauling the stuff to where it needed to be dumped, sometimes 1/8- 1/4 of a mile away at the town dump, hauling the heavy, burdensome load. I felt like I was carrying loads on my back to build an earthern pyramid or something, like someone long ago in the past, except in my case I was preventing the jungle from growing back and taking root over some of the ruins from underneath the forest floor.

Also when I worked in a Produce Dept. for 7-8 years, I liked to tear up the thicker watermelon bins to shreds with my grip strength. Everyone was going for their knives until they saw I was actually tearing it (some are thicker than others). I liked finding creative solutions to things like that.

sanjuro_ronin
09-22-2014, 05:04 AM
"Unconventional" Strength training is cool because it makes your body work in ways that it isn't usually used to work in.
It's not better (or worse) than conventional, just different.

David Jamieson
09-30-2014, 11:33 AM
What's harder is relaxing while taking a dump. :p

Sihing73
09-30-2014, 07:36 PM
This is the "unconventional" strength training I would be up for..............;):D

915491559156

bawang
10-02-2014, 02:06 PM
most powerful unconvention training

99 power qigong

Cataphract
02-23-2016, 12:43 PM
I read somewhere that the number of points of contact you need to stand up is a good estimator of overall health. Since then I trained pistol squats and stand up on one leg as often as possible.

boxerbilly
02-23-2016, 02:29 PM
Unlike the thread starter. I never really exercised while working or walking or driving, etc.

Unconventional training which is sort of main stream now. Swinging a sledge. Chopping wood. Sawing wood. Carrying concrete bags. Hammering a tire with 22 oz. But for the most part this stuff was chores, LOL. I turned into workouts so maybe sort of like the thread starter.

Forearms, abs back and legs got a lot of work hammering/chopping stuff. Concrete( Portland cement) bags are like 90 pounds so pretty heavy for me worked arms forearms fingers traps really good.

But, Id tell most people just use weights or cals. I'm not a huge fan of isometrics. Dynamic Tension stuff is okay but again, I say weights. Chest expanders are also real good. I have a 250lb handgripper. I don't use it at all anymore. I used to be able to close it 3 times right 2 times left , all the way. I don't have big hands. I'm a small guy.

uki
03-07-2016, 04:05 PM
What do you do for strength that isn't exactly mainstream?i'm a stone mason, i mix mortar with a shovel, push wheelbarrows of rocks and concrete, climb scaffolding with hook hands, i juggle three 9lb iron balls, digging with a spud bar and pick axe to name a few.

I like activities that have multiple purposes, which I call true multitasking.everything has multiple purposes - there are numerous martial applications in all body movements. good thing about my job is i don't ever need to go to the gym and i get my bills paid...


I walk fair distances at work and purposely carry a briefcase. I'd estimate it may get up to 20lbs or more.no comment.


I just finished splitting 4 cords of wood. i'm on my second truck load of logs this year putting my tally at about 14 cords so far this winter - moreso now cuz the girlfriend is cooking maple sap down...


How about you?i do all kinds of stupid stuff. :D

Cataphract
04-26-2016, 02:05 PM
golf ball neigong for weight lifting
http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/unlock-power-and-performance-with-a-golf-ball

David Jamieson
04-27-2016, 06:21 AM
I am fast discovering the value of riding a 700lb harley and what that is doing for my core strength. lol
Riding is the most fun workout.
Also, fencing is a good cardio workout. I took it up again (french foil) and so far, so good. It's a nice addition to the work out.

GeneChing
09-10-2018, 08:20 AM
2 forms of exercise are the best way to stave off the effects of aging — here's how to incorporate them into your life (https://www.businessinsider.com/best-exercises-slow-aging-2018-4)
Erin Brodwin Sep. 8, 2018, 4:19 PM

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If you're searching for an all-natural way to lift your mood, preserve muscle tone, and protect your brain against the decline that comes with aging, look no further than the closest mirror.

One of the most powerful means of reaping these benefits is exercise— and in many cases, you already have everything you need to get it: a body.

As we age, two forms of exercise are the most important to focus on: aerobic exercise, or cardio, which gets your heart pumping and sweat flowing, and strength training, which helps keep aging muscles from dwindling over time.

And most of the time, they don't require any fancy equipment or expensive classes.

Read on to find out how to incorporate both forms of fitness into your life.

Aerobic exercises like jogging may help reverse some heart damage from normal aging.

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Many of us become less active as we age. Over time, this can lead some muscles in the heart to stiffen.

One of those at-risk muscles is in the left chamber of the heart, a section that plays a key role in supplying the body with freshly oxygenated blood.

A recent study split 53 adults into two groups, one of which did two years of supervised exercise four to five days a week while the other did yoga and balance exercises.

At the end of the study, published in January in the journal Circulation, the higher-intensity exercisers had seen significant improvements in their heart's performance, suggesting that some stiffening in the heart can be prevented or even reversed with regular cardio.

"Based on a series of studies performed by our team over the past 5 years, this 'dose' of exercise has become my prescription for life," Benjamin Levine, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern who wrote the study, said in a statement.

Walking, another form of cardio, could help reduce the risk of heart failure — a key contributor to heart disease.

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Shutterstock/Blazej Lyjak

Intense cardio activities like running or jogging aren't the only types of movement that may have protective benefits for the heart as we age.

In a study published in September in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers took a look at the physical activity levels of nearly 140,000 women aged 50 to 79 and found surprisingly salient links between walking and a reduced risk of heart failure, a condition when the heart stops pumping blood as it should. Heart failure is a key contributor to heart disease, the US' leading cause of death.

For their work, the researchers looked at data from a 14-year women's health study that documented heart failure and exercise levels.

When the researchers dove deeper, they found that the women who walked regularly were 25% less likely to experience heart failure than their peers who didn't exercise. In fact, for every extra 30-45 minutes a woman walked, her risk of a failed heart dropped an average of 9%, the scientists concluded.

"This is pretty important from a public health standpoint, given the poor prognosis this type of heart failure has once it's present," Michael LaMonte, the lead author of the study and an associate professor of epidemiology at the University at Buffalo School of Public Health, said in a statement.

Strength-training moves like tai chi are best for preserving muscles from age-related decline.

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Strength or resistance training can take many forms, but it typically involves a series of movements geared toward building or preserving muscle.

Tai chi, the Chinese martial art that combines a series of flowing movements, is one form of strength training. The exercise is performed slowly and gently, with a high degree of focus and attention paid to breathing deeply.

Since practitioners go at their own pace, tai chi is accessible for a wide variety of people, regardless of age or fitness level.

Tai chi "is particularly good for older people because balance is an important component of fitness, and balance is something we lose as we get older," I-Min Lee, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said in a recent health report called "Starting to Exercise."

continued next post

What is up with that 'tai chi' pic? :rolleyes:

GeneChing
09-10-2018, 08:21 AM
There may be a powerful link between regular cardio, like swimming and walking, and a lower risk of dementia.

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A study published in March in the journal Neurology suggested that women who were physically fit in middle age were roughly 88% less likely to develop dementia — defined as a decline in memory severe enough to interfere with daily life — than their peers who were only moderately fit.

Starting in 1968, neuroscientists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden studied 191 women whose average age was 50. First, they assessed their cardiovascular health using a cycling test and grouped them into three categories: fit, moderately fit, or unfit.

Over the next four decades, the researchers regularly screened the women for dementia. In that time, 32% of the unfit women and a quarter of the moderately fit women were diagnosed with the condition, while the rate was only 5% among the fit women.

However, the research showed only a link between fitness and decreased dementia risk — it did not prove that one caused the other. Still, it builds on several other studies that suggest a powerful tie between exercise and brain health.

Activities like cycling may also protect your immune system from some age-related decline.

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For a small study published in March in the journal Aging Cell, researchers looked at 125 amateur cyclists aged 55 to 79, comparing them with 75 people of a similar age who rarely or never exercised.

The cyclists were found to have more muscle mass and strength and lower levels of body fat and cholesterol than the sedentary adults.

The athletic adults also appeared to have healthier and younger-looking immune systems, at least when it came to an organ called the thymus that's responsible for generating key immune cells called T cells.

In healthy people, the thymus begins to shrink and T-cell production starts to drop off at around age 20.

The study found that the thymus glands of the older cyclists looked as if they belonged to younger people — their bodies were producing just as many T cells as would be expected for a young person.

"We now have strong evidence that encouraging people to commit to regular exercise throughout their lives is a viable solution to the problem that we are living longer but not healthier," Janet Lord, the director of the Institute of Inflammation and Aging at the University of Birmingham in the UK, said in a statement.

Other types of strength training can include moves like planks and squats.

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At its most basic, strength training involves using weight to create resistance against the pull of gravity. That weight can be your own body, elastic bands, free weights like barbells or dumbbells, or weighted ankle cuffs.

Research suggests you can use heavy weights for fewer reps or lighter weights for more reps to build stronger, more sturdy muscles.

Chris Jordan, the exercise physiologist who came up with the viral seven-minute workout— officially called the Johnson & Johnson Official 7-Minute Workout — told Business Insider that healthy adults should incorporate resistance training on two or three of the four or five days a week they work out.

Cardio workouts may also improve the look and feel of your skin.

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Unsplash / Haley Phelps

A study from researchers at McMaster University found that people over 40 who regularly did cardio tended to have healthier skin than their sedentary peers. The overall composition of the regular exercisers' skin was more comparable to that of 20- to 30-year-olds.

It's not yet clear why our workouts appear to play a role in skin health, but the researchers found elevated levels of a substance critical to cell health called IL-15 in skin samples of participants after exercise — perhaps shedding light on why cardio can improve the look of our skin.

Aerobic workouts may guard against age-related decline because of reduced brain connectivity.

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As we age, the brain — like any other organ — begins to work less efficiently, so signs of decline start to surface. Our memory might not be quite as sharp as it once was, for example.

But older people who develop Alzheimer's disease often first enter a stage known as mild cognitive impairment, which involves more serious problems with memory, language, thinking, and judgment.

A study published in May looked at adults with MCI between the ages of 60 and 88 and had them walk for 30 minutes four days a week for 12 weeks.

The researchers found strengthened connectivity in a region of the brain where weakened connections have been linked with memory loss. That development, they said, "may possibly increase cognitive reserve" — but more studies are needed.

Cardio may also be tied to increases in the size of brain areas linked to memory, but more research is needed.

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A study of older women with MCI found a tie between aerobic exercise and an increase in the size of the hippocampus, a brain area involved in learning and memory.

For the study, 86 women between 70 and 80 years old with MCI were randomly assigned to do one of three types of training twice a week for six months: aerobic (like walking and swimming), resistance (like weight lifting), or balance.

Only the women in the aerobic group were found to have significant increases in hippocampal volume, but more studies are needed to determine what effect this has on cognitive performance.


THREADS
Strength Training (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?46323-Strength-Training)
Cardio Work (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?21095-Cardio-Work)
Unconventional strength training (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?10133-Unconventional-strength-training)

GeneChing
09-10-2018, 09:08 AM
Using Tai Chi to Build Strength (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/well/move/using-tai-chi-to-build-strength.html)
Tai chi moves can be easily learned and executed by people of all ages and states of health, even elderly people in wheelchairs.

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Credit Gracia Lam

By Jane E. Brody
Sept. 10, 2018

Watching a group of people doing tai chi, an exercise often called “meditation in motion,” it may be hard to imagine that its slow, gentle, choreographed movements could actually make people stronger. Not only stronger mentally but stronger physically and healthier as well.

I certainly was surprised by its effects on strength, but good research — and there’s been a fair amount of it by now — doesn’t lie. If you’re not ready or not able to tackle strength-training with weights, resistance bands or machines, tai chi may just be the activity that can help to increase your stamina and diminish your risk of injury that accompanies weak muscles and bones.

Don’t get scared by its frequent description as an “ancient martial art.” Tai chi (and a related exercise called Qigong) does not resemble the strenuous, gravity-defying karate moves you may have seen in Jackie Chan films. Tai chi moves can be easily learned and executed by people of all ages and states of health, even those in their 90s, in wheelchairs or bedridden.

It’s been eight years since I last summarized the known benefits of this time-honored form of exercise, and it has since grown in popularity in venues like Y’s, health clubs and community and senior centers. By now it is likely that millions more people have become good candidates for the help tai chi can provide to their well-being.

First, a reprise of what I previously wrote as to why most of us should consider including tai chi into our routines for stronger bodies and healthier lives.

It is a low-impact activity suitable for people of all ages and most states of health, including those who have long been sedentary or “hate” exercise.

It is a gentle, relaxing activity that involves deep breathing but does not work up a sweat or leave you out of breath.

It does not place undue stress on joints and muscles and therefore is unlikely to cause pain or injury.

It requires no special equipment or outfits, only lightweight, comfortable clothing.

Once proper technique is learned from a qualified instructor, it is a low-cost activity that can be practiced anywhere, anytime.

One more fact: Beneficial results from tai chi are often quickly realized. Significant improvements involving a host of different conditions can be achieved within 12 weeks of tai chi exercises done for an hour at a time twice a week.

Much of the research, which was reviewed in 2015 by researchers at Beijing University and Harvard Medical School, has focused on how tai chi has helped people with a variety of medical problems. It is summarized in a new book from Harvard Health Publications, “An Introduction to Tai Chi,” which includes the latest studies of healthy people whose mission was health preservation as well as people with conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis.

Of the 507 studies included in the 2015 review, 94.1 percent found positive effects of tai chi. These included 192 studies involving only healthy participants, 142 with the goal of health promotion or preservation and 50 seeking better balance or prevention of falls.

This last benefit may be the most important of all, given that every 11 seconds an older adult is treated in the emergency room following a fall, and one in five falls results in a fracture, concussion or other serious injury.

For example, in an analysis of high-quality studies published last year in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers at the University of Jaen in Spain reported that older adults who did one-hour tai chi sessions one to three times a week for 12 to 26 weeks were 43 percent less likely to fall and half as likely to incur a fall-related injury.

Tai chi provided superior benefits to other fall-reduction approaches like physical therapy, balance exercises, stretching, yoga or resistance training. Tai chi, in effect, combines the benefits of most of these: It strengthens the lower body, improves posture, promotes flexibility, increases a person’s awareness of where the body is in space and improves one’s ability to navigate obstacles while walking.

Furthermore, if you should trip, tai chi can enhance your ability to catch yourself before you fall. It has also been shown to counter the fear of falling, which discourages people from being physically active and further increases their likelihood of falling and being injured.

Even if you do fall, tai chi, as a weight-bearing but low-stress exercise, can reduce your chances of breaking a bone. Four well-designed clinical trials showed that tai chi has positive effects on bone health. For example, in a yearlong study in Hong Kong of 132 women past menopause, those practicing tai chi experienced significantly less bone loss and fewer fractures than those who remained sedentary.

For people with painful joints and muscles, tai chi enhances their ability to exercise within a pain-free range of motion. Pain discourages people from moving, which makes matters worse as muscles get weaker and joints stiffer. The movements involved in tai chi minimize stress on painful areas and, by improving circulation, can foster relief and healing.

A 2016 study of 204 people with knee pain from osteoarthritis found that tai chi done twice a week was just as effective as physical therapy in relieving their discomfort. But that was not all: Those doing tai chi for the 12 weeks reported that they were less depressed and had a better quality of life than those undergoing physical therapy.

Tai chi can also be an entry point for people who may have fallen off the exercise wagon but want to get back to doing more vigorous and often more enjoyable physical activities like swimming and hiking, or biking and walking to and from errands instead of relying on vehicles that pollute the air and clog the roads.

Guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association recommend that sedentary older adults begin with balance, flexibility and strength training exercises before launching into moderate to vigorous physical activity. Tai chi is ideal for getting people ready for more demanding action.

And, in the process of getting your body in shape with tai chi, you’re likely to improve your mental state. In a New Zealand study of college students, tai chi was shown to counter depression, anxiety and stress. It also enhances an important quality called self-efficacy — confidence in one’s ability to perform various activities and overcome obstacles to doing so.

This is the second of two columns on countering muscle loss. The first is here.

Jane Brody is the Personal Health columnist, a position she has held since 1976. She has written more than a dozen books including the best sellers “Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book” and “Jane Brody’s Good Food Book.”

THREADS
Strength Training (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?46323-Strength-Training)
Unconventional strength training (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?10133-Unconventional-strength-training)

Brule
09-10-2018, 09:33 AM
continued next post

What is up with that 'tai chi' pic? :rolleyes:

Not only that but I've never heard of tai chi described as strength training. :confused: