weightlifting for the legs.

[chen zhen]

There's been alot of discussion about weightlifting being bad when doing IMA, because it makes the muscles too stiff and hard, and you don't want that when trying to relax the muscles in Tai Chi and other Ineternal styes. but what about only doing weightlifting-exercises for the legs, like squats, deadlifts, etc.? we all know that having strong legs is highly emphasised in IMA, so couldn't it be a contribution?

[Nexus]

Personally i've studied TC for 3 years and go the gym 3-4 times a week to do weight training. Forming a balance between the weight training and the TC works fine for me. I do dead lifts, squats, leg press, leg lifts, etc and have found my legs to become stronger in the process. Contrasting that with some good wuchi standing and qi gong has helped significantly and initially made my legs strong to begin with.

I wouldn't worry to much and if you really want to go the gym or use workout machines/free-weights, then go ahead and do so. It's your life, sure you'll make sacrifices with each choice you make.

Best Regards

[Vapour]

ahhhh, why not train form. all taijiquan form works as a yoga like exercise to strengthen leg, because you have to maitain single weight even when you have deep, longer posture. I'm not saying weightlifting don't help but you really need very very heavy weight to get the eqivelant of proper taijiquan pose.

Plus, when you are doing taijiquan form in deep stance, you get to work on your isometric strech which you can't do if you just lift weight.

[Laughing Cow]

Treat every end-posture of a movement like standing medidation and hold it for 3~5 minutes.

And do the form as low and slow as possible.

Works for me.

[Vapour]

And for your upperbody, you can do yoga which works on flexibility as well as strength. If you don't cheat, yoga is hard.

[crumble]

Hopefully, there's elements already in your IMA training that will hit your legs. The typical way is holding low stances or doing a form with a low stances.

I have pretty strong legs from weightlifting and cycling, but I'm realizing more and more how important it is to get your legs able to go in and out of a stance quickly. That means the stance must feel very natural. The best way I've found to make sure a stance is comfortable is to hold it for a long time. It's faster than trying to stretch your muscles through one set of exercises and then strengthen them through another set of weight lifts. Just holding the stance with the right position and going lower when it gets too easy - that's what seems to be the quickest path. The tight spots lengthen and the weak spots get stronger. (And you'll note, it is essentially the same thing as yoga - holding a demanding pose!)

I've found that tired legs are the main reason I have to end my workout for the day. I'm guessing that is common? So, at least for me, I don't feel I need to supplement IMA with extra leg workouts.

-crumble

[Laughing Cow]

crumble.

Most common complaint of TJQ Guys is that after training they got problems walking.

Some of the old masters said that they had to crawl up stairs after training sessions as they could not walk any longer.

;) ;)

[Kumkuat]

doing squats, etc is different than from standing or doing the form. Yan Gao Fei put a powerlifter in the correct stance, alignment, relaxation, and he couldn't last standing in that high stance for more than a minute. Also a guy who practices standing will be harder to move than a guy who squats and stuff.

[taijiquan_student]

Yeah, the two things have a totally different intent. It's true that standing increases your leg strength, but if anything you should be thinking of relaxing your legs. You'll get more benefit from standing. Well, more like, lifting won't add to your practice if you stand right. If you want to lift and build muscle in your leg, that's cool, but it could hinder you if you can't fang song the tension built up by the lifting. If you can let go of it, then go for it, but don't think it will improve your taiji.

[chen zhen]

thanks for all the responses. you all have some good points. so to sum it up: I don't need to practise these exercises at the side, as long as I practise my forms right, with low stances and slow movements, as that builds the most functional strength for MA.

[Nexus]

Nice deductive analysis. I will say however that there are beneficial exercises to do in a gym in addition to your tai chi workouts, given you are looking to build overall strength as well as internal power. Chin-ups are a good example, which are probably the best exercise for the back known. Most people can barely do 2-3 wide-armed chinups (where the hands are spread as far apart as possible on the bar).

There are plenty of threads around about weight lifting.

[Former castleva]

I do not do IMA and actually find the "I" part questionable.
However,I fail to see how weightlifting would hinder anyone.IMO it is the way to go if you want that strength.

To just work on legs with weights does not make any sense though,you either seriously train all the muscle groups or better not work with weights.If you do it well,benefits will be worthy.

[Leimeng]

~ For leg stuff, do your forms nice and slow and low and deep.
~ If you feel the need to supplment your exercises, add some standing post ch'i kung for about an hour a day.
~ If you must do more for some reason, you won't do wrong going with 500-1000 straight hindu squats, al-la Matt Furey.
~ I hope this helps. :)

Peace,

Sin Loi

Yi Beng, Kan Xue

:cool:

[chen zhen]

I've never found out how hindu squats are performed, are they done just like regular squats without weights, or what?

[fa_jing]

Originally posted by Laughing Cow
crumble.

Most common complaint of TJQ Guys is that after training they got problems walking.

Some of the old masters said that they had to crawl up stairs after training sessions as they could not walk any longer.

;) ;)

Sounds like overtraining to me.

www.mattfurey.com for a start for the hindu squats. Also do a web search>

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by fa_jing


Sounds like overtraining to me.



Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.

Not many People around this days that are their equal, IMHO.
;)