As a fitness tool, tai chi packs a wallop

The sight of someone standing alone on a beach or a patch of grass performing what looks like slow-motion kung fu has become a familiar one in recent years as the health-conscious public has come to discover an ancient Chinese secret. All over San Diego County, the martial arts have gone mainstream, thanks to the widely popular tai chi chuan.

“Tai chi is (one of) the oldest forms of martial arts, dating back 1,500 years,” says Ben Stanley, Sifu – or lead instructor – at White Dragon Martial Arts Schools, “but its benefits have withstood the test of time.”

Rich Nye (center) led a tai chi chuan class at the White Dragon Martial Arts School in Clairemont. Tai chi, one of the oldest forms of martial arts, dates back 1,500 years.

Practiced in a slow, controlled manner, tai chi may appear more relaxing than invigorating, but its appearance easily can be deceiving.

“An hour of tai chi three to four days per week is a great amount of exercise,” Stanley adds. “It is a good, mild form of cardio that puts your heart rate in the best range to burn fat and lose weight.”

It may seem mild, but when it comes down to it, tai chi is a martial art that can still pack a powerful punch.

“Tai chi is slow and relaxed, but for self-defense, it is sped up,” Stanley says. “Each of the movements has real-world applications in combat, based on the principle that ‘one technique beats many.’ You never fight force against force, but you use principles to maximize your power. That’s tai chi in a nutshell.”

EXERCISE YOUR OPTIONS  JUNE 6, 2006

– CHRISTINA ORLOVSKY

WHAT TO EXPECT: Students of varying ages, from young children to senior citizens, and a range of skill levels. White Dragon ranks tai chi students in a belt system similar to kung fu or karate, and tailors classes and private lessons to rank and experience level. Private lessons include instruction on formalities, stances, rules and history, while group classes give students the opportunity to practice “push hands,” or the tai chi form of sparring. Students also can expect an atmosphere of respect: Students and instructors bow to one another in salutation.

WHAT IT BENEFITS: The list of body and mind benefits is almost endless for this ancient sport. Sifu Stanley explains that tai chi is a way of improving health and longevity, as well as practicing self-defense, because, as he relays, “It’s bad for your health to let someone punch you in the nose!” Tai chi has been found to relieve stress and stress-related illness, reduce blood pressure and stimulate the immune system. It can also improve circulation, flexibility and mobility, making it popular with the baby boomer set. It has even been suggested that the athletic art’s complex patterns can stimulate mind function for elderly adults experiencing dementia.

WHAT IT COSTS: White Dragon invites first-timers to take a free one-on-one introductory lesson by registering through the Web site. Class packages vary, but include private lessons as well as unlimited group classes six days a week. Outdoor classes are also offered, and tournaments are held throughout the year.

Read the original article at Sign On San Diego by the San Diego Union Tribune www.signonsandiego.com

Training for Life

Inside Kung Fu Magazine

by Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong

Unlike the average Karate or Tae kwon Do school, many traditional Chinese martial art (kung fu) schools don’t ask or even encourage their students to compete in tournaments.  A fear of looking bad or disgracing the school in front of the competitor schools’ students keeps many Chinese martial art teachers and their students away from tournament competition.

I say “traditional” Chinese martial arts because today’s contemporary wushu from Mainland China places some emphasis on tournament competition. Wushu itself is a competitive sport in China and much of its training revolves around performing skills. However, traditional schools and instructors have a more closed-door attitude toward tournaments.  Part of that attitude comes from not having much exposure to tournament competitions.

Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong won two Gold Medals at the 1st Traditional Wushu Festival, Zhengzou China 2004.

When I was a teenager, we didn’t have an open tournament every weekend and several Chinese tournaments a year to attend like we do today in the San Francisco area.  Then the only tournaments in our area were limited to Japanese stylists.  Now, even the smallest cities in the United States are close to tournament action.  Most people like to be recognized for their special accomplishments, and we were no different.  However, in those days, we had to be content with a once-a-year event, such as Chinese New Year, where we performed in a big public demonstration.  That single event was the highlight of our training year.  Since we could show the world our kung-fu accomplishments, we worked hard on our best forms for that one day a year.

Until recently there were few tournaments in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for traditional stylists who might want to test their forms or sparring skills.  In the old days, if you learned something well, the only way to test your skills was to go to another school and look for trouble by picking a fight. Naturally, honorable teachers discouraged their students from this practice; consequently, most of their skills were kept within the training hall’s four walls.

Now, the offshoot of traditional Chinese training is that when people go to tournaments, they believe they should compete only if they are among the best.  Unfortunately, that attitude misses the real purpose of tournament competition.  While it is true that you must be good to win, you don’t have to be good at your art to improve your skills.  Preparing for tournament competition makes you practice hard, put more effort into your training and get more constructive feedback from your instructor.  This will make you better at your chosen martial art.  Even if you don’t win right away, you benefit greatly from the preparation that goes into your effort.

If you’re lucky enough to start young in tournament competitions, you will grow up with a lot of friends who started with you. Even if you don’t at first win trophies, you will still have fun with other competitors from your school and other schools.

Sometimes when people go to a few tournaments and don’t win, they get discouraged and give up.  I emphasize to my own students that it’s good to gradually work their way up the ladder, although it may take a while before they start winning.  That way they develop an improvement habit.

A good example are those talented individuals who win big at their first few tournaments and think they’ve reached the top.  Not seeing any more achievement challenges and fearing eventual defeat from another competitor, they retire after a year or so.  Unfortunately, their martial art ability often stops improving about the same time they retire from the limelight.  Working your way to the top often makes you appreciate it enough to keep on improving your skills.

It’s true that winning is fun.  However, you shouldn’t attach too much importance to winning. The real importance of tournament competition is using it as a vehicle to push yourself into working harder at your martial art.

Don’t get discouraged or depressed if you don’t win.  If you keep trying, you will eventually be a winner.  Remember, some of America’s greatest people stumbled many times on the road to success. What made them great was that they learned from their experiences and never gave up.

THE BIOMECHANICS OF THE MEASURED, FLOWING MOVEMENTS OF TAI CHI DEMONSTRATE THAT SLOWER SPEEDS LEAD TO GREATER MUSCLE ACTIVATION IN THE LOWER BODY.

by Yun Shi | August 27, 2009

If you’re familiar with exercise, you know that speed is an important factor to control. For common exercises like running and weight lifting, volumes of research has shown that it’s generally necessary to move faster for a more intense cardio workout and to make measured, controlled movements for building muscles. Other workouts, like mind-body exercises (e.g., yoga and tai chi), are somewhat harder to pin down. They aren’t cardio exercises, nor are they strictly muscle building.

The slow, flowing movements of mind-body exercises have been around for centuries, and they have been shown to help people develop balance, flexibility, and muscle function. Consequently, they’ve been increasing in popularity, both for physical therapy and personal enjoyment. While these exercises are widely practiced around the world, the biomechanical basis for their effects is not well known. To gain further insight, Ge Wu and Xiaolin Ren, biomedical engineers from the University of Vermont, chose to study how the unhurried steps of tai chi benefit its practitioners.

Experienced tai chi instructors like Ben Stanley and Leslie Edwards often remind their students that slower is better. Stanley says that “it’s about breathing and being attuned to the muscles as you’re moving. It’s important not to rush it, or you could miss the full benefits of the exercise.” In fact, Edwards pointed out that “the slower you go, the harder it is, and you definitely feel it in your legs.”

Tai chi can certainly be a test of patience for the inexperienced, as it is normally performed about 10 times slower than an average walk (2 mph), but it has a similar intensity to a moderate aerobic workout. Much of its direct benefits have been reported in the legs. To determine if and how the deliberate, gradual transitions in tai chi were responsible for these benefits, Wu and Ren employed a combination of biomechanical force plates, a camera-based motion analysis system, and EMG (electromyography) electrodes.

The 12 subjects, grouped as young (22-34 years) and old (64-80 years), performed a fundamental tai chi movement, “part wild horse’s mane,” at various speeds. Besides marking the participant’s motion from shoulder to toe, Wu and Ren measured the duration and magnitude of activation for six muscles that are key to ankle, knee, and hip mobility.

They found, as expected, that the duration of muscle activation was longer during slower motions in all six muscles. The effect was most significant for the rectus femoris (one of the quadriceps muscles) and semitendinosus (one of the hamstrings). When the participants sped up, these muscles lost this activation duration, while two muscles, the soleus (part of the calf) and semitendinosus, showed an increased activation. Thus, speeding up created an overall loss in muscle activation.

Age was also a factor in muscle activation. At slower speeds, younger subjects showed more muscle activation than older participants. This could be the result of older practitioners having a more limited range of movement. Stanley has often observed that it’s “difficult for older people to really sink down and fully extend in some of the postures compared to younger students,” but he has “seen posture, balance, and overall well being improve through time.”

Overall, Wu and Ren observed that speed had a greater impact on lower body muscles than other factors, like age or depth of movement. Their work demonstrate that slow, controlled movements can activate muscles more than rapid motion. The approach can also be used to study additional movements in tai chi and other exercises like yoga—a thorough understanding of exercise biomechanics should allow people to make more informed choices about what activities to pursue.

Soft on the Streets

Inside Kung Fu Magazine February 2004

by Adrian Corrales

Tai Chi Push Hands for Self Defense

It seems that everyone has a different idea about what will work in a fight. Ask a thousand martial artists what kind of training is best for self-defense and you are likely to get a thousand different answers. Some say that punching and kicking is the way to go. Others claim that training on the ground is more practical. By dealing with what happens between kickboxing and grappling, tai chi push hands training can help prepare you for whatever comes your way.

No-holds-barred tournaments have shown time and again that it is very difficult to stop an opponent who is determined to take you down. Once things end up on the ground, much of a striker’s power is neutralized. The argument against grappling for self-defense is that it is effective only because no-hold-barred fights occur in a controlled environment. Dropping to the ground is harder to do on the streets when fights aren’t always limited to two people and you don’t know what kind of weapon your opponent might have hidden in his back pocket.

Charging Opponent

Tai chi offers an excellent supplement to any fighter’s routine. A skilled push hands player is an expert at staying on his feet. At the same time, he is capable of controlling an opponent with the expertise of a grappling master.

Sifu Ming Lau, chief instructor of the White Dragon Martial Arts School in Mira Mesa, Calif., is a student of sifu Don Tittle in grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong’s Plum Blossom Federation. A veteran of numerous push hands competitions, Lau maintains that push hands is an effective tool for self-defense.

“Push hands is a great self-defense exercise because it forces you to adapt to oncoming force that is constantly changing,” says Lau. He adds this adaptability is a valuable skill for anyone that wants to learn to fight.

Push hands teaches practitioners to either neutralize or redirect the force. Neutralizing works by applying pressure to an opponent to negate his incoming force. For example, let’s say a force is being applied to your left shoulder. By taking your right hand and placing it on the opponent’s left shoulder, you can easily turn your body and direct his energy back toward him. The force has been neutralized because he cannot push any further without disrupting his own balance. Redirection involves changing the course of an opponent’s attack. Small amounts of pressure are applied to the attacker’s arm or torso so that his force misses your center of balance. Advanced tai chi practitioners can accomplish the same thing merely by turning the body in response to an attacker’s force. This leaves the arms free to counter.

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