We should embrace the idea that exercise is something we can do at any age. There is a workout for each of us. Some people enjoy running, hiking, bodybuilding at a gym, participating in team sports or enjoying sports alone.
The question remains: Is being physically active enough to get totally fit?
When we intend to slow down aging, exercising must to be done wisely, taking into consideration ALL MUSCLES, as often as possible, but at least weekly. It is not only about exercising the muscles through physical movements, but adding a proper nutrition and working on muscle groups or body areas that sustain each other. For example, strengthening one’s knees should follow a combined strategy of kidney detox, kidney strengthening qi gong exercises and using tonic herbs such as Rei Shi, Eucommia and others to energize the kidneys.
As a second example, if we want to strengthen the eyes muscles, we should also work on the liver and gallbladder, organs which are directly connected to the send of vision.
Being a sports lover, I suffered numerous injuries in my life. It was not before I started practicing Tai Chi and Qi Gong until I understood the concept of healing through movement. Before that, I was choosing immobilization of the affected area, waiting for the area to heal. I am not suggesting that this is not an option to consider, but from my recent experience, the self-healing process involving joints and muscle tissues is much faster when we use very slow movements (finding stillness into movement).
This concept exists only within Tai Chi practices, but we do not have to learn Tai Chi to apply it. We just have to follow the principles of slow-movement while moving the affected area. Keep in mind that when we practice in slow-motion, we must avoid pain at all times. If the movements cause more pain, it is probably damaging instead of healing.
There is a thin line between pain and discomfort. It is true that going out of one’s comfort zone may cause muscles to grow. This is ok, as long as we don’t push it too hard to cause injuries or trauma, even though they are not lasting injuries. Ki Train Method is a concept of energy efficiency.
Being in a habit of constantly hurting ourselves through the “No Pain No Gain” formula, will deplete our energy resources to heal from it.
We follow the principle of moderation. Nevertheless, resistance training is something we are in favor as part of our routine training. Building stamina through holding stances for long time or even working with light weights in slow motion may add a slight discomfort for a good cause. Definitely, we aim to live “injury-free”.
As per TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), the spleen system organ (which includes also the pancreas) is responsible for nourishing the muscles.
The spleen is responsible for the distribution of the chemical, fluid, and energetic constituents of food to all appropriate body parts. Therefore, it can be said that the spleen is like the Earth, which nourishes everything.
The spleen is thus classified as being the Earth element. It is called the center, and being at the center is said to have a balancing and harmonizing effect on the body.