Tai Chi and Dynamic Tension

Tai Chi looks like it couldn’t hurt a fly. It also looks like its practitioners must be weaklings – it’s slow and soft, right?
In my last article I talked about the benefits of relaxation. This time I’m addressing the opposite approach.
I think ALL of my articles on Tai Chi mention that its full name is actually Tai Chi Chuan – literally, grand ultimate fist – and that it was first and foremost a very effective martial art. I’ll not neglect to mention that just one more time here.
Now I also want to talk about what great exercise Tai Chi is. For the most part, Tai Chi is practiced slowly, and with good reason. This cultivates precision in the practitioner’s movements. It is also usually performed in a very relaxed manner – and the more relaxed, the better. This encourages good circulation and discourages unnecessary tension that undermines efficient movement, and ultimately undermines speed.
Tensing up makes you slow.
But tensing up also makes you strong. You can’t exercise and stay totally relaxed.
Tai Chi is actually pretty good exercise even when you’re relaxed and moving slowly. The stance work, postures and upper body movements offer good, weight-bearing exercise, improving balance, bone density, efficiency of movement and overall strength.
Take this practice and add exaggerated muscle tension, and you have the makings of what might be the perfect exercise.
“Dynamic Tension,” thus dubbed and registered as a trademark by Charles Atlas, involves resisting your own movements with antagonistic muscle tension. Movement is necessarily rather slow, but results in very intense exercise. Imagine doing curls with no weight, but you pretend you are lifting 1,000 pounds. The biceps are in maximum tension, and are resisted by triceps tension. The negative phase works the same way in reverse, and you get benefit in both muscles.
That’s great for your arms, but it’s an isolated exercise. If you practice Tai Chi with dynamic tension, you do your best to keep every muscle in your body tensed throughout the form. If you’re not used to this kind of practice, choose a short form to start out, or practice one section at a time. Tai Chi uses muscles you didn’t know you had when you were just lifting weights and running. So easy does it at first. Use the same parsing principle I talked about in the last article addressing relaxation, speed and combat practice.
After a time, as with anything else you build strength and endurance that makes this kind of workout easier to complete. It's more fun than isometrics, and it can really build the muscles.
Regular practice of Dynamic Tension in Tai Chi, in addition to your normal, relaxed practice can make you the Mr. or Ms. Olympia of the Tai Chi world!
Juli Hartmann
Master Instructor and Owner
Texas Holistic Arts Center / Sacred Source
For more information about martial arts classes, tai chi classes, kickboxing classes, kung fu classes, massage, Reiki and holistic healing in Leander, Texas, visit http://www.texasholistics.com, or feel free to call us at 512-778-5778
Texas Holistic Arts Center offers kung fu, tai chi chuan, kickboxing, yoga, massage, Reiki and special workshops, including weaponry and Reiki instruction. www.texasholistics.com or www.TexasNWC.com
Copyright © Juli Hartmann 2009