Does daily Chi Kung practice reduce the need for physical exercise?

[Encephalon]

This is my working hypothesis. I think it's true. Could I please have some corroborating stories? I'm trying to convince my girlfriend that she won't have to spend the rest of her life at the gym if she practices energy work. My MCO is up there with quitting drinking and going to college, but if she hears me mention the subject one more time, she'll have me shipped to China in a rubber dinghy.

[sheng zhen]

No. Not at all.

 

Physical exercise just gets more important. If you have a lot of energetic development but without the mirrored development of the body, it will become unbalanced. I used to be like that. Thin, weak, and spiritual. But now, the urge for physical exercise just gets stronger with increased energetic development. I'm a lot more healthy now.

 

I don't think necessarily the gym is the only alternative, but some kind of bodywork is necessary. If it is chopping wood, biking, hiking, dancing, martial arts, or whatever activates the body.

[Old Man Contradiction]

No. Not at all.

 

Physical exercise just gets more important. If you have a lot of energetic development but without the mirrored development of the body, it will become unbalanced. I used to be like that. Thin, weak, and spiritual. But now, the urge for physical exercise just gets stronger with increased energetic development. I'm a lot more healthy now.

 

I don't think necessarily the gym is the only alternative, but some kind of bodywork is necessary. If it is chopping wood, biking, hiking, dancing, martial arts, or whatever activates the body.

 

I couldn't agree more.

[Aetherous]

Yeah, you gotta work out. But just walking or doing chores counts as a workout.

[Ya Mu]

This is my working hypothesis. I think it's true. Could I please have some corroborating stories? I'm trying to convince my girlfriend that she won't have to spend the rest of her life at the gym if she practices energy work. My MCO is up there with quitting drinking and going to college, but if she hears me mention the subject one more time, she'll have me shipped to China in a rubber dinghy.

 

There is an old saying; if you do externall exercise you need to do internal exercise. If you do internal exercise you can sometimes forget to do external exercise.

This doesn't mean it takes the place of. I highly advocate rebounding exercise in conjunction with qigong. I also highly advocate qigong movements combined with sitting. I also think weight bearing exercise is good. But yes I do think the physical exercise is enhanced with the qigong.

[mantis]

You don't have to live in the gym to get results.

[lino]

No, it doesn't. I lost a lot of weight doing a lot of deep breathing but I still lost a lot of conditioning.

 

When I used to exercise, I gauged my progress by how bad I felt (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). The worse I felt (short of broken bones, sprains, or strains), the better the results.

Edited October 8, 2009 by lino

[Encephalon]

This is baffling to me. Everyone's posts made perfect sense, but I have just one recent experience that causes me to reflect on it further.

 

I worked out like a madman for almost three years, the luxury of working at a gym. Then I took three months off to finish a college project, and just wasn't into working out that much. All I did was energy work and nei kung. Then I started back into working out with my private clients - some ambitious kettlebell routines. But I haven't gotten sore. No post-workout soreness at all, and I can't explain it. Furthermore, except for a slight decline in cardio, my stamina didn't go down. So, erroneously or not, I inferred that my energy work was keeping the physical fire lit. Honest conclusion?

 

I have to agree, the exercise switch is definitely on now; I feel extremely motivated for the hard stuff again. The notion that people get addicted to exercise has been taken to a completely different level now.

 

There is an old saying; if you do externall exercise you need to do internal exercise. If you do internal exercise you can sometimes forget to do external exercise.

This doesn't mean it takes the place of. I highly advocate rebounding exercise in conjunction with qigong. I also highly advocate qigong movements combined with sitting. I also think weight bearing exercise is good. But yes I do think the physical exercise is enhanced with the qigong.

 

what are the advantages of rebounding?

[Ya Mu]

This is baffling to me. Everyone's posts made perfect sense, but I have just one recent experience that causes me to reflect on it further.

 

I worked out like a madman for almost three years, the luxury of working at a gym. Then I took three months off to finish a college project, and just wasn't into working out that much. All I did was energy work and nei kung. Then I started back into working out with my private clients - some ambitious kettlebell routines. But I haven't gotten sore. No post-workout soreness at all, and I can't explain it. Furthermore, except for a slight decline in cardio, my stamina didn't go down. So, erroneously or not, I inferred that my energy work was keeping the physical fire lit. Honest conclusion?

 

I have to agree, the exercise switch is definitely on now; I feel extremely motivated for the hard stuff again. The notion that people get addicted to exercise has been taken to a completely different level now.

what are the advantages of rebounding?

 

I think what happens is that internal exercise makes the external exercise more efficient.

 

Rebounding - Jumping on a rebounder, is the single most efficient physical exercise that exists. It stimulates the immune system and exercises every single cell in the body. Approx 60% more efficient than running per Nasa study.

[Spirit Ape]

Why not do some hard chi kung and muscle tendon changing, iron body that will rip you up!

[Encephalon]

I just got off the phone with a MMQ, master medical qigong/tai chi guy, who practices out here in LA. When I told him that I don't get sore after ambitious workouts he said he had the same experience. This is what happens when the chi and the jing fuse, he says.

 

Sounds good to me. Time to go the lumber yard and buy some boards. Hi-yaahh.

 

Can anyone recommend an iron shirt dvd?

Edited October 8, 2009 by Blasto

[King Kabalabhati]

I've noticed a huge increase in my interest (and available energy) towards physical conditioning after I started with Dao Yin and quit with my wife

 

Oh yeah, my muscles don't seem to get sore very easy nowadays.

Edited October 8, 2009 by King Kabalabhati

[Old Man Contradiction]

My favorite exercises are ones that you can get better and more coordinated at, and are endurance exercises that you can almost literally do an infinite amount of time if you could tolerate the burning pain.

[Spirit Ape]

I'll be putting out a Iron Body DVD soon, I think wing lam and mantak chia also, there must be others im sure!

[Gerard]

The daily practice of Bagua leaves more more winded than running up a mountain.

 

No need for me to do any Western BS physical exercises.

[z00se]

In my experience too much gym is not good for your energy work. When your MCO is open it's like the river is flowing, when u exercise it builds up the banks of the river and makes a strong riverbed, strenthening the flow of your chi. If you build up too much muscle the banks of the river become too big and the energy flow is more easily blocked. It's a balance between waterflow current and tightening the river to increase the energy.

 

Also gym only strengthens you in certain directions... the ways in which you lift the weights. If you do some different angle you aren't as strong. if you do some natural actions your body will become more strong in natural movements. I've never done cattle bells but i think these would be great because ur swinging them around, not just an up down movement.

 

But to your original question, u need external exercises along with ur internal work, they go hand in hand and u'll benefit 10 fold than if you only practice internal or external alone.

[Mal]

I worked out like a madman for almost three years, the luxury of working at a gym

 

Over training? I played squash 5 nights a week for a few years at Uni. Months after I stopped one night I realized that my ankles were no longer in constant pain. I was so use to the pain that it had become an ignored background feeling that was just always there.

 

Chi kungs definitely help reduce fatigue and improve recovery from exercise IMHO

 

but if she hears me mention the subject one more time, she'll have me shipped to China in a rubber dinghy.

 

Pretty sure mine has already booked my passage and the straight jacket.

[Encephalon]

Thanks again for all the feedback. My sloppy writing - i.e., lack of specificity - has introduced some confusion.

By "gym time," I was speaking metaphorically, trying to express time spent exercising, not specifically at the gym and I certainly didn't mean to imply time spent with traditional "fitness center" exercise machines or isolation weight-training routines. Almost every routine I compose for myself or my clients is based on compound lifts and kettlebell routines, with lots of flexibility exercises thrown in. Kettlebells are wonderful for that.

 

I subscribe to the theory that strength is the godfather of all other fitness criteria. Regardless of your own particular goals - wt loss, cardio, strength, size, stamina - the sooner you get strong, the sooner the rest of it falls into place. This goes for mind/muscle connection too, which, in my opinion and personal experience, can support internal energy awareness.

 

I really dig the comments about the balance between inner and outer exercise. I hope we can pay attention and contribute to this specific topic of post-MCO exercise, cuz I'm a trainer and I need lab rats! I think this could really accelerate my PT business.

[Mal]

cuz I'm a trainer and I need lab rats! I think this could really accelerate my PT business.

 

Put your rats to the maze!

 

i.e give some a chi kung routine, get others to spend the same length of time on a stretching routine and see if you can notice any differences in training effects.

[Kameel]

Blasto,

I agree with Mal- overtraining. Same thing happened to me in college (without the energy component). Had to go from 7 day hard w/o's to 3 a week (gym closed certain days in summer). I was so afraid to lose muscle (I was very attached to my muscle in those days), but I actually got bigger, stronger, less DOMS,etc).

Edited October 8, 2009 by Kameel