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Food Math

We've all heard people say things like, "had a large fry so I'll need an extra 15 minutes on the treadmill." Maybe you even said something like that. The reality is that Food Math says it will never work. Weight control and eating well are hard and require attention.

The human body is an amazing machine. It has a big gas tank. It is able to store lots of calories very efficiently - mostly as fat. This is combined with a high performance, high mileage engine. The body can get a lot of performance out of very few calories. This served humans very well in past history when most people had to struggle very hard, dawn to dark, just to get enough food to stay alive, and a lot of that was pretty bad food. In the modern developed world, this efficiency and big gas tank can work against us.

Food Math works like this:
Eat a high calorie meal such as:

• McDonald's 1/4 lb Cheese, Medium Fry, Medium Coke = 1100 calories
• Burger King Whopper Meal = 1160 calories
• Ruby Tuesday Grilled Chicken Salad (no beverage and no sides) = 866 Calories

Any of these can be obtained and consumed in under 15 minutes.

How long will it take to burn 1100 calories?

Here is a list of possible activities for a 180 pound man (Calories burned is influenced by body weight, intensity of exercise, conditioning level and metabolism. A lighter or less fit person must work even longer.)

180 pound man:

• 1 hour Running, 8 mph (7.5 min/mile)
• 1.1 hours Stationary cycling (spinning) very vigorous
• 1.1 hours Cycling, 16-19 mph, very fast, racing
• 1.1 hours Rowing machine, very vigorous
• 1.4 hours Swimming laps, Freestyle, fast
• 2.1 hours Walking 4.5 mph (very brisk)
• 2.2 hours Boxing, Punching Bag
• 2.2 hours Playing Basketball, non-game
• 2.3 hours Weight Lifting, Vigorous, Body Building
• 3.0 hours Golf, Walking & carrying clubs
• 3.9 hours Golf using a powered cart

As you can see, it takes substantially more effort to burn 1100 calories than it takes to eat it. You have to already be very fit to do it and you have to devote significant time to the effort.

The result is that poor eating choices always trump exercise.

 So when you start to eat that 1100 calorie meal choice, ask yourself if you can run 8 miles in under an hour.

The Secret of Tai Chi

"The secret of Tai Chi is simply this, yield yourself and follow the external forces."
-- Master Wong Chung-Yua (ca. 1600 CE)

 

A friend asked the other day if we should yield to all external forces. To which I answered "Well, yes."

 

This is a fundamental principle of Tai Chi.

 

Even though it says yield and follow, it does not imply surrender or defeat. The objective of Tai Chi, as any fighting art, is to win. However, the methods emphasized in Tai Chi to achieve that goal are different that those advocated in other arts. Let us say they are more in line with helping and leading the attacker to go on his own way to destruction rather than setting out to actively drag or drive him there.

 

Tai Chi adopts neither aggression nor passivity but active cooperation.

 

Furthermore, Tai Chi training is mostly about learning to "walk and chew gum at the same time." The solo form, push hands, are about learning good efficient body mechanics. You must learn to yield within yourself and get out of your own way before you can throw a powerful punch, maintain your balance while moving, properly lock a joint or throw an opponent. Your mind must be clear and unimpeded by doubt, fear, worry, or anxiety. Parenthetically, I feel most of the great health benefits of Tai Chi come directly from this mindful practice of properly living in your own body.

Another example of a similar fighting art is Japanese Ju Jutsu. Ju can be translated tenderness, weakness, flexibility, or yielding. Jutsu is technique, skill, magic and in the martial arts context refers to a warfare or fighting skill.

 

Thus Ju Jutsu is the art of winning in battle through yielding and flexibility.

 

This is directly related to the concepts expressed in the name Tai Chi Chuan.

 

• Tai = "The" Great, Ultimate, Zenith
• Chi = Great, Very, Ultimate, The first principle [of the Taoist conception of how the Universe works])
• Chuan = literally the fist, boxing/fighting system

Thus Tai Chi Chuan is "The" Grand Ultimate Fist," or "the fighting system based on how the universe really functions."

In tai chi we seek to understand how the forces (both internal and external) work and to act in accord with them not in opposition.

 

Two other modern interpretations from other martial arts may help illuminate this idea.

 

In Aikido (a simplified derivative of Ju Jutsu) the saying is "If he enters (pushes) I turn. If he pulls I enter."

 

In Judo (a sport derivative of Ju Jutsu) the saying is "If he pushes, I pull. If he pulls, I push."

 

You cannot succeed in Tai Chi without completely abandoning yourself to this concept. Any half measure will spell defeat because you will neither be fish nor fowl and your mind will be bound by hesitation and your body unable to move effectively.

 

Either commit yourself to hard aggressive external methods (use your head to batter down the walls), or commit yourself to yield and like water flow into the weak spots, erode them and sweep the wall away in a devastating flood of power.

 

The first choice implies that you must be stronger, faster, and more powerful than your opponent, while the second only requires you to be more observant, flexible, and skillful.

 

In life, your strength, speed, and power WILL eventually fail you. Someone else WILL be faster and stronger than you. (See the UFC for regular illustrations of this).

 

Technique, properly developed, only gets better with passing time and training.

All elephants are gray, but not all gray things are elephants.

A mentor of mine once commented rather forcefully that "Tai Ji is NOT Qi Gong." Having thought about this for a while, it is fair to say that the differences are related to goals.

We've been training the "Eight Pieces of Brocade" over the last month or so. This is a very popular (for a thousand years or more) form of Qi Gong, which goes very well with Tai Ji. For the most part it is performed in a similar manner as the Tai Ji form, in the sense that we want to move in a smooth, rhythmic, and fluid manner for almost all the postures. The exception being posture 7, Punch and Glare, which is performed with a good bit of muscular intensity.

The other major difference is that Tai Ji is a martial practice, with martial intent in each movement, while Eight Pieces of Brocade is not a martial practice at all. The Eight Pieces is only concerned with health development and the development of the Qi system. The Tai Ji seeks to develop good health and powerful Qi flow in the Grand Circulation to support the martial aims of Tai Ji. Incidentally this improves health and well being. The Eight Pieces seeks nothing beyond the improved health and improved Qi flow in the grand circulation.

This distinguishes Tai Ji from Qi Gong practices, in that Tai Ji has a practical and utilitarian aim for the "use" of the Qi, while Qi Gong practices do not. Another way to view this, is that I can lift weights and do various calisthenics solely to feel and look better, or I can do these same practices because I want to play football better. In one case, I am able to increase the amount of weight lifted or the number of pull ups I do, just to have measured improvement in those specific activities. In the second case, the increase in weight lifted and pull ups performed is incidental to the true goal to improve the ability to block, tackle, catch and throw. In either case I will improve my health and appearance but in only one case is that the intended goal.

All elephants are gray, but not all gray things are elephants.

Schedule and Venue Change

A new year and a new schedule for Tai Chi at Gold's Gym. Commencing Saturday, 07 January 2012, the following new schedule and location will take effect.

Tai Chi will meet in the GGX Studio at 1130 AM vice the Mind and Body Studio. This will provide a larger venue and incidentally some improvements for training since the floor is hardwood rather than carpet. The time change results from the annual gym member survey, in which a number of members expressed that the present class was "too early." It also relieves some schedule conflicts in the Mind and Body studio and places Tai Chi after the Body Flow program in GGX.

Please see the complete schedule at the Gold's Gym Fredericksburg web site or take a sneek peek at a printed copy at the front desk.

End of Year and A New Beginning

Merry Christmas! We approach the end of the year and a new opportunity for a fresh beginning. Best wishes everyone. Good intentions matter less than plodding daily action. Take up a fitness activity you can enjoy this year and do it daily. Take care of your well being and do not allow anything else to distract you from your goals. Investing in and maintaining a fit body and mind will pay big dividends in your daily work and family life both now and in the years to come. Hopefully many of you will find that Tai Chi fits the bill as it will help both mind and body.

I'll share a comment that nutrition and fitness coach, Covert Bailey, used to share. He said "People are always asking me, "What's the best fitness activity? Is it running or swimming or what? and I always tell them the same thing. It's the one you do."

The Purpose of Training and Discipline

There is a quote from "The Life Giving Sword" by Yagyu Munenori, a famous Japanese swordsman. He wrote (tranlation by William Scott Wilson):

When you begin to study, there is something in your mind; you are obstructed by that thing, and it becomes difficult to do anything at all. If you can clear from your mind those things you have learned, they too will become nothing; and when you perform the techniques of the various Ways, the techniques will come easily regardless of what you have learned and without being contrary to it. When you perform an action you will be in harmony with what you have learned, without even being aware of it. ...

When you have run the length of various practices and none of those practices remain in your mind, that very lack of mind itself is the heart of 'all things.' When you have exhaustively learned the various practices and techniques and made great effort in disciplined training, there will be action in your arms, legs, and body but none in your mind; you will have distanced yourself from training, but will not be in opposition to it, and you will have freedom in whatever techniques you perform. You yourself will be unaware of where your mind is, and neither demons nor heresies will be able to find it. Training is done for the purpose of reaching this state. With successful training, training falls away.

This is probably one of my favorite quotations with respect to training and developing skill at anything you do. It was written with respect to swordsmanship and is especially relevant to Tai Chi and other martial arts. Even when we practice Tai Chi solely for the wonderful health benefits it can bring, this truth applies. We begin in a fog of confusion but disciplined training will dissipate that fog and eventually lead to a light of clarity beneath which even the shadow of discipline and training disappear. I am still seeking that light.

The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

William Butler Yeats - 1919

Simplicity

Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.

Henry David Thoreau

Center of the Sun

For a few weeks now we've been working the Tai Chi for Arthritis form. So far we have been reviewing section one and two. This particular form is based on the Sun style. It was developed by Dr Paul Lam and is the core of the Tai Chi for Arthritis program. It has been the subject of clinical trails and is widely accepted by Arthritis Foundations in many countries (U.S.A, Australia, UK, et.al.). The form is divided into three distinct sections joined by the characteristic Sun style Kai-He (open close hands). Each section can be taught and practiced as a complete routine in it's own right and each section is performed to both the right and left sides. Thus the form is symmetric and balanced unlike many traditional forms.

One of the hallmarks of the Sun style (as stated by Sun Lu Tang in his book on Tai Chi), is an uncompromising commitment to distinguishing the empty and full (Yin and Yang) in the stances. In the form, we really shift the weight fully onto one leg or the other. One the other hand, except when actually stepping, its important to keep both feet in contact with the ground. Just make sure that one foot is bearing all the weight and you are fully centered on the standing leg. Ideally, even though the empty foot is on the ground, you should be able to move the empty foot without disturbing your balance in the least. One result of this characteristic, is an enhanced awareness of center and balance. Another is the simple fact that your steps generally can't be too large or too small or you won't be able to make that full commitment to separating Yin and Yang and you will find yourself "double weighted," but that will be the subject of another post.

New Class Schedule

Our Class now meets Saturday morning and 0915 in the Mind and Body Room at Gold's Gym, 2380 Plank Rd, Frederickburg, VA.

Conflicting Goals

This year has been a study in conflicting goals. A critical element in achieving success in fitness or any other part of life is selecting appropriate, measurable, achievable goals. Second, it is necessary to formulate and execute a plan to achieve the selected goals. Without goals, a plan, and the deliberate execution of that plan, the possibility of success will be uncertain at best. Measurement is a necessary component, otherwise you cannot determine whether a goal has been achieved or whether the plan is working.

Clearly, it is possible to select goals that are in conflict since they lead to contradictory results. It is also possible to design a plan that doesn't support achieving the selected goal and it is possible to become misdirected while working toward a goal. Testing and measurement help to stay on the right path.

At the beginning of the year I planned to re-certify in the Tai Chi for Arthritis program and that was achieved. My Tai Chi has been solid this year and the quality of work has been good but more emphasis will be needed in the coming  year to advance practice to a greater sense of softness and root. More sessions per week will be necessary.

As for rowing here's where the conflicts arose. The goal was to improve 2K time by about 20 seconds over the year. This large improvement was only possible because my beginning 2010 time, while much improved over 2009, was still pretty slow when judged against elite, age group rowers. Concurrent, and generally compatible was to achieve 1.6 million meters during the rowing year (1 April - 30 May). This goal is well in hand and next year the aim will be to increase the annual total again.

What has missed is the improvement in 2K time. I believe this goes back to becoming side tracked by a secondary goal, which may be helpful in the long run, but conflicted with the core goal. I had concluded that adding some muscle mass was going to be needed to improve rowing performance in the long term. Adding mass basically comes down to eating more and lifting heavy. I used several waves of Dave Wendler's 5-3-1. Alternated about every 8 weeks with about eight weeks of EDT work. The results have been very satisfactory from a size and strength perspective. I gained 15 pounds while maintaining a constant body fat percentage and improved squat, dead lift, bench press, and overhead press numbers significantly (for me). Great - at 60, I am bigger and stronger than at any previous point in my life. However, on a 2K erg test, I am now a lot slower.

Fundamentally, getting bigger and stronger in itself, contributes little to success in power endurance sports. Thus I have to modify my program to emphasize aerobic endurance and power instead of size and raw strength. I also have to test the 2K erg more often to verify the weight lifting plan is contributing to improved speed which is the essential goal.

Back to the drawing boards in the new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Health News For You

Health News of the Day

Diabetes Blood Sugar Control and Weight Loss
No surprise, but a study published in the JAMA, has shown that diabetes blood sugar control and weight loss are more successful when using a combination of strength training and aerobic exercise, rather than one or the other alone. Read about if here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101123/ap_on_he_me/us_med_diabetes_fitness

Practicing Moving to Music May Help Reduce Falls in the Elderly



http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20101124/hl_hsn/practicingmovingtomusicmayhelpelderlyavoidfalls

Relaxation and Weight Training, a historical observation

I was doing a bit of reading the other day and came across a weight lifting training manual published in India in the 1930's (http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Sengupta/sen-intro.htm). Interestingly, it turns out weight training has a long history in India, with formal training programs using various apparatus documented as far back as 1100 CE. Along with the weight lifting, they practiced what came to be called muscle controlling. In modern bodybuilding, this would be the skill of flexing the muscles to enhance their appearance and display during posing competition.

In ancient India, one would practice weight training for some period and after the muscles showed development, then muscle controlling would be added to the training. What I found most fascinating in this publication was that the first lesson in muscle controlling was to learn to relax all the muscles in the body thoroughly. Only after one learned relaxation, could one proceed to learn flexing. It was believed that proper relaxation helped muscle development and health, and made it possible to finely control which muscles were flexed and to what degree.

Perhaps Tai Chi ought to be in the toolbox of every weight lifting athlete today.

Use the Mind (yi) instead of Force (li).
If you use Mind, and not Force, then the Mind goes to a place in the body and the Internal Energy follows it. The Internal Energy and the blood circulate. If you do this every day and never stop, after a long time you will have nei jing [Real Internal Strength]. The T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classics say, "when you are extremely soft, you become extremely hard and strong." Someone who has extremely good T'ai Chi Ch'uan kung fu has arms like iron wrapped with cotton and the weight is very heavy. As for the external schools, when they use Force, they reveal Force. When they don't use Force, they are too light and floating. Their Power is external and locked together. The Force of the external schools is easily led and moved, and not to be esteemed.

- Yang's Ten Principles of Tai Chi (http://sites.google.com/site/taichiplay/tai-chi-literature/yangs-ten-principles)

Erg Sprints 2010 Results

I neglected to mention that I achieved a couple fitness goals at the Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints, 30 January 2010. I achieved a personal best in the Veteran Men (55-59 yo) 2000m sprint at 7:52.0. I finished last in the field, but it was expected. This was my first foray into indoor rowing competition after taking up the erg 1 year ago. It was a big improvement in time over the course of the year. Who knows? With another year of steady training, I might even get to a respectable time. Course next year, I'll move up to the 60-65 age group and there is at least one competitor there who rows sub-7 (minute) times, so I've a lot of work ahead.

All in all a great experience. We had about 4 inches of snow that day, but in spite of the weather, there were hundreds of competitors and stands full of spectators cheering on their favorite son's and daughters.

Keep on Keeping on

At the age of 62, Chuck Yeager (Retired USAF General and the man who broke the sound barrier, among other accomplishments) said:

“You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can’t, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don’t give up…I know too many people who have erected barriers, real brick walls, just because they have gray hair, and prematurely cut off themselves from lifelong enjoyments by thinking, ‘I’m too old to do this or that-that’s for younger people.’ Living to a ripe old age is not an end in itself; the trick is to enjoy the years remaining. And unlike flying, learning how to take pleasure from living can’t be taught. Unfortunately, many people do not consider fun an important item on their daily agenda. For me, that was always high priority in whatever I was doing…

I’m definitely not a rocking-chair type. I can’t sit around, watch television, get fat, and fade out. And there’s so much more I want to do; I’ve never lost my curiosity about things that interest me…I haven’t yet done everything, but by the time I’m finished, I won’t have missed much. If I auger in tomorrow, it won’t be with a frown on my face. I’ve had a ball.”  - Chuck Yeager

Chuck Yeager is still kicking around at 86.

Another former Air Force flight surgeon, founder of the Cooper Institute and the man who coined the word "Aerobics", said:

"We do not stop exercising because we grow old. We grow old because we stop exercising."

 Keep practicing Tai Chi daily and continue to enjoy life.

Mid Atlantic Erg Sprints

Not a Tai Chi, but fitness oriented post.

The Mid Atlantic Erg Sprints (http://www.ergsprints.com/) will be held Saturday, 30 Jan 2010. First events kick off at 0800 and run till about 1600. I've signed up for the Veterans (55-59) 2000 meter. I expect to come in last, since I've only been rowing seriously about 10 months so I haven't developed sufficient technique or fitness to start producing really competitive times yet. However, the experience will be worthwhile and next year maybe I can move up...

The Mid Atlantics are one of the satellite regattas for the CRASH-B.sprints World Indoor Rowing Championships (http://www.crash-b.org/) to be held in Boston,MA on 14 Feb 2010.

So if you are in the DC area during that time, come on out and see the events or perhaps sign up to compete.

Goal Setting and Patience

On 27 October 2009, I achieved a personal goal to row 1,000,000 meters on the Concept2 indoor rowing machine in 2009. I set this goal back in January, after reading an article by my friend Jeff Decker (http://www.ultimatefitnessforu.com/) who advocates setting a large goal and then breaking it down into smaller quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily efforts to make the bigger goal more manageable. It works. You can get there one step at a time.

With respect to such activities as rowing or other strength endurance sports, a level of patience and persistence has to be demonstrated. The research on improving performance in endurance sports suggests that up to 4 years of consistent and increasingly intense training is the minimum time required to become reasonably fit and proficient enough to be truly competitive. The breaks out as (Stephen Seiler Phd, The Time Course of Training Adaptations, http://home.hia.no/~stephens/timecors.htm):

• about 1 year to maximize your VO2max potential
• an additional 3-4 years to maximize your lactate tolerance
• concurrently about 4 years to develop technical efficiency through sports specific training and repetition (note that efficiency through improved technique does not seem to plateau as VO2max and Lactate tolerance do)
  

To paraphrase the great British rowing coach Terry O'neill, "Rowing is really a very simple activity, it's just very, very, very hard work." Now apply this to the much more technically demanding and variable art of Tai Chi boxing (or ju jutsu or other arts).

In the case of arts like Tai Chi, it is the one of the basic tenets that you must practice daily and only after a long time, usually several years of steady training, will you achieve a real difference in your life and abilities. As one master said, "We are the school of 10,000 repetitions." My ju jutsu sensei reminds us that at least 1000 correct repetitions are necessary to say one has "learned" a particular technique or skill. In traditional Tai Chi training the timetable would look something like this:

• about 1-1.5 years to learn the Yang Long Form
• an additional 1-1.5 years solo form practice and push hands work to be considered minimally proficient in the solo form
  
• additional decade of training to become relatively proficient in the practical application of Tai Chi
• Continued regular, correct practice will continue to improve technical skill throughout one's lifetime
  

In this context, that oft quoted saying about a long journey beginning with a single step becomes much more meaningful. In Tai Chi we want to take the long view. Be patient with ourselves but "practice daily without stopping." Recognize that the abilities and progress we seek is going to be a lifelong process. Don't consider how long the road, simply take and enjoy each individual step.

Endless correct repetition is the key to success.

Why Tai Chi?

"If asked the purpose of Tai Chi, it is to achieve long life and never aging youthfulness.

If asked the method of Tai Chi training, the mind and energy come first, the muscle and bones come second"

-- Poem of the Thirteen Postures

It has always struck me that the essence of Tai Chi is contained in these two short verses.

Why else do we exercise and play, than to remain youthful and vigorous in mind and body and more fully enjoy life? There are many approaches to exercise and physical culture. The approach taken by Tai Chi (and this is what differentiates so called "internal" and "external" systems of martial arts training) is to train ourselves to be fully present in mind and spirit in each and every movement and action. As we achieve this awareness, we will also come to live better in our bodies and begin to develop strength, flexibility, balance and co-ordination. This forms a positive feedback that builds on past training to improve our Tai Chi experience.

Once, when the noted Tai Chi master T.T. Liang was asked, "What is Tai Chi?" He replied, "Tai Chi is a Chinese system of calisthenics for good health and self defense."

Whether we want it or not, we are in a fight for our good health and well being everyday of our lives, and Tai Chi will help you achieve success in that daily battle.
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Hopefully, we will see more of you at class this month. ;-)

Mother Earth and the end of life?

I have a long fascination with historical events. This includes archeology and paleontology. It seems we humans often overestimate our importance and permanence on the Earthly scence. As a consequence, we don't take climate change seriously, and when we respond, it may be in inappropriate ways. I ran across a few articles of interest lately and this book which you might enjoy.

Under a Green Sky, by Peter Ward.

Peace and joy in Tai Chi!