With its slow, flowing movements, tai chi might not seem like much of a workout, but tai chi makes some unusual demands on the knees and ankles, spine, shoulders and other joints. Getting to the point where your tai chi forms seem to flow effortlessly requires patiently strengthening the muscles and tendons around the joints. Warming up at the beginning of practice speeds that process and helps protect you from injury.
Get the Chi Flowing
For tai chi, you don't have to break a sweat, but you do need to generate some internal heat and get the chi flowing. A qigong exercise called "kidney tapping" is perfect for this. Let your arms hang loosely by your sides like empty coat sleeves as you rotate the hips and waist to twist from side to side. Bringing your toes up to pivot on your heels will allow the twist to go deeper. Your arms should swing around your body to tap against your lower back with each twist. Kidney tapping will also increase flexibility in your spine, which you need for forms and push-hands practice.
Wrists and Elbows
Warm up your joints and nearby muscles beginning with your wrists. With your elbows bent and your forearms in front of your body, move your hands in small circles to rotate the wrists. Go in both directions. The hands can be open or held in a fist; try both and see which feels best on your wrists and forearms. Then, make small circles in each direction with your forearms to loosen up the elbows.
Chest and Shoulders
While doing tai chi forms, the postures typically flow immediately from one to another, rarely held for more than an instant. So, stretches to warm up for tai chi should also be dynamic, meaning you stretch a muscle to the point of flexibility and return to the relaxed position. To open up your shoulders and chest, hold your hands straight out from your shoulders with your palms touching in front of your chest. Swing them back to the sides to stretch the muscles to the point of flexibility--but not beyond. Return immediately to the front and repeat several times, stretching straight out to the sides and on diagonals.
A few minutes of qigong "arm swinging" will further loosen up the arms and shoulders. Hold your arms comfortably at your sides and start swinging them like pendulums, with each swing going higher to the front and back until they go a little higher than shoulder height in front. Don't stop abruptly; rather, let the "pendulum" slow gradually to a stop.
Legs
In tai chi forms, kicks are typically done slowly with great control. To increase balance, fluidity and flexibility in the hamstrings and hip flexors, stand on one foot and raise the other foot to the front and back in a slow, controlled swing. Do 10 or so repetitions per leg, then change. If you're short on flexibility, you may need to do three or four sets per workout.
References
- "Stretching Scientifically: A Guide to Flexibility Training"; Thomas Kurz; 2003
- Sifu David Carr; Director, Golden Phoenix Foundation; New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
- "The Way of Qigong"; Kenneth S. Cohen; 1997
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