If you’ve ever been to Iron Fit in San Antonio, Texas, you know we tailor programs for each individual that help build endurance and strength. However, on those days away from the gym, active recovery is important and to achieve that, Tai Chi, is a good choice. Not only do the gentle movements help build endurance and flexibility, they can attack belly fat and aid in slimming your midsection to boost your efforts for weight loss. Tai Chi is especially good for people over the age of 50 who want to lose weight around their middle.
What is Tai Chi?
Tai Chi comes from the part of qigong, a system that’s part of martial arts training and Chinese medicine. It’s thousands of years old and combines the movements of martial arts with a form of meditation to create slow movements that coordinate the body and mind. While it can be spiritual, it also can be a prologue for martial arts fighting or simply a good form of exercise that isn’t high impact.
A study in Hong Kong compared 380 people.
The 380 people were divided into three groups. One group participated in a 12-week program of Tai Chi. The second group participated in traditional exercise programs and the third group did nothing. As expected, the two groups that exercised lost inches off their waistline in three months and kept the inches off when checked six months later.
The Chinese did a new study of people over the age of 50 who had a waist circumference of 35+ inches.
There were 543 participants in this study. All were overweight but had no disease or limited mobility. The people either participated in Tai Chi, conventional exercise or nothing at all. Both the group that did Tai Chi for 12 weeks and the group that did conventional exercise lost inches around their waist, with those doing conventional exercises losing slightly more. That makes it an excellent, low impact, recovery exercise that can help you reach weight loss goals. It’s an ideal complement to traditional exercise programs.
- When you lift weights or do strength-building exercises, you need to skip several days before you work the same area to allow the muscle tissue to heal and rebuild. Walking, bicycling and even Tai Chi can fill those days.
- There are five types of Tai Chi with Chen being the oldest. Chen involves jumping and kicking movements combined with slow movements. Yang Tai Chi is the type often used today and is slow graceful movements. Wu, Sun and Hao are the other forms.
- Tai Chi can help relieve stress, boost flexibility, increase cognitive abilities and improve strength and stamina. It helps improve fine motor skips and improves balance.
- Tai Chi is especially good for seniors and those with injured joints. It’s low impact and a good companion for people involved in strength-building workouts.
For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio