What are the benefits of practicing Tai Chi regularly? What should you pay attention to when practicing Tai Chi?

Tai Chi is a martial arts sport that conforms to the principles of boxing and has combative qualities. The boxing principles here refer to the fact that Tai Chi movements conform to the laws of attack and defense, have offensive and defensive meanings, and can produce certain offensive and defensive effects. This is both the basic and essential difference between Tai Chi movements and other sports such as gymnastics, dance, and qigong. So, what are the benefits of practicing Tai Chi regularly? What should you pay attention to when practicing Tai Chi? Let's take a look at the introduction of Encyclopedia Knowledge Network to answer these questions!

Contents of this article

1. What are the benefits of practicing Tai Chi regularly?

2. What should you pay attention to when practicing Tai Chi?

3. Tai Chi is not suitable for exercise time

What are the benefits of practicing Tai Chi regularly?

When practicing Tai Chi, you must keep your cervical, thoracic, and lumbar vertebrae straight, so that your chest and upper abdomen are slightly inward, and as the movements change, your upper abdominal muscles are in a state of subtle contraction and relaxation. Long-term exercise can reduce the accumulation of fat in the upper abdomen and strengthen the abdominal muscles. For example, when you raise your hands during the "starting posture", bend your arms during the "closing posture" when you step parallel, when you move from palm to palm when you "hug your knees and twist your steps", and when you stretch your body during the "oblique flying posture", you can feel the changes in the movement of your abdominal muscles.

The "separate legs", "kicking legs" and "swinging lotus" movements in slow boxing all require changes in opening and closing the hips. Regular exercise can help eliminate lower abdominal fat and enhance muscle strength in the lower abdomen and around the groin.

When practicing Tai Chi, each movement is required to be led by the movement of the waist to control the movements of other limbs, and the movement of the waist drives the movement of the lower abdominal muscles, which is conducive to eliminating abdominal fat. The "single whip" movement not only exercises the muscles of the waist, buttocks and inner thighs, but also stimulates the Zusanli acupoint, which can not only achieve the effect of weight loss but also enhance the body's immune function.

Liver care is the most important thing in spring. Spring is the most important season of the year. The liver is in season among the five internal organs in spring. Therefore, when maintaining health in all four seasons, we should pay special attention to liver care in the growth season of spring.

According to the theory of "correspondence between heaven and man" in traditional Chinese medicine, spring is the season for the liver, one of the five internal organs of the human body. Therefore, in spring health care, we must firmly grasp the liver care as the main line. Tai Chi has a good effect on liver care. Because Tai Chi is slow and gentle, it can improve the respiratory system, promote blood circulation in the body, and speed up metabolism.

Spring is a season of vitality and vigorous life. All things are thriving, "give and do not kill, give and do not take, reward and do not punish, this is the response to spring and the way to keep healthy."

The boxing movements conform to nature, responding to the vitality of spring, and the boxing posture is stretched and majestic. The body movements drive the qi and blood to flow smoothly and smoothly, without rotting. Through exercise, the body can detoxify and nourish the skin, and new life can be generated, making the body and mind look brand new inside and out.

What should you pay attention to when practicing Tai Chi?

The basic requirements for Tai Chi's postures are to keep your head light and energetic, chest in and back straight, waist loose and hips tight, shoulders down and elbows falling, fingers relaxed and wrists sitting, and tailbone straight. If the postures are not correct, it will inevitably affect the coordinated use of strength, causing the muscles that should not be exerted to continue to be tense, resulting in local muscle strain and excessive load on joints. For example, if the depth of the knee-bending squat is too great, it will cause knee strain.

Standard Tai Chi techniques require that the Qi sink into the Dantian, the crotch be round and the hips be flexible, the inside be inflated and the outside be stable, the movements be like drawing silk, and the steps be like walking a cat. The various basic technical movements must have an accurate starting point, a clear running route, a proper stopping point, a coherent movement, and coordination between the upper and lower parts, so that the body can move freely.

Most middle-aged and elderly people practice Tai Chi for 40 to 60 minutes, and 25% of them practice for more than 60 minutes, with too little rest time. Such amount of exercise is not suitable for the body of middle-aged and elderly people. You can consider compressing the practice time or extending the interval time. It is appropriate to practice for 40 to 60 minutes each time and rest for about 20 minutes. If you are physically weak, you should shorten the practice time and extend the rest time according to your own situation, so as not to feel tired. Know when to stop and do what you can.

Tai Chi is not suitable for exercise time

Exercising an hour and a half before bedtime will not make you sleep better, but will keep you awake, because Tai Chi exercises can make nerve cells highly excited, and this excitement cannot be calmed down in a short period of time, thus affecting the quality of sleep.

Doing Tai Chi within half an hour after a meal will cause blood to flow to muscles and bones, affecting gastrointestinal digestion, and the food in the stomach and intestines will vibrate around with the movement, causing mechanical stimulation to the stomach and intestines. It may even cause stomach cramps, vomiting, appendicitis, etc., which is not good for the body.