Question about tai chi?

Question

My fiance and I have decided to start a tai chi class. Someone told me that after two months we'll be in great physical shape. We're both slightly overweight, only about 15-20 pounds...is the two month prediction accurate? If not, how long after starting the class should we expect to see results?

Answer 1

No that is not accurate. To lose the weight you need to eat a balanced diet, and get exercise. If you're going to study Tai Chi and it is how most places are then you're not going to do anything but "feel" better. It's a fact of life that you have to perform strenuous exercise to lose excess fat and improve cardio.

Now there are some major benefits with Tai Chi provided you find the right instructor. You will most definitely learn how to defend yourself on the street, you will lengthen your lifespan, you will ease any joint issues, and you will be able to relax your mind.

There are some exercises that you can do with Tai Chi that might give the impression of getting stronger, but the hidden secret of that is that you will be learning to use your entire body to accomplish things where as before you used only select muscle groups.

I would suggest you monitor your diet and do some sort of aerobic workout at least three times a week for at least an hour on top of the Tai Chi to help with the weight loss.

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I know that this may come as unwanted news, but its true and a fact of life. That said don't discount the amazing qualities of Tai Chi and the benefits it can give you in your life. There are even major bedroom improvements that can come along with the practice of this.

Answer 2

ok- this is a question better suited to the excercise and fitness section because what I'm going to say you probably won't like but it has little to do with martial arts and you'll see in a second.

#1- anything getting you to "get out and move" is a good thing- odds are tai chi doesn't get you moving so much unless it is a class that shows you applied combat techniques, and those kinds of tai chi classes are rare.  so you might get some excercise from the class however based on the level of intensity of the class- however for YOUR GOAL WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT IS YOUR DIET.

#2- your goal is physical fitness, then it begins in the kitchen, no matter how much you excercise, if you sit down and scarf down 20 twinkies afterwards- you are simply consuming even more than you thought you burned.

the simple truth is that many "diets" fail for just that reason, because people rationalize that "hey, I just worked out so I can eat that extra large milkshake with oreo toppings"- when in reality you are probably actually consuming more junk food than you would if you weren't excercising- so you need to overcome this psycological hurdle.

#3- start small- a tai chi class to get you moving is ok- but later on you might want varied or more intensive excercise tailored to your individual goals, it seems like your goal is not to study a martial art but to find an activity you enjoy, and you need to excercise more than once a week to gain any benefit from it- however, something is better than nothing.

I would suggest you begin by keeping a journal of what you eat- carry it with you or you will forget- write down EVERYTHING you eat or drink, take a sip from a friend's soda? have an extra cup of coffee (include how many sugar packets you use).

then at the end of the week examine it and cut out the snacks you ate that were not healthy- then cut out (substitute) healthy options for some of the worst foods you have eaten.

this gets your feet wet so its not a major shocking life-change that you will feel constricted by and feel that you will "go off" at some point- any diet you "go off of" is not a diet its a crackpot scheme designed to make money from you. (rule of thumb)

I guarnatee you will find that you consume way more c**p than you think.

THEN- tai chi, swimming, running, lifting, midget tossing, robbing old people in the park, whatever you do for excercise will have the benefit it is meant to- excercise is important but it is secondary to your food intake.

there is MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH more information- but this might be a key point to at least put you on the right track since it seems your quesiton has less to do with martial arts, and more to do with excercise.

also your "weight loss" amount will depend on your starting point.  I would suggest you use body fat % as a means to determine your progress as it is more accurate- especially if you will be working out and building LEAN muscle and burning fat (you can't bulk up and get cut at the same time, you can build some muslcle though)- so you need to understand that weight numbers are not accurate neitehr is bmi they are rules of thumb and very bad ones at that.

Answer 3

I don't know about that, Tai Chi is fun and quite enjoyable, but I don't know that you will get that kind of weight loss results with it that quick. You will definitely get much more muscle tone, better sense of balance and coordination and improve your over all health and it will start to happen fairly quickly. The thing about Tai Chi is that all the moves are done quite slowly so it takes more strength to do them at a slow rate than it would do do them fast, so that is where your muscle toning comes in to play. However Tai Chi is meant to be relaxing hence people calling it moving meditation. With the movements being slow and the mind/ body being relaxed you may not get your heart rate up high enough to encourage weight lose. Don't get me wrong you will lose weight with Tai Chi, but I don't know about 15 -20 lbs in 2 months. For the most part I am inclined to say no, that if that is your only form of exercise I don't see it happening that quickly especially if you are only doing it for those couple of classes a week. Now if you are working on it every night at home and during your classes and maybe add just a bit of calisthenics or something for resistance training and a little cardio to raise your heart rate you'll swear the weight just melted off.

The health improvements you will get from Tai Chi outweigh the weight problems in my book, if you are both just a little overweight it may take longer than 2 months for the weight to come off, but you will be gaining much more than just being able to say you lost a few pounds.

Good luck!!