Tan Tui 1: "Coherent Steps"

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, it is interesting to me that when "stay-at-home" orders are given, they almost always include allowing people to go outside for fitness activities once per day so long as social distancing is maintained.  In West Chester borough, Mayor Herrin's clarification of the order indicated that residents could "Engage in outdoor activity, such as walking, hiking or running as long as you maintain social distance (6')."  Somehow, then, fitness has become important to us again, and is even cited in governmental orders.  Tan Tui can be an element of such fitness training even when one is trapped inside.  



If you've been in West Chester lately, you know that it's been cold and/or wet for a couple of days, and as such, practicing outside might not be first and foremost in your mind.  Yesterday, in particular, it rained more or less all day.  I thought about going out to run, but decided that even with great gear, I would still end up cold and miserable at the end of it all.  In a previous life, I was a cross-country runner, so I've been there.  So I trained in my basement.  I moved the laundry baskets and drying racks over, and made enough space to do three reps of the shorter Tan Tui forms.  There was not really much room to do anything else.  If I stand all the way up in the wrong spot, I'll hit my head on a pipe or a light bulb. 

Then, I warmed up with stances and punching as shown in a previous post, and then started alternating lines of Tan Tui with kicks.  Getting motivation for such practice might seem difficult at first when thinking of usual practice in large gyms or in the park, but it's not hard if one looks in the right place.  There was the example of Elisha Nochomovitz who ran a marathon on his balcony in France last week to simply show that it was possible.  There's the classic Bruce Lee balcony training meme (from back before memes were memes).  Then, there's the idea of fitness training in space.  I'm not sure that this counts as martial arts in space, but it's a start.  But in order to maintain good bone density and cardiovascular fitness, exercise is essential when on the International Space Station.

If these folks can exercise the the cramped quarters up there, I reasoned that I can fit in a kungfu workout in my basement.  A half-hour after starting, and dripping sweat, I finished and sat down to stretch. 

One of the key principles to follow when in small space is to do repetition.  This will help you to have a worthwhile workout, but it will also help you to refine your technique.  And of course, for high numbers of repetition, you need patience.  

The first of the Tan Tui forms "Coherent Steps", is designed to get you to turn your waist in coordination with your footwork.  In the beginning, it doesn't matter much if you are perfect with your hand forms, or if your stances are super low.  Instead, it is important that you are rotating your torso with respect to your hips to improve range of motion and get a core workout.  The movement from the first elbow to the swing of the arms can be repeated again and again to work this range of motion.  As you improve, then you can work on going lower, and setting up the footwork.   The following video highlights some of the key considerations in Tan Tui 1 practice and suggests some alternative footwork if you have space constraints.

Hang in there and keep practicing!  Now is the time to think about details in all your forms and techniques.

Until next time,
Sifu Tim