Health and Fitness

In last week's post I wrote about the 3 essential ingredients, here I show how to make these ingredients work for you.  Strength People sometimes think if you want to make your shin and feet strong you need to kick hard things all the time but this is  wrong. If you want to make your leg hard then the first thing you need to do is have good stamina, if you don’t have stamina it’s not possible for your leg to be strong as you won’t have energy. It’s like a car without petrol, it simply can’t move, you won’t be able to lift your leg up or kick therefore you have lost everything. This is the reason why stamina is so important. After you have gained stamina you then work on your flexibility and then you can work on your speed and power and then you can start on the conditioning training for your leg. Iron Leg The best way to warm up is to do the Si Bi Quan form from my Workout One DVD . This form consists of two ingredients: stamp and punch, the more power you can use with the st...

These are some of the questions I regularly get asked via email from my students. You can ask me questions by email: info@shifuyanlei.co.uk.  Q: What are the proper times to do Qigong? A: The only times that are not optimal for practicing Qigong is between 11- 12 in the morning and 11  - 12 in the night. If there is heavy rain or thunder then you should refrain from doing Qigong. Q: How many times should I practice Qigong if I'm a beginner? A: This depends on what you want to get out of Qigong. The first thing is you need to remember the movement and secondly you need to make the movement correct. If you don't spend enough time mastering the movement then you can't reap the benefit of the practice. Qigong is for your health so you should do it at least four times a week. Quality is better than quantity so a 20 minute fully focused session is better than one hour. It's best if you can make Qigong into a daily routine the same as if you eat your lunch or dinner and then i...

To the uninitiated it’s a martial art. To Shaolin Warriors it’s the Ultimate Training Program Shaolin Kung Fu History The Shaolin Temple is the birthplace of Chinese martial arts. Emperors often enlisted Shaolin monks to help them defend their thrones against invaders. As there were no guns or bombs at that time the monks had to use their bodies as weapons. They did this with a combination of Qigong and Kung Fu. Shaolin Kung Fu Today These days, we don’t do battle with warlords but low fitness levels or weight gain. Recent research by the British Journal of Sport’s Science shows that people in their forties and fifties who regularly practice martial arts have greater aerobic ability, balance, flexibility, muscle endurance, strength and less body fat than the sedentary controls matched for age and sex. Shaolin Kung Fu is not just for martial artists but anyone who wants to maximize their fitness levels. Kung Fu Tai Chi Qigong – Yin and Yang Exercises The Shaolin Temple has always belie...