From: kowal@bnr.ca (Andrew Kowal)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Novice T'ai Chi Questions (Physiology Effects)
Date: 14 Apr 92 16:20:28 GMT
Reply-To: kowal@bnr.ca (Andrew Kowal)
Followup-To: kowal@bnr.ca (Andrew Kowal)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.

I'm in the process of choosing a martial arts discipline; and as 
an introductory T'ai Chi course was offered through our fitness centre
late last year, I decided to try it out.

The course was ten weeks with one three hour course per week.  The instructor
was very friendly and an excellent teacher (as far as my limited experience
could tell me).  We did a short five section/five minute 23 or 24 posture
Yang style form.

I enjoyed it (although I stopped practicing and forgot the last 30% of
the form since) and I'm considering studying in more depth, ie. learning
the long form; but I have a couple of concerns about the possible effects of
continued study:

1) My instructor mentioned that studying T'ai Chi could make one "thick 
   around the middle."  Breathing and concentrating etc. "from the gut"
   leads to a large waist.  Has anyone else heard this?  Is he talking about
   muscle gain (this is what I assume) or something else?

   I've also heard that studying T'ai Chi could lead to developing a
   large posterior, as it were.  Some of the postures emphasize the use
   of the gluteus, and perhaps this would lead to a more (er, um) pronounced
   derierre.

   I realize that I'm being vain, but I already have problems with my
   waist and butt size and these are not areas I would like to emphasize.
   I do realize that it's fatty tissue I should be concerned with, but
   I have a lot of Ukranian relatives who did that cool dancing which lead
   to abnormally pronounced rears.  This is something I'd like to avoid.
   Anyone have any experience/comments on this?

2) I've read as well that practice of T'ai Chi could also lead to a somewhat
   widened foot.  One thing that impressed me about the course was that
   the instructor saw that when I bent my knee it was nowhere near being
   directly over my toes, and he warned me that this could lead to some
   problems.

   Strangely, I had been having ankle and knee problems that were getting
   worse just before I started taking the course (bad experiences hiking
   at Lake Placid).  It ended up that I was "flat-footed" and required 
   orthotics.  Once I got used to these devices, it made a big difference.

   The problem here is that I'd rather not have to wear these huge inserts
   in my cross-trainers when doing T'ai Chi.  I was able to get a pair
   of "Superfeet" supports into a pair of "kung fu shoes" that worked better
   when doing form, but it was an imperfect solution.

   Has anyone had similar problems with their feet and come up with a
   reasonable solution?  Should I take the chance of practicing without
   my orthotics at all (makes the knee over the toe difficult)?

My apologies for the goofy questions and any factual inaccuracies I might
have come up with.  Please reply and follow-up to me, and if anyone is 
interested in a compilation of answers that I get, just let me know.

Thanks in advance,

-Andrew

-- 
-------------------------------------------
J. Andrew Kowal | | These are my opinions,|
   613/763-3350 | | not necessarily BNR's.|
   kowal@bnr.ca | |-----------------------|