Taijiquan Practice Warmups

Dear Mike,

First off, thank you for your wonderful site and blog! It provides wonderful information and helped and inspired me more than once.

A question: I am learning the Beijing form myself at the moment from the wonderful Liang Shou-Yu book and DVD. My question which I have not found being answered in the book is how much of a training session (say 30 min and 60 min) should warm-up be, how often the form should be repeated and how long should the ending (collect and harmonize energy) take.

Is there an article on your page (or elsewhere on the web) discussing this issue?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you and with every good wish!

Andreas D. from Germany


Adreas,

Any sensible fitness workout includes a progressive warmup to satisfy individual conditioning levels, the core practices, and a cool down (stretching, calming) period. The warm up should focus on the muscle groups that will be used in the core practices, as well as the gradual elevation of heartbeat.

Quite a number of Taijiquan teachers include extensive practices and routines of Qigong prior to practicing and teaching Taijiquan. These Qigong practices vary greatly in style and movement sequences between these many teachers, and due to the esoteric nature of Qi theory, there are many varied and contradictory interpretations as to the value and purposes of these movements. Some Qigong sets are short and useful for warm ups (e.g., Eight Section Brocade). These teachers believe that Qigong and standing meditation are essential "inner work" for a taijiquan practitioner. I have attended "Taijiquan classes" where 40% of the time is spent on Qigong, 15% on Zhang Zhuang, and 45% on Taijiquan.

The Standard 24 Taijiquan Form is an easy, non-vigorous, gentle physical activity for persons in good physical condition. Therefore, the warm up and cool down demands are minimal. If you were doing a Chen Taijiquan Cannon Fist Routine or a Wudang or Shaolin Short Staff form, then you would need a very thorough warm up routine.

The time needed for warm up will vary with the conditioning levels of the player. An out of shape person in their 30's will need more warm up time than a highly conditioned (i.e., aerobic, strength, and flexibility) person in their 50's. An elderly person with joint problems will need more warm up time. However, in my opinion, any well conditioned person can easily use a slow and high standing performance of the Standard 24 Taijiquan Form as a warmup routine, and dispense with any other warm ups or qigong sets.


If your purpose is to learn the Standard 24 Taijiquan Form the main focus should be on slow deliberate repetitions of sections of and the entire form. We learn Taijiquan by practicing Taijiquan.

I think a 5 minute warm up and 3 minute cool down are quite adequate for a moderately conditioned person learning this Taijiquan form. Warm ups should include movements that focus on the legs and waist. Do the form very slowly for the first 10 minutes after the warmup. Daily 40 minute practice sessions are quite sufficient. In 30 minutes, you can do the entire form 4 times when you know the movements.

In my practice, I walk .6 mile to warm up (at various speeds) while I exercise with my cane as I walk, then I do a few leg stretching exercises before I begin my practice of numerous martial arts and taijiquan forms, some of them quite vigorous.

I separate the learning and practice of qigong sets and meditation, from the practice of taijiquan. People need to make up their own minds as to the value of either qigong or taijiquan for themselves. If you want to learn taijiquan then practice taijiquan 90 to 100% of the time you have available. You may improve your health in mind and body by doing qigong and standing meditation and taijiquan; but, again, considering the time constraints of most persons, focus on taijiquan if that is what you have decided to learn.

Best wishes,

Mike Garofalo