If you’re a reader of the fitness press, you’d get the impression that the latest training plans were built on some precise insight. So many repetitions, for so long, so many times each week produce such and such a result. The simple truth is that exercise science has not delivered such a refined equation for self-improvement. When you get right down to it, nobody is entirely sure of the exact mechanisms by which exercise promotes its effects ... more

Posture - Relaxed movement - Breathing. Sounds very much like a typical yoga or tai chi class or any of the other variants of Eastern exercise systems that have caught on in the West in the past 20 years. But this method is a little closer to home - from Russia to be exact, where the combat and health methods of ancient warriors have been preserved, refined and retained for use by some of the military's top specialised units... more

When I first began to study Tai-Chi in 1957 I was attracted to it, like many beginning students by its description as a form of “meditation in motion”. I had visions of flowing in dream-like movements, sensing peace and harmony all around me. I arrived at my first class full of happy expectations, sure that I was about to experience the secrets of the Taoist masters. As I watched my teacher move with elegance and gentle power, ...more