Sojka's Call

Mark Sisson, over at MarksDailyApple.com posted a good article called Is Your Workout Worth The Risk? Check it out if you work out regularly as it has really good points about listening to your body, limiting/eliminating higher-risk exercises, good form, and many other common-sense daily practices. While his post and this one are primarily for the person who works out regularly, the advice can help anyone. As Mark says, everyone will deal with this issue sooner or later. A recent survey of CrossFit athletes found that 73.5% had experienced an injury during training, 7% of which required surgery. But before the anti-CrossFit crowd starts gloating, realize that this injury rate is similar to Olympic lifting, powerlifting, and gymnastics and lower than contact sports like rugby. Similar polls in runners find that in a given year, 13% of runners experience knee injuries, 8% get Achilles tendinitis, 7% suffer hamstring pulls, 10% deal with plantar fasciitis, 10% ha...

After eighteen years of struggle, practice, stopping practice for a month or two, and some outward success with my Tai Chi, this fall brought a breakthrough. One morning, not initially more unusual than other daybreaks, there was a formidable sensation of energy coming from the thigh area and being directed by the waist and flowing into my arms. The feeling of power and control was initially mind-boggling. It was so beyond anything previously experienced I was in awe of what was happening. I just kept doing set after set and used the energy to answer questions of how a move should correctly be done. The energy was so real my mind’s eye could clearly picture it flowing from place to place in the body. By the afternoon of this day, I started to look for answers in my many Tai Chi and Qigong books. Was this chi?