Well, this week has been a milestone as I’ve reached the 50 minute mark of the ’embrace the tree’ posture.
I’m well on my way to the ‘magical’ 60 minute workout which will be a huge achievement for me as in my early years of Tai Chi practice I could never hold the stance for more than 2 minutes without causing pain to my knees.
Three years ago I decided to research the embrace the tree stance in depth to see if I could find a way to hold the stance for longer periods of time.
So I started with 30 seconds, 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). And each following week I added another 30 seconds. This gave me the opportunity to avoid over-training and to train correctly.
When I reached the 30 minute mark I decided to train on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On those days I started with 30 seconds and each following week added another 30 seconds.
Now I’m advancing to the 60 minute mark on the Monday, Wednesday, Friday sessions and the other days I just do 30 minutes as I have other training to do.
So on December 14th I’ll hit the ‘magical’ 60 minute mark.
My high stance work schedule will then be 60 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and 30 minutes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Not bad for a former 2 minute man.
Footnote: If you look down to the bottom of the page you’ll see my progress – updated on a weekly basis. Publicising my progress gives me added incentive to achieve my target.
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