On Jan 17, 2010, at 4:13 PM, scarney wrote:
I had a couple high school football stars from the local high school try a Tai Chi class a few years ago. These were macho kids but they could NOT take Tai Chi. It was too hard for them. Standing was the worst. They just couldn't take the 'pain'.
Michael Phillips responds:
They feel such pain because over the course of their years of training, their bodies have become "confused" - they've let their "mobilizer" muscles take over a good part of the job of their "stabilizer" muscles - unfortunately, the "mobilizers" reach exhaustion much quicker, since they're mainly used for short-burst types of activity, like playing third down in football - that's why you see those "pro" football guys sucking oxygen on the sidelines on TV, and that's why the "high school football stars" in your class couldn't take the pain...
The true "stabilizer" muscles, like the spinae erector, are constantly engaged in the business of maintaining one's balance and keeping the body harmoniously upright against the pull of gravity, so they have much longer endurance.
Pro sports trainers are now starting to specialize in eliminating this muscular confusion in an athletes body - one example would be Jimmy Connors, who credited such re-training with allowing him to play tennis at the highest competitive level for around ten years longer than some of his former arch-rivals like John McEnroe and Illya Nastasi.
