Got balls?
I happily carried my 9 lb ball to Tai Chi Ball class. 9 lbs! That’s almost a baby. Or something. My teacher eyed it with what I thought was a pleased look, but actually…was not. She took a look around the class and then asked me to trade. She wanted me to experience holding a heavier ball. I like my teacher and of course, I trust her, so I traded balls with one of my classmates. While my nice 9 lb medicine ball was leathery and stitched, this was a glossy and smooth heavy-ass bowling ball. Noting the weight of it I suddenly realized her point. I was never going to gain strength from a 9 lb ball.
Okay, I said. I’ll exchange this one. What do you think? Perhaps a 12 lb one?
No, she replied. 15.
Gulp.
I now have my 15 lb ball. It’s freakin’ heavy. It’s squishy and weighted so that it actually feels heavier than a 15 lb bowling ball. It’s awful. But now at least I don’t feel like a weeny in class. And I’m kind of getting used to it. Kind of.
Oh and check this out – I finally ordered myself a pair of these beautiful Onitsuka “Tiger” Tai Chi shoes from Zappos. Yay shoes! Now, instead of slipping and sliding around the dojo in my socks (which, admittedly, is fun to do sometimes) I can move around like a real Tai Chi master!
Okay, not exactly like a master, but you know what I mean.
Subscribe via RSS
Follow me on Twitter
July 16th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
have you considered using a rubber medicine ball? it won’t get slippery when damp and is more forgiving than a bowling ball.
FWIW
July 17th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Hi Tristan. The 15 lb medicine ball I ended up getting is made from some kind of unidentifiable “new material” and is filled with sand (no wonder it’s so freakin heavy – I’m lifting 15 lbs of sand!). I want to say it is rubber, but I’m not sure. It’s something like it. It’s made by Century and I found it at Academy.
July 17th, 2010 at 5:48 am
15# = a 2-gal jug of water.
No problemo lifting it from the shopping cart into your new car, right? But not the sort of thing you would just up and start playing with. So you’re doing well.
July 17th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Ha – no it’s not! But it is an excellent workout.
My dantien is happy.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:58 am
I have those shoes. Very, very comfortable and have good grip.
For even better martial arts shoes, though, try Vibram’s Five Fingers. I bought them for running and was happy to discover they make it possible to train on unfriendly surfaces but with a barefoot feel.
July 24th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
I’ve heard such great things about those shoes and a Tai Chi classmate of mine wears them. But…I can’t do it. They look so strange to me! Ah well..
July 20th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Oh and a question: Why socks and not barefoot?
July 24th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Because of the dojo floor. It was really hard for me to move my bare feet on the floor – it hurt, so I switched to socks.