“Buyer beware!” has never been so important a slogan as it has become today. There is so much information, and it can be so confusing for the professional in health care or exercise therapy that the consumer has a nearly insurmountable task to sort through the jumble.

Patience and study are the answer. We tend to want an easy answer to any problem we have and get frustrated when we need to learn more, or actually have skill to get promised benefits. There is no endeavour I know of that allows free benefits. Whether you wish to become a dancer, a scientist, or a good father, there is an investment of time and energy that must be made before any benefits accrue to the striver. Exercising for health, eating for health, coping with stress are all skills in the Daoist discipline of Yang Sheng (Nourishing Life), the study of longevity. Each skill requires mastery of a considerable body of knowledge for which the aspiring student must take responsibility. There is book learning, pondering and rumination, and personal experimentation to be done before the skill level that grants the desired benefits is achieved.

The only one holding us back from reaching our goals is, most often, ourselves. If we choose a particular goal to strive for, we may find we do not have enough resources (time, money, energy, information) to achieve secondary goals. At that realization, we must either change our goals or be satisfied with lesser results in our secondary goals.

Best regards,

Dr. Yancy Orchard, Shizi

Orchard Kung Fu: “The Martial Way of Vitality”
Jiulong Baguazhang, Flying Dragon Qigong, Traditional Chinese Weapons
Saskatoon, SK, Canada
http://www.NineDragonBaguazhang.ca
Youtube: XinFuGompa

It is too bad that those who own gyms and teach classes do not have your knowledge. Well maybe it is good for some peoples business it can destroy a lot of other peoples lives. I have a friend who uses a tread mill and she went walking with her kids this spring. Her hip is so bad she is being told that it will likely never be better. Thank you helping us with such good information . I have taken advantage more than once on your world of knowledge and feel very lucky you are willing to share.

Yours in Ba Gua Mary

Good question. The answer is simply, “It depends.” Some machines enable you to use your muscles during all parts of gait, while some do not. Each machine is really a case-by-case basis.

Another interesting issue to consider is that of stride length regularity. Very few machines allow you to achieve full range of motion in your stride, so you end up spending miles and miles of repetition with a choked stride. Worse, some have almost no variability of stride, whereas, when you walk or run in the real world, your stride length will change depending on the terrain.

Furthermore, there is the problem of the built-in cushioning of the surface you are working on. The more cushioning, the more you will allow yourself to crash down onto your heel, thus increasing your ground reaction forces and the trauma to your joints. The smae problem exists in highly cushy shoe soles. A firmer surface requires you to step gently and precisely (compare this to our Dragon Step technology).

The final huge issue to look at in the machine realm is that of variability in terrain contour, that is in the change in height of the ground as you change location. Very few natural surfaces are perfectly level and by only working on perfectly level surfaces, you will slowly erode your step’s vertical adaptability.

All of this results in the insidious weakening of your stabilization systems.

Best,

Dr. Yancy Orchard, Shizi

Orchard Kung Fu: “The Martial Way of Vitality”
Jiulong Baguazhang, Flying Dragon Qigong, Traditional Chinese Weapons
Saskatoon, SK, Canada
http://www.NineDragonBaguazhang.ca
Youtube: XinFuGompa