Often times we push ourselves to the max and see how far our bodies can go. We take on different challenges, man up one another or proving to yourself what you're capable of. Training hard can be a good thing every now and then and some of us train as if our lives depended on it such as: Being ready to fight, have the stamina and strength to move somebody, have energy to play with the kids and saving a life.
Training smart is a whole other ball game. You're learning what works, what doesn't and how your body adapts to certain regimens and protocols. Training hard and smart is extremely rare as most do one or the other yet both can co-exist if you are wise enough to understand how both work. At the same time, it is important to train from an internal stand point, conditioning the mind and body in a different format by the use of recovery.
Recovering from hard workouts is crucial to how you will become stronger and healthier in the long run. When in your teens or 20's, recovery isn't as optimal because for the most part, you can bounce back quickly and move on. By the time you're 35 and beyond, recovery becomes a godsend and you'll need it in order to move and be more efficient in your endeavors. I highly believe in recovery workouts, exercises you can do that don't require a ton of effort but aren't strenuous. You can a low level yoga workout, you can do deep breathing exercises, various postures or you can just literally stand.
Standing postures such as Wu Ji Posture, help realign the body and let's the nervous system repair itself. It's an incredible recovery tool and those who have practiced Tai Chi, Chi Kung or other internal arts have phenomenal abilities at a much older age. A standing posture can be assumed as an Isometric exercise or more accurately, an Aerobic Isometric because you're not exerting as much force and the idea is to relax more, not be loose but relaxed.
It's called a Wu Ji Posture in Chi Kung, the Sponge in Animal Kingdom Conditioning, Standing Meditation and other names of the same thing. Your feet are shoulder width apart, hands at your side, knees slightly bent pelvis slightly tucked and there you go. Relax as much as possible and breathe deeply and naturally. It sounds so easy to do yet most don't understand its true power to literally give your body a reboot or recharge. I would hold this posture for about 5-10 min at a time, every once in a blue moon I'll go for 20 minutes but 10 minutes is more than enough for me to feel recharged. I do it sometimes before a workout, after a workout, as a stand-alone (pun intended) or in-between exercises.
Just the idea of standing there, many will scoff at because it looks like you're not doing a damn thing and it makes you look lazy and resting or something. The truth is, our bodies may not recover as fast as others. Often times, recovery can take longer than you want it to and we push ourselves so hard, it overwhelms the Central Nervous System and our muscles will tear up, if you push too hard the tendons can break and you'll be in a cast for weeks or months. The standing posture strengthens the body on the inside and rebuilds flow to the muscles and the tendons/ligaments. It gives our brains a boost too because with practice, you can learn to quiet the mind and focus on your breathing or do visualization that innates powerful energy.
Start your power from within. Like Yoda says "Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter." Strength is more internal than what we ever do on the outside. Stand and rebuild, stand and harness your power, stand and use it to become superhuman. Socrates from the Peaceful Warrior says "There's never nothing going on", the Standing Posture is a testament to that statement, it seems nothing is happening but inside, everything is going on.
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