MuscleTendonBreathAndBone TCCBasicsHomePage

You know, if you’re a karateka then most of your practice is in Japanese, for a taikuando one speaks Korean, so, since we’re using a Chinese system, do we have to learn Chinese so as to speak to the MTBB? ;-}

Not really, seems that one has to learn some specialized dialects of physical activity, but not Chinese ;-}

1. Muscle
1. Most people know how to tell a muscle to grow, go into any Gold’s Gym (or your garden variety of choice) and you’ll see bunches of sweating people busy talking to this or that muscle. Some are fluent, and know how to address and speak clearly to an individual muscle, some need dictionaries or guides. The main underlying characteristic of muscles (and that holds true for all body components) is that they’re a demand driven system, with built in ability to respond to new demands placed on it. The second most important characteristic of muscles is that they are the major consumer of vitality (namely nutrients and oxygen) and since bodies evolved in an environment where these are always at a premium(+1), they have a way of going away when not needed.
2. What’s less obvious is how to tell a muscle to ‘relax’. Relax is a word for what does not exist. A muscle can *only* contract, any other action must come from outside of the muscle. Muscles either contract(+2) or ‘do not contract’, so ‘relax’ is a request to ‘not tense the muscles’. Muscles contract when stimulated by nerve impulses, when these nerve impulses are not there, the muscles ‘relax’. So, relax is a yin type of process, the lack of contraction. So, how does one ‘relax’? (a trick question), by not being tense. Which is another tautology, seems to be a few of these around.
3. So, what keeps one tense? Carrying Tensions; Such patterns of muscle stimulation that do not correspond to the current needs of carriage or action. These are known as Body Armor (Wilhelm Reich), and the process of getting rid of these is going under the name of Muscle Tendon Change when addressed by CIMA, and, starting with Ida Rolf’s ‘Rolfing’ a whole area of Western Body Work methods is available, also, the process of ‘Dissolving’ as described by BKF  in ‘Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body’, and a whole slew of other methods approaching the process from a mental or emotional directions is available as well.
4. Once the CNS patterns have been changed, so that muscles are not habitually tense, one still has to go through the process of ‘tenderizing’ the muscles, that of modifying the fascia part of the muscle. A good resource for understanding this very complex issue can be found in ‘Anatomy Trains’.
2. Tendon
1. Tendons, ligaments and fascia in general do respond to use by way of self modification. In other words, they exhibit the same ‘skill’ adapting to use as muscles do.
2. However, changes to fascia take longer to manifest, and are harder to perceive.
3. Not all fascia are created equal ;-}, their structures and characteristics have to fit the role they play in living organisms. It’s impossible to summarize this very important and mostly overlooked component of living bodies. Luckily there is a book that does just that; I very strongly recommend reading Anatomy Trains.
4. Now, not all changes are beneficial, depending on use, misuse or abuse beneficial or detrimental changes to fascia can happen. In general the types of practice that fit within muscle tendon change (surprise ;-}) will have beneficial results.
3. Breath
1. I’d like to ‘lump’ breath and circulation under this heading, pretty much like the Chinese do. Changes beneficial to breathing will prove to be beneficial to circulation as well.
2. Breathing efficiency has to do with structure and carriage. 60% of lung capacity is available by diaphragmatic breathing, 30% from movement of the ribs, and 10% from expansion of the lower back.
3. Most people use only a small part of the rib breathing because of holding tensions in the thorax and almost no diaphragm breathing.
4. Re-establishing deep belly breathing, releasing the abdominals from postural maintenance load and rectifying the carriage so as to be able to have freely floating ribs will improve significantly the efficiency of both breathing and circulation.
5. A seldom mentioned fact is that the circulatory system does respond to use with increasing carrying capacity as well; Stressing the circulatory system will make it respond in a similar manner to that of the other systems of the body, increasing capacity.
4. Bone
1. At this point I’m sure that you expect bones to respond actively to stress, and .. you’re right.
2. Stressing bones makes them stronger and heavier, a fact that’s mentioned in the classics.
3. So, using 0/100% weight shifts, and single legged stances as required in advanced forms practice will be very beneficial. As will coiling and storing.
4. Given the odd body use pattern of TCC, using very relaxed upper body, it’s my opinion that weapons work has to be included in regular practice regimen so as to stress upper body bones.
5. Regular movement such as in forms practice and enhanced circulation will improve the health of the joints, since they depend fully on a-vascular, pressure and osmosis based nutrient absorption and waste product removal.

David L.

(+1)The current “fat disease” prevalent in the USA is an aberration, most of the world’s population is still living in partial hunger as a matter of course.

(+2)The actual length of the muscle fibers may get shorter (contraction) stay the same (isometric c.) or lengthen (eccentric c.) while the actine ‘works’.