Chen Fake Silk Reeling Power Exercise
In my Chen Zhonghua Workshop Notes Unfiltered Series, I wrote the following:
Chen Fake’s secret method: engage the exercise of stretching the wrists/fingers by motioning the hands over the shape of the elbow. Imagine standing with arms crossed, in this position alternate the stretching of one hand over the shape of the elbow. The hand/wrist stretches forward and then curves around the shape of the elbow. This helps in developing silk reeling power.
I received an inquiry to elaborate on this exercise. The best way I can think of is to show a video of the exercise. So, without further ado:
When I do this exercise, I try to stretch with my middle finger as the arm twists and spirals. If I pause the action as my hand begins to wrap around my elbow using a spiraling motion, I try to feel a stretch in the wrists. It’s all about stretching :)
6 Comments
Can you describe the "small arm" exercise? Is it the one where you put both wrists on the sides of your body and do a type of "undulating" kind of motion?
Note, the exercise above is not meant to only stretch but also engage the wrist muscles. In fact, it's the connection from the fingers to the wrist to the forearm to the whole body.
I'm not affiliated with them in any way whatsoever, but as a quick reference, the chaps at http://chentaijiquan.cz/clanky/chan-si-gong seem to follow a more-or-less identical collection of silk reeling exercises.
Having tried doing the exercise in your video a few more times now, it's interesting how different it does feel to the small silk reeling exercise!
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