Arky Chu Gong: Chateau morning exercise regime

[jhonny]

After 5 weeks, I finally got to do almost the full routine! Except for one excercise, the bridge, and this due to a pain in my right shoulder when doing it. I do it 3 times a week.

My wife decided to do the routine as well. She feels more confortable doing it at home than going to the gym. Actually, this is a complete routine, she told me.

So far It's been very fun and healthy

 

[Niall]

We also played around with the Lion pose. It's lucky that we didn't have to show it on video, LOL! And we've tried a diaphragm stretch, but I haven't been able to find it on YT because I don't know what it's called. Maybe Niall will find it.

It's abdominal lifts/stomach pumps.

Here's a yogi during just the abdominal lift:

And here's a fitness guru showing the next level up from that: 'pumping' your stomach/viscera in and out during the overall abdominal lift:

Once you get the hang of it, it's surprising how many you can do despite having empty lungs. But see if you can manage the basic lift first (seated, standing, on all fours, whichever). That's challenging enough!

 

[Chu]

After 5 weeks, I finally got to do almost the full routine! Except for one excercise, the bridge, and this due to a pain in my right shoulder when doing it. I do it 3 times a week.

My wife decided to do the routine as well. She feels more confortable doing it at home than going to the gym. Actually, this is a complete routine, she told me.

So far It's been very fun and healthy

Great to hear! And that it is something you and your wife can do together for fun and health.

Don't worry about the bridge, it's one of the hardest ones. Better be safe, and not force too much.

 

[Chu]

Another update: We've been introducing this one too:

 

[Arwenn]

Thank you for posting this routine! I have to catch up on the rest of this thread and additional videos, but this morning I tried the whole routine (minus the headstand, lol I’m certain I looked like a complete idiot trying that). I feel relaxed and energised at the same time, & my head feels clearer. I certainly am not very flexible and can only hold poses for so long, but hey, baby steps!

I assume it would be fine to do later in the day, even though it’s a morning routine? It’s just that some days I start work really early in the morning, & if I can I would like to try and do it daily. I’m just not a gym person, and getting some kind of exercise has been playing on my mind of late. Cheers again for this thread

 

[Goemon_]

In August 2016 I started doing the five BBS workout exercises (Body by Science / HIIT Experiment). The goal was to do a minimum of 12 sessions, 7 days apart. I managed to do 11. A year off. Another 11 sessions. A 2 months break. 12 sessions, 14 days apart. A 4 months break. 11 sessions, 10/11 days apart.

I have back pain issue beginning several years ago. I had tried several things before and the BBS workout was much better than the rest to relieve the pain. The relieve last for a few months after the and of each set of sessions.

My last session was 5 months ago. The back pain is now at a high. My willpower is too low to set my mind to do another set.

So, two days ago I did one ACG session (Arky Chu Gong - the 28 exercises listed at the beginning of this thread), and another session this morning (yesterday I had to work with a shovel starting early in the morning, so I didn't do a session. Too much is too much !).
I can't managed to do the headstand, but I try. The bridge was impossible the first day. Today I did it for 3 seconds. As for the backward bend. Well... I'm not there yet. My back stay at maybe 40cm from the ground !

To be continued...

 

[Chu]

I assume it would be fine to do later in the day, even though it’s a morning routine?

That's totally fine! People just do them whenever it's convenient. We do it from 9 to 9.30 am, except for Mondays (we figured it was better with that short break in between).

We tried incorporating other exercises, but the routine was getting to be too long. So, we're back to what you see in the video minus the Sun salutation. Some days, we add an exercise and skip another one. But we try to stick to 30-35 minutes, so that it's easy to stick to it, and it doesn't take too long.

I'm so glad when I read about others trying it! Not just this routine, but anything that takes care of your body so that it can carry you better, is good.

 

[Anthony]

I've been doing the routine regularly since summer, and thanks for sharing it. I find the extra flexibility helpful, plus it has some benefits moodwise.

 

[Yas]

I've also been doing the exercises, following the video each time I do it because in that way it almost feels as if I'm doing them with you :).

I have stopped for a while but got back to it recently and it amazes me how fast you can start improving on each of the exercises and gain flexibility. I do them twice a week now, and hopefully I'll be able to increase the frequency, but I can already feel benefits, such as more energy and strength, and also mood improvements.

 

[Aya]

Ditto! Thank you for sharing the routine. I did the whole routine yesterday morning, thinking that you (people in the video) are all flexible and strong!

The hardest part of it for me are the yoga wheel and back yoga – I’m stiff and can’t get it right. And headstand…even impossible, I try. I’m laughing at myself every time I do it. Hopefully the more I practice, the more I can do them better! It’s good by helping me stretch my back and shoulders (less pain) as weekly body maintenance routine.

As for weight training, I still carry the spirit of BBS (doing exercises very slowly), training at community gym once a week. But I’m doing 12 exercises instead of 5. I’m still having a trouble getting each workout to the point of muscle failure (and I can’t trick my brain to do it alone). I am getting it 1/3 of the time, so even though it takes more time and more machines, I’m getting the better result in this way.

 

[Aiming]

I've also been doing the exercises, following the video each time I do it because in that way it almost feels as if I'm doing them with you :).

Same here! It does feel like doing them together in a way.

I really like the combination of these exercises, they have a noticable effect on how I feel. When I didn't have the time to do them, I would feel the difference and actually missed the beneficial effects. So, thanks again for sharing ArkyChuGong!

 

[SMM]

Same here! It does feel like doing them together in a way.

I really like the combination of these exercises, they have a noticable effect on how I feel. When I didn't have the time to do them, I would feel the difference and actually missed the beneficial effects. So, thanks again for sharing ArkyChuGong!

Agreed on the feeling of doing them together and missing the beneficial effects.

As the seasons changed, I did them outside less and less and went a few weeks where the whole routine was not practiced, either due to time or weather. I did portions of it here and there.

Now I have moved to doing the full routine indoors in the mornings once or twice a week. I am thinking of adding one more session in a weekday afternoon as I miss the beneficial effects in mood and flexibility.

 

[Scottie]

Time for an update!

I had eased up on a few of the exercises and stopped the Bridge completely due to aches and pains no too long ago.

Well, I figured out that some things (like sore wrist during the bridge) were the result of me being stupid and hurting myself outside of this routine, and then when I tried to do the exercises, that was enough to push it over the edge and then I went, "Ow!"

Long story short, after becoming aware of how I was "beating myself up", I stopped doing those things. Now, after 7 long months, I can do the bridge for a full count of 21. I also seemed to have surpassed some kind of plateau, because many of the exercises are WAY easier to do now.

I still get pretty tired, breathe heavily, and so on. So it's still a great workout! I wouldn't say it's 'easy' for me now, but I feel much stronger than even 1 or 2 months ago.

I just wanted to mention this for two reasons:

1. Don't ignore things like poor posture, holding tools in a stupid way, etc. There are many things that can injure you without making you go, "Ow!"... ACG (Arky Chu Gong) will definitely 'find' these problems for you, but it won't necessarily be the cause of them.

2. If it can take an already-in-pretty-good-shape person like me 7 months to get "good" at all the exercises, well, it's definitely not a good idea to give up too early. It's also not a good idea to push too hard, too soon. This is some serious exercise even though it might not seem that way from watching the vid!

Finally, I should note that we're now experimenting with 2 days off a week. All of us had to take some extra days off in the past couple of weeks, and most of us found that the extra rest meant we felt much better and stronger the following session. We'll see how that goes.

 

[mrtn]

I'm still doing it, and still loving it! I was amazed how much progress I made in the first weeks. It was a funny surprise when my hands suddenly touched each other behind my back, which I thought was impossible in the beginning. By now I can actually clamp them more or less. I don't do the headstand, I'm not confident enough in my neck area for this and I have hurt myself a little once on a bad day, so I do side lunges and stretching during this part. The leaning backward is pretty hard and I need to be careful because it puts to much stress on my lower back. It seems my front upper leg muscles are somewhat shortened so I don't get my hip to lay flat enough, which leads my back to bend backwards. It seems to be better for me not lean back to hard, but instead trying to push my hip up a little bit, so the stress goes more to the shortened leg muscles instead of hurting the back.
I don't do it every day. After 3 days or so I need to pause for 1 or 2 days. But so far I'm always coming back to it, even missing it after not doing it for some days.

 

[Goemon_]

I did 8 sessions in one month with a 15 days break ending today. A too big break at least for my back pain. But today was easier than before.
I have managed to do the headstand, somewhat, in the last 5 sessions or so.
Somewhat meaning that I do it against a wall, and even 40cm away from the wall I can't managed to get my feet away from the wall without loosing balance.