[timarie]

When you wrote such a lengthy post like this, it lost its purpose and creating more confusing as most goes to such board just to scan the words. This is not a contest; it is a board to view everyone’s opinion and not to make yourself sounded like the one who knows it all.

Honestly this is the first I have ever seen someone insinuate about a lengthy post on this forum as being written to enter a "contest," but I appreciate your thinking it so, . I honestly am a teacher for my career and when someone does not "get it" the first time when told in the brief, then I explain it thoroughly the second time. It is just how I am, and that is how I work, and it really has not failed me so far in helping people. So I apologize if you are turned off my my lengthiness in writing, but if a person "gets it" the first time, then perhaps you can say they are then spared of it And if you READ it, in no way can it make anything more confusing. I explain the definition of those things of which we are speaking, so that it can be more clear. Sometimes people disagree on things just because their personal definition/understanding of a term may be different, when in reality they may agree on the actual points being made, as is what I thought our case might be. And of course, if you want to skim it you will be confused, as anything involving a little bit of analyzing is confusing when skimmed. But that is your prerogative.

Your posted Exercise definition is conflicting with the original Taichi’s purpose. There is no physical effort taken place in Taichi. You believe Taichi is a form of exercising but it was not in the eyes of Asians. When you talk to the youngster, they would say Exercise in America is to get big & getting tone. For the 50’s, they would say for their mostly health benefits, loosing weight. The Taichi & Yoga in America is not the same like the one taught in Asia countries. Entrepreneurs have changed its originality meaning. Thousand years ago and even now in Asia countries, Taichi taught in high school, in monastery was to promote a better blood circulation (through different breathing technique along with very slow movements) due to lack of physical labor. You are not supposed to use any physical effort or use it to gain muscles. None so whatever...

I see you are referring to the non-combat form of Tai Chi, whereas I was thinking of the combat form. Ok then, technically it is not exercise then, agreed. And with this, going back to our main point, I don't think there is one Asian soul that does this and this alone. In fact, they live pretty stressful lives which is why they incorporate such a peaceful art form into their routine. Every 1st generation Asian I know is EXTREMELY active. They hardly ever sit, and they make sure to involve themselves in many extracurricular activities (this one Vietnamese family for while I nannied way back). There was a rule in the household where they were not allowed to watch any more than 1 hour of TV in a day, and the rest of the time they played outside, swam in the pool, or studied as I also tutored them. I also know a 1st generation Korean woman who is constantly involved in so many activities with her church and school, AND cares for her special-needs child full time. This woman, I never catch her sitting for very long, yet she is always eating. High metabolism! Because of a healthy lifestyle.

Your Asian friends, are they the 1st generation here in America or not? The 1st, 2nd, 3rd are all different, their point of views are shaped up by years of living here in America, by their peers influence, by their surroundings, by society trends (digital age), the age (20’s don’t view the same as 50’s) and by their stereotype shapeup mind, etc.

You're right about this, and I actually don't consider those 2nd and 3rd generation "Asians" to be Asian-- I refer to them as Asian-American, so when I referred to "Asians" in my previous post to you, I meant 1st generation because I was pretty sure that was what you were talking about... Thanks for asking, though.

There is no tricky at all to compare between Asian and American/European if you are not one of them that actually have grown up in both cultures long enough to differentiate. For example, Chinese foods here in America (or even in Dubai & Moscow) not the same as Chinese foods are served (cooked) in China/Singapore/Taiwan/Vietnam/Thai. Vietnamese foods are not the same here in America either. Those Vietnamese Pho & sandwich is not the same either. Mexican Tacos in US is not the same as the one served in Mexico. You get my point.

Asians in Asia don’t have the same American mentality of going to the gym, getting big, consume extra supplements and not only that, growing up in the countries that foods are rare and expensive, they don’t have the mean to eat a lot (fatty snacks or supplements). They use more labor strength to be physical active while we Americans are not.

Yes, I get your point, and actually, that is why they are tricky to compare. If you have ever done a science experiment in middle school, if you are trying to measure certain variables, you need to minimize all other variables so that the changes can be credited to the changes of the variables you are measuring. For example, if someone is trying to compare different fertilizers and they have plant A and plant B, they want to make those plants the same kind of plant. They also will want to make sure they are being watered the same amount and frequency, and are given the same amount of sunlight. Avoiding other variables. See, there are way too many differences between their culture and ours to say that they are longer-living BECAUSE they don't have American gyms. That is, ridiculous. There are so many other variables at play, here... their length of lives being longer than ours has to do with the fact that they live MUCH more active lifestyles (always running around here and there, being involved with many functions) than the typical American lives, and they eat healthier foods and more often throughout the day. They also walk after the last meal of their day (well, many of them, at least) http://www.healthambition.com/meal-frequency/ . As I said, at least American gyms are encouraging our lazy-ass mentalities to become active. If we are not going to change our lifestyles on our own, how does that make the gym the culprit of our "shorter" lives? I assure you that the Americans with the shorter lives are the ones who never set a foot in the gym AND never become anything more than sedentary or moderately active, at best. People in the gym are active, so I do not see how that makes the gym the culprit of death...

You said everyone has some sort of physical active form... Well, I work at computer desk all day long. I sure don’t exercise. The only physical active things I do are mowing my own yard ¼ acre land, digging my own holes to plant my tree, playing piano to release my work stress, helping elderly when I got a chance. No walking, no jogging whatsoever.

If you eat properly + moderately, the so called modern exercise, the gym is not the MUST and that was my point in the last post.

I... don't know what you're referring to when you say that I said "everyone has some sort of physical active form." I DO remember saying, though, that many Americans have a warped idea of what is considered "active" because our sedentary people go to the extremes of being EXTREMELY sedentary, and so everyone doing anything more than the "TV couch potato + Xbox player" (I liked that, think I'll keep using it), even if it is just a little more, thinks themselves to be active, when they are not necessarily so. Which is why I defined "sedentary," "moderately active," and "active" in my previous post so that it cannot be left to subjective opinions of what is "sedentary" and what is "active." As for you, I am sure that you walk from the mower to your piano and you don't ride the mower everywhere you go Meaning, you DO some walking. As for how much that is, only YOU would know (so, I cannot say if you are considered sedentary, moderately active, or active), and you could find that out by wearing a pedometer throughout the day. It would tell you how many miles you walk in all the steps you take throughout the day.

And no one ever said that the so-called modern exercise (which is not modern at all, honestly, but I know what you are trying to get at) of the gym was a must. I cannot see that, ANYWHERE in this thread. But what is funny, I KNEW that is what your definition of exercise was, which is why you got defensive and all "I disagree" when I said that exercise was necessary for a healthy lifestyle, and which is why I re-defined it for you above!!!!

Thanks for your two cents.