Qigong is the oldest forms of strength training known to man with a history of over 4000 years.

A lot of modern people get turned off by Qigong the moment they hear the word "qi" which translates into life energy. 

In reality, there is nothing peculiar about qi. It's just control of your energy, tension and center of mass.

All the best athletes know how to use qi. Without it they wouldn't be able to generate extraordinary amounts of force. Without qi the athletes would not be able to feel the leverage and change in their center of mass. 

In the West, qi is a combination of different terms. In the East, just "qi" is enough. 

If you were in touch with your body, you would be able to feel it. To fully understand Qigong, you have to understand the context and surroundings it was practiced and created in.

The ancient practitioners were smarter and more in tune with their bodies than most of us are today. Everyone lived in their bodies, not in their heads. 

There were no stem cells to fix your spine. If you broke your joints, you were handicapped for life because surgeries did not exist. Your survival and livelihood depended on the health of your body.

Everything was practical. There is nothing impractical about Qigong like there is about many modern practices. 

Everything was for the long term and health because if you abused the body now, you wouldn't be able to enjoy life for the rest of your life.

What the West has trouble understanding is the big picture, long term impact and the preventive nature of different methods.

Qigong already had the "amazing discoveries" thousands of years ago which only now we are starting to discover in the West. 

Only recently it has been discovered in the West that breathing and meditation are important. These are some of the main pillars of Qigong.

Qigong also focuses on slow and controlled movements because this is the way to thoroughly develop the body. Athlete 20XX applies similar principles and so do all the best strength coaches in the world. 

Almost everything a lot of people debate today is not debatable. The top guys in strength and conditioning know the truth. The best Eastern practitioners also know it. 

These are timeless principles of training which will never change. By chasing the latest gimmick, people are mostly wasting their time. 

Although these ancient arts have timeless insights, many practitioners learn the art only superficially.

If the person doesn't know how to extract and apply the principle outside the art, the person doesn't understand the art.

When you discover the essence - the underlying principles behind the superficial movements, the principles can be applied to anything (this is where it gets really fun).

Focus on REALITY, not faking it

Qigong practices have been around for 4400 years. Yet, there is nothing progressive about any of the movements. There are no "levels" or "steps" like in the progressive bodyweight training. 

Thousands of years and no one was dumb enough to invent "progressive training".

You see, everything that works the best and is high level training, is qualitative. The progress happens in the execution, not by adding weight or creating more difficult progressions. 

Many of the modern methods of training are methods of destroying the body and forcing the body into an arbitrary box. They are not about developing the body to the fullest potential. 

Remember, the ancient masters lived in the absolute reality with the least amount of ego. Everything was practical. In fact, doing exercise for "recreation" didn't even exist.

A lot of people get turned off by the slow and controlled movements. Somehow they think that jerking the body like a lunatic is the manly thing to do.

One of the movements in the video is part of Yi Jin Jing which directly translates into "Muscle/Tendon Change Classic". 

Yi Jin Jing can be considered separate from Qigong (although similar principles are used) and it is actually a set of flow sequences that were used by Shaolin monks and many others practitioners in the past.

These guys were 100x manlier than the guys today who think they are masculine when they lift heavy weights, use steroids and flex their fake muscles.

We used to lift heavy in the past and obsess over bodyweight skills but we also used to be immature boys in the past. 

What many young adults don't fully understand is the fact that they will probably still be here 1, 3, 5 and 10 years from now on. They will still be here after 50 years.

Once the person realizes this, he or she will realize that there is no hurry to force it, especially because forcing it won't even give better results faster. Impatience just destroys the body.

In the past, I was obsessing over one arm chin ups and many other skills to the extent I hurt my elbows. 10 years later I am still here and I would care less about the one arm chin up.

Now I care about different things and different skills than I used to care about, yet I continued to suffer from my stupidity for years before I managed to fix my elbows. 

Skill training is not bad (in fact, a great deal of Movement 20XX is skill training) but it should never be the priority of your training. You take care of the body first and then do anything you want within the limits of the body.

Our most popular articles on this website are about how to fix your X joint. Do you think it's worth to break your body in the first year and live with broken joints for the rest of your life? 

And for what? For a skill or a number you probably never reached because that short term approach is not even the best strategy to reach the goal!

Luckily, most of these joint problems are fixable. But most people will never fix them. Some people may try 10 things, fail with each and as a result think it's impossible. It's impossible for them, not for everyone.

Our best talent doesn't even lie in movement or athletic training. Our most developed skill is the talent for fixing the body and restoring the natural functionality.

When you have a strong body, you have a body you can trust and count on. A body that can endure and persist through anything. 

Stay strong.