[Strength Training] This is a lifelong bodywork asset [Diet]

I have been doing this for 20 years

A book I happened to find in a bookstore 20 years ago.

Around this time, the author, Hideo Takaoka, was appearing on media frequently.

He was posing in a squishy way like the cover of this book, and it had a real vibe of a mysterious method from a mysterious middle-aged man.

However, as someone who loves manual books and has read and tried various things, Yuru Taiso is the one I am still doing after 20 years.

In the book at the beginning, there is something called 'sleeping Yuru,' which is a super simple exercise where you let your waist and legs dangle while lying down.

This is surprisingly amazing.

After all, you can do it while lying down. You can do it with zero motivation.

It feels quite good to do it when you are tired and flop down, or before going to sleep.

Especially the waist wiggling is great because you can do it immediately while lying in bed.

You can even do it inside your duvet.

There are various other exercises, and as you get used to them, you can pinpoint and loosen the areas you want to relax.

In short, you just need to relax, shake comfortably, and loosen up.

Since you can do it on the spot with zero effort like this, there is no way you won't continue.

Before I knew it, 20 years had passed, and I have somehow kept doing it.

Honestly, I underestimated it.

I've recently started strength training.

As I look into various things, Google recommends articles for me.

A few days ago, this article appeared in my recommendations.

It looked familiar—it's Mr. Takaoka from that Yuru Gymnastics!

Still active! As expected.

To quote a bit at length,

I've been thinking about this lately; it connects to gadgets like smartphones and PCs, and also to meditation.

It is extremely inefficient for smartphones and PCs to work with multiple apps open. At worst, they crash.

Humans also have heads full of distracting thoughts in their daily lives. We overlook the scenery in front of us and cannot even savor delicious food.

That is why we use meditation to turn down the volume of distracting thoughts and focus on the here and now.

After reading the article above, I was reminded again that Mr. Takaoka is amazing, so I looked for his new book on Amazon.

As I scoured the reviews, I found them—Mr. Takaoka's fans.

In the reviews for Mr. Takaoka's many books, passionate comments are written everywhere.

I was struck by the review for this book.

Titled 'Everything is About Loosening Up,' I discovered someone who is working on the Takaoka Method with incredible sincerity.

To summarize,

Something like that.
It is an incredibly good piece of writing, so I want you to read the original.

After reading this, I felt ashamed of myself for just lazily relaxing like a cow's drool.

A lifelong method

Waist fidgeting gymnastics, shin dangling gymnastics, calf and knee rubbing gymnastics.

The names themselves are of the relaxation type. That's why you tend to underestimate them.

This naming sense is actually a technique to send relaxation signals to the brain.

When you return to the origin of Yuru gymnastics once more and do strength training after relaxing your whole body on the spot, you can clearly tell the difference.

If you just do strength training aimlessly, you end up tensing and contracting unnecessary parts.

However, if you do strength training after relaxing your whole body, you can pinpoint the muscles that the strength training is meant to work.

Also, your usual walking or jogging. Every single movement, like standing up or sitting down, other than that.

If you pay just a little bit of attention to your body for each of these, you can somewhat feel which muscles you are using.

Which equals being able to relax the parts you are not using. You don't need to strain yourself unnecessarily, and you don't have to send extra signals to your brain, so your mind feels clear. Or so it seems.

If you are conscious of Yuru gymnastics and the Takaoka method in this way, this is truly a lifelong thing.

Isn't it a bodywork asset?

The more you use it every day, the more you can shave off unnecessary effort.

You can improve all your daily performance.

If anyone is even slightly interested, it is already available on YouTube, so please give it a try.

Most of these exercises require no equipment, special clothing, specific locations, or set times, so once you learn how to do them, you can do them anywhere.

Regarding reference books.

This book compiles easy exercises for beginners. There are many books on Yuru-taisou (loose exercises), but for beginners, this one is all you need.

Among the many Yuru-taisou exercises available, this is the best book for getting an overview or looking up exercises for specific areas you want to loosen.
Truly the definitive edition. The Yuru-taisou Encyclopedia.

For advanced practitioners, these three books are said to be the core of the Takaoka Method. I haven't read them yet.
For those aiming for the ultimate body.