Practicing tai chi can yield many benefits for health and well-being. But does it count as exercise? And what fitness benefits can you expect from doing it regularly?
Americans need 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week, including two days of muscle strengthening, according to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Depending on the type of tai chi you’re practicing and your individual fitness level, there are cases where tai chi can count towards both of these physical activity benchmarks.
This may be the case, for instance, for people with chronic pain, arthritis, or limited mobility, for whom exercise otherwise seems burdensome or out of reach, explains Rhayun Song, PhD, dean of the College of Nursing at Chungham National University in Korea and director of the university’s Tai Chi for Health Education and Research Center.
“The way of doing tai chi — the slow gentle movements, bending knees, using weight transfer — leads to much more benefits than normal walking,” says Dr. Song, who has been a Tai Chi for Health Institute–certified Tai Chi Master Trainer since 2004.
She says incorporating tai chi into your daily life can lead to “significant improvements” for Americans grappling with arthritis to mobility issues, flexibility, and stress.
For others, who are able-bodied and at optimal health, it can be an excellent exercise to challenge your flexibility and muscle strength while connecting your mind with your body, Song says.
Why Tai Chi Is Good for Improving Fitness
Tai chi is a mind-body exercise originating in ancient China, where its roots began in martial arts, says Paul Lam, MD, a family physician who has been a tai chi teacher for over 40 years. In 2010, Dr. Lam and his medical team founded the Tai Chi for Health Institute, which focuses on developing tai chi exercises to improve health conditions, including osteoporosis, diabetes, and fall prevention.
Consider tai chi a multicomponent exercise, says Kristi Hallisy, PT, DSc, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who is a certified exercise expert for aging adults and tai chi fundamentals certified instructor. She has helped develop rehabilitation programs to promote healthy aging and falls prevention that are based on tai chi fundamentals.
For starters, tai chi is a full-body workout with muscle strengthening, as you stand upright, moving slowly as though you’re pushing against a gentle resistance, and then shifting your weight and holding poses, including balancing on one leg or staying in a squat position, Hallisy says.
Tai chi can be particularly effective for building back strength in people doing physiotherapy post-injury, as well as for seniors who want to improve their mobility and prevent falling, according to Shirley Chock, owner and executive director of Aiping Tai Chi, a Milford, Connecticut–based tai chi school.
One study with 702 participants, published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, found that 16 one-hour weekly community-based tai chi classes reduced the number of multiple falls for participants by 67 percent.
“I’ve had people take five sessions and learn the movements to change their balance, strength, and confidence with daily walking or climbing up the stairs,” Hallisy adds about her patients in rehab.
Aerobic Benefits
Researchers studying more than 61,400 men in China found that those who practiced tai chi regularly lowered their risk of death as much as their counterparts who took up jogging for exercise, according to their findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Another review, published in the journal PLoS One (PDF), found that regular tai chi practice improved cardiovascular health, especially heart and lung heart, even in healthy adults.
Research suggests tai chi is also effective at reducing waist circumference, especially in those 50 and up. A study published in 2021 in the Annals of Internal Medicine followed 550 adults who were at least 50 years old, assigning them randomly to tai chi for three one-hour sessions per week, aerobic exercise with strength training three times a week, or no exercise at all for 12 weeks. Both the group doing tai chi and those doing traditional aerobic exercise lost weight around the waist. However those who did tai chi lost 0.7 inches more than those who did brisk walking with strength training.
Mental Fitness Benefits
And for everyone, it’s also a mental workout steeped in learning deep breathing techniques, mindfulness, and intentional movement.
“Through practice, you learn to be present in the moment, aware of your surroundings and in tune with your body. This helps you to move in a coordinated way,” Chock says. That can benefit people of all fitness levels.
So, Does Tai Chi Count Toward My Weekly Physical Activity?
Yes, tai chi counts as physical activity. But whether a tai chi practice counts toward your weekly aerobic and strength training benchmarks depends on the intensity of your practice and your fitness level.
Hallisy says it’s considered a “mild to moderate aerobic exercise,” but this depends on the style and fitness level of the practitioner. Some lineages of tai chi cross over into martial arts, which can up the intensity significantly.
For an older adult with low aerobic fitness, focusing on the challenge of balance and gaining muscle strength from a tai chi session can be a sufficient full-body workout, Chock says.
But someone who is regularly doing HIIT workouts multiple times a week and does a significant amount of strength training, slower-paced tai chi practices may not dial up the intensity enough to provide a strength or aerobic workout. More strenuous, faster-paced style of tai chi, however — like Chen tai chi — might indeed offer a tough workout, according to Chock.
And it’s worth noting that even those with high fitness levels may prefer a calmer form of tai chi, marked by slower movements, for a rest day between intense aerobic workouts, too.
How to Fit Tai Chi Into a Weekly Workout Plan
Here are four tips for starting with tai chi, no matter what your age or fitness level:
1. Pick the Style That’s Right for You
If you want to start practicing tai chi, first pick the form that’s right for you. There’s the Chen style (the oldest form, with fast, alternating movements), the Yang style (the most popular form practiced today, marked by slow, steady movements), and others, Lam says.
Most styles have an amended version that includes staying seated for some — or all — of the class, using a chair or the wall for extra balance when needed, or keeping both feet firmly planted on the ground, so the practice can be modified for people of different physical abilities.
2. If You Have Limited Mobility or Fitness, Prioritize Safety
If it’s your main workout because of a previous injury or issues with balance and stability, prioritize your safety first, Lam says, and choose a gentle form you can comfortably practice for about 10 minutes a day.
3. Don’t Let Your Age Stop You
Tai chi’s reputation as a gentle exercise shouldn’t dissuade younger Americans from taking up the practice, too, Chock says. Her students range from as young as 12 years old to as old as 90. While the classes they opt for and the benefits they yield may differ between age groups, she says the practice has the same fundamental benefit: stress relief and mindfulness.
4. Be Consistent With Your Practice
The key to garnering results is consistent practice: Lam says tai chi should be practiced for at least 10 minutes per day to build a routine, but ideally people should be practicing for 20 to 30 minutes daily. Hallisy says it can be incorporated into a full workout routine alongside cardio and weight training, or as a standalone exercise for resistance training for those of lower fitness levels.
You’ll notice better posture, balance, flexibility, and leg strength within a few months of practice.
Hallisy says you may start to see results in as little as six weeks to three months as evidenced by clinical trials, however you’ll need to keep practicing tai chi consistently to hang onto your improved mobility.
“If you pursue it long enough, you will learn it’s the mind’s intention that leads the movements. It’s about relieving tension in the body and stressors on your mind,” Chock says.
“The point is whether this exercise is interesting enough to get people’s attention for that time, and safe enough for them to keep doing,” Song says. Generally, more movement leads to more fitness and health benefits, she adds.
Thanks to Carmen Chai at Everyday Health for this article.