Back In Time For Imperial Examination Chapter 172

When it comes to health-preserving exercises, the most suitable one is the Five Animals Exercises. It imitates the postures of the five animals to move the body, with simple and soothing movements and smooth opening and closing. It can stretch the muscles and bones and relieve blood circulation, but unlike general boxing, it does not require sudden force, and will not cause internal injuries due to excessive force.

Xie Ying said: "If it is just for children to practice, and you don't need it yourself, then the Five Animals Exercises are good; if you want to practice boxing for self-defense, the Taizu Changquan is also good."

Ryan Cui smiled and said, "No, no, there are Jinyiwei patrolling the capital now. I am a scholar, what kind of trouble can I encounter in the capital? To be frank, even if I really meet some evil young men on the road, it is not certain that they will beat me, or I will beat them."

Xie Ying held his fingers and said, "Then it's the Five Animals Exercises. I'll teach you the hand positions first."

The Five Animals Exercises imitate five kinds of animals, so unlike boxing, which requires empty fists from beginning to end, each exercise requires a different hand shape: the tiger claw requires five fingers to be slightly hooked; the deer horn requires the middle and ring fingers to be bent, and the other three fingers to be straightened to imitate the branching of the deer horn; the bear paw requires the tiger's mouth to be rounded, like holding an empty fist; the monkey hook requires the fingertips to be gently pinched; the bird wing requires the thumb, index finger, and little finger to be hooked back toward the back of the hand, like a bird flapping its wings...