The Difference Between Cane Exercise & Other Workouts

“Stretching is one of the most beneficial exercises for the body.  It helps relax tight knotted muscles and helps increase blood circulation to the muscles.” – from The Cane Exercise, Wellness, and Rehabilitation Manual Vol. 1

In the Beginning

Slow stretches, with slow breathing helps the body heal.  How?  Stretches help increase circulation to the muscles as it unknots them.  Stretching also prevents cramping, stiffness or injuries from exercising without first stretching your muscles.

When you exercise, breathing properly is key.  As you exhale, try to fall deeper into the stretching pose.  Then breathe in slowly and deeply, filling your lungs as completely as possible.  If it creates a coughing spasm, don’t give up.  Just keep breathing in and out slowly and as fully as you currently can.  You will see this ability improve as you continue to regularly train.

Grandmaster Mark Shuey SR. credits his mobility to his stretches discipline and yoga.  Imagine regaining a broader range of movement with gentle, relaxation stretches! 

The Cane

By using the cane in your stretches, you actually enhance your benefit from the stretches.  The cane helps you keep your arms evenly spread during shoulder stretching, or rotations.  The cane makes a huge difference in the triceps and shoulder stretches. You can improve mobility in your wrist by using the cane during single hand cane rotations of the wrist.

Conducting stretches, poses and exercises with the correct posture and technique change the effectiveness of the exercises.  In Cane Chi, Grandmaster Mark Shuey uses cane exercise to enhance all of these and to enhance your physical rehab, if needed.

Before following GM Mark Shuey’s Cane Technique Virtual sessions, check with your doctor.  We have gotten several testimonials from patients and doctors who were surprised at how Cane-Chi enhanced the physical therapy of post-surgery patients. 

As Dr. R. Thomas Grotz, M.D. Orthopedic Surgeon wrote:  “It is a fitness program that is consistent with my judgment as a treating physician and surgeon allowing the accommodation of certain Martial Arts techniques as a physical therapy rehabilitation adjunct.”

If your doctor has questions, have them contact us or call us at 775) 772-9471 for information on the program. 

The Approach

When Grandmaster Mark Shuey Sr. first envisioned Cane Fu self-defense, he wanted to show mobility challenged adults to defend themselves.  He quickly discovered that many of his students had grown weak, because of loss of mobility.  To teach students Cane-Fu self-defense using the cane, GM Shuey first needed to improve strength and flexibility in his students.  He modified his program expanding The American Cane System to accommodate a less active group of followers. 

The self-defense cane fighting program is a fun way to rehab injured muscles.  More importantly the program became a way to help heal immobilized, and demoralized seniors.  In other words, it began to help those who needed it most.  Today, people of various ages and levels of wellness enjoy training under The American Cane System.    

The important thing to understand, is that Grandmaster Shuey will work with your beginning level.  He will show you safe ways to train to reach your own potential.  Other schools put a cane in your hand and tell you this is how you hit with it.  Grandmaster Mark Shuey is committed to showing you the right way to safely build strength, flexibility and stamina.  He follows with proper self-defense techniques.  You gain confidence and independence and lose the target sign you’ve been wearing since you began using a cane.