Learn Radio Taiso Exercises and live longer!
Claiming that to learn Radio Taiso exercises will help you live longer is quite the bold claim – but it’s TRUE! The science is very much on the side that the exercises help keep you functionally fit for longer, but the PROOF, as they say, is in the pudding!
The MILLIONS of Japanese people (in Japan and across the world) who practice the Radio Tasio exercises consistently show greater agility, and suffer less from age-related mobility problems. That they learn Radio Taiso exercises in SCHOOL and continue the routines their entire lives is the BEST testimony as to the effectiveness of these SIMPLE daily exercises.
Before I Learn Radio Tasio Exercises – What ARE they??
and is not really the best title for this set of exercises, as it is a descriptor that only really makes sense to Japanese people. They are ‘radio’ exercises only in that the music to exercise to is played on the radio; the exercises/movements are done from memory having been learned (usually) in the school system.
A better title might be:
Bodyweight Exercises for Strength and Fitness
Radio Taiso Exercise Routine
You get the idea – it is a freehand exercise system that requires no special equipment and doesn’t take up a lot of space. Why do I still call it Radio Taiso then? Honestly, because I like it!
Top Ten Benefits of the Radio Taiso Exercise Routine:
The top ten benefits that Radio Taiso-type exercises can bring to the body:
- It allows the brain AND muscles to relax.
- Can improve heart and lung function, while also promoting blood circulation, thereby enhancing the function of most of the organs in the body.
- Can reduce feelings of fatigue, and make you feel more energetic.
- Can improve posture, and make muscles stronger.
- Can draw a line under the stresses of the day and encourage a good night’s sleep.
- If teamed with more strenuous exercise, doing these exercises can help avoid muscle strains.
- Doing radio exercises immediately after work helps relieve temporary mental fatigue caused by stress (or in other words the RAAAAAAGHHH after work!).
- Sticking with it will enhance physical fitness and help prevent illnesses brought on by stress and fatigue.
- Can enhance coordination and rhythm.
- Performing radio exercises to any sort of music is good for your MENTAL health.
Trying the Radio Taiso Exercise Routine:
Follow the links below to go straight to the shop, where each book description has full details of that particular program:
Why do WE not have our own version of Radio Taiso?
When I say ‘we’ I am assuming you are not Chinese or Korean – because if you are, then you do! (Follow the highlighted links) No, I mean us in the West, a collection of countries that suffers from ALL of those issues that performing an exercise routine such as Radio Taiso will help with.
What makes the issue all the more bizarre is that these routines were based on an AMERICAN program from the 1920s; the Metropolitan Life Health Exercises (a greatly expanded version of which is available HERE).
Visiting businessmen loved the concept so much they took it home with them and their countries have been exercising ever since!
But we’re in the 2020s, not the 1920s, and we don’t need ‘versions’, we can do the real thing! One world, after all. Here at Internal Force Fitness I look at these routines, simplify them where needed for those who have never done this kind of exercise before, and make them available for anyone to have a go.
Many of us have taken to YouTube for our exercise needs, and sweat and follow blindly along to whatever is ‘in’ at the time. Nearly ALL of the routines I promote on this site involve 4 things:
- Stretching,
- Bending,
- Squatting,
- Twisting.
These are TIMELESS exercises because they are all you really need to stay supple, strong, and healthy. I always encourage people to READ and make NOTES when they start to exercise, because only then can you get the DOUBLE benefit that comes with this kind of exercise; Physical AND Mental well-being.
Turn OFF the TV, put on some relaxing music, and just let your body move, turn, and destress.
To double back and actually answer the question, we DO have our own versions, or rather individuals have developed knock-offs (you’ll have seen Facebook ads for these kinds of things). Do they work? Of course, they do. Pretty much all exercise programs work if you stick to them, but how often have you done that?
Richie Neville | Founder
Internal Force Fitness