Old Forum Workout Direction

[fluffhead]

This might be the wrong place to ask this and I understand that i'll probably get blown some crap because even if someone has an answer there won't be "hard science" to back it up, but here goes nothing.  I do kb swings to stay in shape, and I always do them outside.  I've started to notice that no matter where I am I have a tendency to face west.  I'm sure there are some folks here who've studied eastern kinesthetics and I'm hoping they can answer if there are any traditions/beliefs to which direction one should face while working out.
To make it clear, this is just out of curiosity I'm not expecting to change the results of my workouts by facing another way.

 

[Jason Ginsberg]

I have my master's degree in Chinese medicine, have practiced and taught acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine for over 10 years, and have a background in Chinese martial arts.  There are some thoughts about this in the literature, but honestly I wouldn't concern yourself too much with it.  There's a specific context to those discussions that isn't that relevant here.

One, don't face directly into the sun, that's just common sense and safety (so, depending on the time of day and location you're working out, that will effect things), and two, if you feel better facing in a particular direction, then go with that.  Whenever weather and routine allow, I like working out outside, and I often prefer to face in one direction or another, but that often has to do with where the sun is, the particular view, angle of shade, etc.