Your exercise/fitness regimen

[Pharaohrock]

I'm curious to know what other musicians at the board do for fitness and agility. IMO, as I'm sure others would agree it's a lot easier to play when you are in tune with your body and your body feels balanced. Too much fitness tends to be detrimental I think though because you end up being horny too much and wanting to socialize instead of being creative. Or, you feel so good that you don't feel as motivated to achieve a high through music. But certainly some exercise is a must, and a help to the music.

Thoughts? Opinions??

[ryanoceros]

moderation is key. i wish i exercised more. but then again, i also wish that i practiced more. hmmm...

[Harold_Z]

I walk. 3 or 4 miles at a time 5 or 6 days a week. I bring a discman along and dig sounds thewhole time. I LOVE IT.
I'm a former jogger. My advice is WALK. Eventually the jogging beats the shit out of your joints.

I also do a minor league weight workout 2 to 3 times a week with 25 lb dumbells. Curls, presses, etc.

[Bev Stapleton]

I walk round the corridors of a large school every day and jump around classrooms.

Otherwise I lie on the couch listening to a record or reading a book.

I also do finger exercises on a keyboard posting things like this!

[singer339]

well once it stops SNOWING (in *april*....*grumbles*) i'll be back to hiking. i live in the sticks so its nice to get out into nature a bit.

[gregk]

Originally posted by Harold_Z
I walk. 3 or 4 miles at a time 5 or 6 days a week. I bring a discman along and dig sounds thewhole time. I LOVE IT.
I'm a former jogger. My advice is WALK. Eventually the jogging beats the shit out of your joints.


I couldn't have said it better myself. Walking is the best, especially with an mp3 player-I find I can be walking for 45min to an hour and not even notice because I'm enjoying the music and the exercise so much.

[Pete B]

I play upright bass, which can be physically taxing. I lift weights twice weekly, and then try to fill in the week with more aerobically oriented activities depending on the seasons - hiking, biking, kayaking, or I use a Nordictrack during bad or cold weather. I don't run anymore, for the same reasons as stated above. I also make it a point to do fairly extensive stretching excercises - very important for a musician imo.

I've recently contemplated trying bikram yoga - looks like it could be the ticket both physically and mentally for the performer. Does anyone have any experience with it?

[Garrison]

Originally posted by Pete B


I've recently contemplated trying bikram yoga - looks like it could be the ticket both physically and mentally for the performer. Does anyone have any experience with it?

Hey Pete, is there any place around that teaches bikram yoga? I've heard some amazing stories from someone who practices this, but he lives in Austailia. I get to see him in Boston every few months and I can tell you it had some unbelievable health benefits for this person!

My own workout consists of about 3 hours of Kung Fu and Tai Chi Daily. More when I can find a partner to work with. That happens about three times a week or when I can get to an evening class.

On my own, I do stretching and then Shaolin forms. I rotate which ones daily. About 4 or five. Each one three times. Slow, fast and then slow again. I do all of my kicks 20 times on each leg, work on hand techinques and combo's. I try to work out my strikes and kicks on a heavy bag daily too.

I warm down with a Tai Chi Form, and sometimes that includes Quigong.

I try to get to a few classes each week or a private lesson to keep on top of it.

I've been doing this for about 10 years.

When the weather is decent, I like to mountain bike during the sunrise. Obviously not today since its snowed! And that really sucks since I've been able to really get outside for the last three weeks!

[Pharaohrock]

i find the rowing machine is good for tightening my forearms, which definitely helps me play more aggressively as a pianist. i also like hitting a big boxing bag for my arms and hands. if you pulverize your hands like that (not hurting them) you'll find you have a lot more sensitivity when you practice later.

i also do a lot of stretching- legs, arms, chest, back, neck the whole 9 yds. i don't know anything about yoga but i feel i do pretty well by the stretching routine that i use now.

for cardio, i prefer to have a function and so I like playing basketball or throwing the football/going out for passes with somebody. i lift weights but more just to stay tight rather than to really try and build new muscle.

i also like to climb stairs and used to climb a stadium in Cincinnati religiously every other day.....i understand it's not so good for your knees though.

oh, swimming is supposed to be the ideal single exercise form (easy on joints, high cardio value) but i suck at it and don't particularly like it. i like using the kick board, but then you look silly.

[Muskrat Ramble]

Moderate weight lifting almost every day (rotating exercises to give muscle groups a rest). I go for a walk every single day of the year, barring illness or acts of God :) I have to agree with the others about walking: excellent exercise with too many benefits to list.

Personally, I never listen to music while walking because a) there's too much traffic around some places I walk and I want to hear when a car is coming! and b) I like to listen to music exclusively and not try to do other things at the same time and c) I'd rather listen to the sounds of nature while out in nature and just have some quiet since I'm already listening to and playing music for hours every day. Relative silence (external and internal) is important for good mental/spiritual health, imho, and it helps make music that much more engaging and entertaining by the contrast.

I also try to eat decently. No point in exercising all the time and then filling my body with a bunch of toxic waste disguised as food. I'm no extremist, though. Junk food may be bad for the body, but it's good for the soul ;)

Since I play guitar, I also do hours of hand strength, dexterity, and endurance exercises with the instrument itself every day.

i like using the kick board, but then you look silly.

Never let the fear of looking silly stop you because there's always someone who will think you're silly for some reason. Screw public opinion :)

[Pharaohrock]

Relative silence (external and internal) is important for good mental/spiritual health, imho, and it helps make music that much more engaging and entertaining by the contrast.

Amen to that. Not that people who listen to music while doing other things are wrong, but I agree that it is totally important to have the contrast of silence in order to really immerse yourself in the music. Silence is good for the soul too. Most of us lead very busy lives and oftentimes the best thing for you is to just have some quiet time alone. Out in nature is all the better. I like to walk off the trail too- there's symbolism in that and it restores a sense of awe/innocence to be able to explore unknown land. I'll try to get out to the Mountains this summer.....I never feel better physically than when I'm out there and hiking every day.

I also think getting sunlight is important, despite all of the fears over UV rays and skin cancer.

As far as health food, I'm not willing to treat eating as a strict science. I eat whole grains, lots of fruits and vegetables, and I get ample protein through soy, chicken, and fish. And I take a multivitamin. As far as taking a bunch of herbs and supplements though, it seems like you really have to do your homework as some things fight each other or can have adverse effects in combinations.....plus, it's costly to buy them on a consistent basis. I take some Echinacea during cold season but that's about it. Having said that, I am interested in learning more about herbal supplements because if there were 2 or 3 that had great overall effects, I would probably consider getting them. As it stands most herbs seem to be targeted at very specific areas of the body.

[Pharaohrock]

I also know what Muskrat says to be true: junk food is good for the soul. I think there is more wholesome junk food out there though. Some relatively lean dark chocolate is a lot better than eating a Butterfinger for example. A burger from a diner is a better bet than a McDonalds burger.....I try to avoid a lot of the packaged stuff that has hydrogenated oils too.

[Noj]

I don't play a musical instrument, but I do draw and paint. I find exercizing regularly to actually be a source of energy rather than a drain of energy. I like to go home from work and shoot hoops for an hour and a half or so. After a shower, I feel ready to forget about the day at work and find I have new energy to initiate creative thinking. :cool:

[Muskrat Ramble]

I also think getting sunlight is important, despite all of the fears over UV rays and skin cancer.

I agree it seems to have a big psychological impact. That's why folks who live in northern regions, particularly up in the "Land of the Midnight Sun," where there's very little sunlight half the year, apparently suffer disproprtionately from "seasonal affective disorder" (aka "winter blues" etc.).

Silence is good for the soul too. Most of us lead very busy lives and oftentimes the best thing for you is to just have some quiet time alone.

Definitely. Our culture tries its best to always agitate us and keep us constantly craving novel stimulation. Want to drive your average American up the wall? Make them sit in a silent, empty, blank room for just ten or fifteen minutes. Most people I've seen always need to be "doing" something, always need the security blanket of having a tv or stereo running in the background, etc. Take all that away, and the brain feels like its drowning at first.

That constant spinning of the mental (and hence emotional and physical) gears can cause, in my (layman's) considered opinion, all kinds of problems: physical ailments, inability to concentrate/becoming the archetypal scatterbrain, hyperactivity, mood swings, unfocused aggression, short temper, etc.

Basically, living that way all the time makes people skim the surface of life (and consciousness), always flitting from one thing to another without understanding why, rarely experiencing things in depth or conducting any sort of extended reflection.

That's why I think it's vital that folks regularly slow down, relax physically and mentally (they go together), and experience some literal and internal silence. Instead of teaching you about math and English from your first years at school, they ought to first teach people about their mental/spiritual health. Teach meditation most of the day, then some fractions and ABC's :)

[bubber]

I walk around in the mountains, carrying a rucksack with food and extra clothes, sometimes also a tent and a sleeping bag, always bringing my flyfishing rod, trying to catch some mountain trout for dinner. (Flyfishing is the contemplative man's recreation (Isaac Walton)). It's good excercize, fresh air, great scenery, very few people, so you also get your head in place - total mental relaxation.

At wintertime it's skiing - cross country - gives you much of the same (except the trout, of course).

[Pharaohrock]

What's the fishing like in Norway friend??

[bubber]

Fishing in Norway is like most other places, I guess - sometimes you catch, sometimes you don't.

What's different from most other places, however, is that in Norway (a little more than 4 mill inhabitants and not to many tourists) you can fish for days without meeting many other fishermen - it's not crowded up here, except for the most famous salmon rivers - which I don't care much for anyway.

[El Gaucho]

I smoke L's to the face and play ball with someone usually once a day.

Bogey's be killin your lungs tho.

[bluesman]

Oh my keeping fit its difficult for us older folk especially when you play in unhealthy bars etc. I do enjoy walking but damaged my leg recently ( it will recover ).
I play double bass and play blues harp ( vocals) and I do breathing exercises and one of these is very simular to those my wife did in preparation for child birth!

I played a gig three weeks ago which was in a room up three flights of winding stairs, not easy with a double bass ( who needs mountain climbing ! )