I sing in two choirs, one professional and one voluntteer for church.  I am in rehearsal at least four hours a wekk.  I also teach school which is lot of work for the voice.  I somestimes also get the occaisonal solo gig or a gig as a ringer singer for a choir that needs someone who can read a part down in a hurry.   I sometiems also do a solo for a Sunday morning service that is broadcast on TV locally.  I am fiftyseven years old.

 

All this is just to make the point that I sing and use my voice a lot and iI have been doing so for a long time.

 

I have been working out at a local gym for the past five years.    LIfting weights will not necesarily damage your voice, but  caution is ino order.   I never use my "throat" to hold my breath when lifting.  I rarely hold my brieath at all, now that I think of it. If I do need to restrict the air flow for any reason I use my llips and not the vocal mechanisme.  I had some issues with this when I got back into the gym and I made a consiious effort to protect the voice.  If you luse your vocal mechnim to either hold your breath or restrict air flow you could cause yourself some vocal problems.

 

I was taking some graduate hours one summer and met a singer who looked rather like a human tree.  He had been lifting since he was eleven or twelve and had wonderfully rseonant beritone voice.   He spend about two hours a day in the gym and I can't imagine most of us would have time to do tht.  Given the immense weights he lifted and the amount of time he spend doing it I can't imagine that he woudl be ablle to sin well at all, let alone well enough to funtion in a masters program.

 

Your work on your ccre muscles should take the most precdednce.  Legs and lower body are good too. We stand alot.    You will find that you can support your voice with  much less effort and with more control.   And any cardio work you wo whill improve the health of your body and thereby your instrument.

 

Getting back into the gym late in life was the result of reading a book called "Younder Next Year" which I highly recoommend.  I do not believe I could keep up my schedule of teaching and performing without working out.  I still am not in very good shape.  Just better than before.

 

On the other hand, if you find that you are always closing off the air with the throad when you lift and you can't seem to fix it, I would avoid lifting and stick with the vital cardio-vascular work.   

 

Dear folks,

 

I have authored an article scheduled for the next issue of Choral Journal that will specifically deal with this topic.  I hope you find it of interest and assistance.

 

Take care,

Patrick Freer

Georgia State University

I also am a singer who weightlifts (resistance training) a great deal. Holding the breath seems to be the issue of concern, but you shouldn't be doing that at any time during weightlifting anyway. Losing 60 + pounds, going off all medication, and having the blood pressure, , etc. of a healty 20 year old is probably worth the risk, especially for those of us in middle age! Not sure how to do resistance training properly? Get a few sessions with a trainer, explain that you especially want to learn proper breathing while working with weights.  I also heartiy endorse "Younger Next Year," it's a fantastic book! Every 50+ man ought to read this.

The short answer, Michael, is No....unless a lifter grunts a lot during lifting.  And Patrick Freer's article will give lots of good details. I look forward to reading it.

 

When lifting, pushing, pulling anything 'heavy,' us humanoid creatures inhale air into our lungs and close the vocal folds somewhat tightly while we use torso muscles to 'squeeze' the chest wall in order to optimally stabilize the torso.  Such a stabilized torso provides mechanical advantage to the arms for the lifting, pushing, pulling.  Repeated grunting over enough time waaaaay increases the shear stresses on the epithelial cells of the two vocal folds and can contribute to a 'wearing down' of the microscopic-sized ridges and valleys on the epithelial cell surfaces.  Closing the vocal folds strongly like that, with no grunting, can, to some degree, contribute to the strength and endurance of the vocal fold closer muscles in the larynx.  Strength in those muscles and the torso's abdominal and rib cage muscles can optimize the production of greater vocal volumes.  Obviously, anything can be overdone.  And yes, 'tis possible to do weightlifting without closing the vocal folds but the mechanical advantage to the arms for lifting will be reduced--not a problem if the goal is optimal neuromuscular toning.  If a lifter does A LOT of heavy lifting during a session, then a subsequent period of rest will be a good thing, BUT...I would recommend doing some easy vocalizing right after a lifting session anyway, to engage the vocal fold shortener and lengthener muscles along with with 'easier' engagement of the vocal fold closer and opener muscle coordinations, all operating synergistically.  For the closer muscles that would be a good 'warmdown.'

Excellent, I will now await the article. Your comments have been most helpful and I am very grateful.

 

 

Here's a brief article by Joanna Cazden:

http://www.themodernvocalist.com/profiles/blogs/weights-amp-measures

I agree... The Joanna Cazen article is thorough yet succinct.   THanks, Mr. Laino.

I know how rude this is, but could somebody give me the gist of the Choral Journal article when it is printed. I am English, and I am not yet good enough to be in a choir, so I don't see the point of joining the ACDA.

 

Sorry again,

 

Michael

I've looked at the article now. You mention that locking of the knees is bad. Is this not unavoidable, if you lift while doing squats? I don't know what the technical term for this maneuvre is called.

 

 

Why is it bad for singing to strenthen the neck muscles?