Want a decent body, but can't lift weights

[GCjared]

As a singer that is currently being classicly trained for a (hopefully) career in opera, There are alot of things that help the voice in terms of excercise ( like cardio) and other things that hinder my vocal technique. Weight lifting does exacttly that. In terms of my muscles, when lifting weights, i'm encouraging tension in my shoulders and in my neck and those are the VERY LAST place you want tension in. Yet, I want to have a decent looking body. Do I necessarilly need to to work out to have a good body? Can I substitute weights with just a lot of cardio? Help!

 

[Patty1]

Runners have good bodies.... Try that.

 

[Steve]

Define good body.

 

[Juliette1]

As a singer that is currently being classicly trained for a (hopefully) career in opera, There are alot of things that help the voice in terms of excercise ( like cardio) and other things that hinder my vocal technique. Weight lifting does exacttly that.

Not true. Muscles unused are muscles tense.. You hinder your vocal technique more by gritting your teeth together at night during sleep or carrying your music to your lessons in a back bag or shoulder strap bag than the type of weight-lifting we're talking about here.
I'm a coloratura soprano, been weight-training on&off about 9 months and have only good things to say about the effects on my voice.
My brother-in-law is a baritone, has been seriously lifting weights for 15 years with no negative effects on his voice or technique.
PM me if you want to discuss this further on the singing point of view. Steve is your man for anything concerning weight-lifting.

Juliette
Master of Music
Classical Singing (Opera), Oboe&English Horn

 

[bless79]

Well, I think in order to have a balanced body, you need to do do cardio and lift weights. It doesn't matter how much you lift but you should lift weights at least once a week.

Blesson

 

[Steve]

Well, I think in order to have a balanced body, you need to do do cardio and lift weights. It doesn't matter how much you lift but you should lift weights at least once a week.

Blesson

You should lift weight more than once per week if you want to get anything out of it with regards to physique-improvement.

 

[GCjared]

Define good body.

Ok, So I don't think as much as lifting weights. I think what my voice teacher was telling me was that you don't want to allow your neck to tense up while lifting. Which is something you shouldn't do anyway? So maybe I should do low weight training?

 

[Steve]

Ok, So I don't think as much as lifting weights. I think what my voice teacher was telling me was that you don't want to allow your neck to tense up while lifting. Which is something you shouldn't do anyway? So maybe I should do low weight training?

I don't know.

I am not a singer. Never will be. But when I lift, I am sure my neck muscle tense up on some of my exercises. And light weight training really isn't going to give you the bang for your buck that you are looking for.

It's an interesting subject. Maybe I will look into the subject matter. I think someone else on here brought this very subject up a while ago.

 

[Juliette1]

Ok, So I don't think as much as lifting weights. I think what my voice teacher was telling me was that you don't want to allow your neck to tense up while lifting. Which is something you shouldn't do anyway? So maybe I should do low weight training?

Does your voice teacher have personal experience of lifting weights?

 

[Steve]

I've been lifting heavy for years and I am pretty sure it hasn't changed my voice. But I also don't involve my voice in the intricacies that are involved with singing.

 

[GCjared]

Does your voice teacher have personal experience of lifting weights?

I know he has lifted before but to what degree, i'm not sure, I only talked to him about it for a short while and i'm thinking about just bringing it up again.

 

[Juliette1]

That sounds like a good idea.
In weight training as in anything else the technique is the most important thing. I assure you it's possible to weight train without causing any harm to your voice. The improved coordination and strength of your muscles brings positive things to singing as well.
Are you familiar with Voice massage therapy? It's massage designed for singers and wind players and concentrates on back, abs, throat, neck and jaw areas. If you ever have any problems with your singing caused by tension in those areas, I warmly recommend that. There are authorized massage therapists with this training, I hope also where you live.
Juliette

 

[GCjared]

That sounds like a good idea.
In weight training as in anything else the technique is the most important thing. I assure you it's possible to weight train without causing any harm to your voice. The improved coordination and strength of your muscles brings positive things to singing as well.
Are you familiar with Voice massage therapy? It's massage designed for singers and wind players and concentrates on back, abs, throat, neck and jaw areas. If you ever have any problems with your singing caused by tension in those areas, I warmly recommend that. There are authorized massage therapists with this training, I hope also where you live.
Juliette

I never heard of those, I'll look into that. When I started to train classically in college, I had a HUGE tension problem, and it's gotten alot better and i'm able to sing my high notes with alot more of relaxation (I'm a Tenor). I guess for my sake, my teach is suggesting not to work out as much b/c of my progress with my tension.

I have done lifting prior to my discussion with my teachers.. it didn't really effect how I sang..

However, my pedagogy teacher said that you don't want to have the body of a body builder especially in the ab area in terms of your lower breathe support. I looked into it more and I found something that said that if a singer has to weight lift for whatever reason, it is suggested that they balance it out with Yoga or Alexander Technique classes.

It's not like i'm 315lbs (anymore) the body i have now I got from running and the average person would consider me to look "Healthy" and "Fit" already and not overweight. We'll see