lifting weights at the gym and my piano ability

[shoshin]

Okay I know alot of people have asked about if they should lift weights or not and how it will affect their playing.  Well i'm on month 8 of lifting.  It involves alot of grasping of bars. You should see the callouses on my hands now its crazy, and my forearms just  got about 50% stronger just so I could hang onto the weights. I did ALOT of back excercises to get "wings" (lats) and that involved gripping a tremendous amount of weight.

All and all I feel really no difference in my piano technique---it still sucks really bad.

I'm not sure if you would want to do weightlifting if you are making a career outta of piano because it is very fatiguing to your forearms, arms, shoulders.  And you could overstress or worse injure yourself.

But in terms of: hey i have more muscles do I play better? I have not experienced that effect maybe its about 10%-20% easier to play the piano but nothing too drastic.  I'm also kindof worried that now that I have bigger muscles I might use them instead of proper technqiue.

I'm a firm believer that piano playing requires relaxation and techinque over strength. I dont believe in strength for the piano.

[bach-liszt]

Interesting topic.   I workout with weights three times a week.  My excecise includes cardiovasular work which is actually the most important health-wise.

I feel better after working out and I definetely thinks this helps my playing.  I do an excerse to strengthen my wrists.  I play a lot of Lizst on the piano and I think some added strength/weight in the forearms has been a big help.  I really rely on the arm weight and I try to keep the fingers "nimble."

[bearzinthehood]

Wear gloves when you work out.

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

In order to improve piano playing, one needs to practice piano. I am pretty sure that excercising other muscles will make them stronger, will not affect piano technique. What can affect it however is the amount of stress the muscles experience. Staying relaxed is the best for piano playing.


Best wishes to all.

[ted]

I think Bearzinthehood is right. Wear gloves, with extra padding if necessary. It is possible to put pressure on nerves resulting in carpal or cubital problems. I don't think big muscles would matter per se, but if you feel tingling, numbness or weakness in the hands or fingers, then stop and revise your resistance training.

[thalbergmad]

Keep away from the heavy stuff to avoid hand/tendon injuries.

I used to powerlift and arm wrestle a lot, and could not practice piano for a day after a massive training session.

Thal

[alwaystheangel]

I get a massive amount of upperback pain when I play the piano for more than 45 minutes -> 1 hour at a time,  I have found that working the muscles in the shoulder area and pectoral have helped be increase my endurance and has minimized the pain I get from playing.  Now, If I could figure out how to fix painful cracking wrists....

[pianoperfmajor]

Okay I know alot of people have asked about if they should lift weights or not and how it will affect their playing.  Well i'm on month 8 of lifting.  It involves alot of grasping of bars. You should see the callouses on my hands now its crazy, and my forearms just  got about 50% stronger just so I could hang onto the weights. I did ALOT of back excercises to get "wings" (lats) and that involved gripping a tremendous amount of weight.

All and all I feel really no difference in my piano technique---it still sucks really bad.

I'm not sure if you would want to do weightlifting if you are making a career outta of piano because it is very fatiguing to your forearms, arms, shoulders.  And you could overstress or worse injure yourself.

But in terms of: hey i have more muscles do I play better? I have not experienced that effect maybe its about 10%-20% easier to play the piano but nothing too drastic.  I'm also kindof worried that now that I have bigger muscles I might use them instead of proper technqiue.

I'm a firm believer that piano playing requires relaxation and techinque over strength. I dont believe in strength for the piano.

it's "a lot" not "ALOT."

[shoshin]

That's an interesting point about the back and shoulder strength helping because I do feel that--just sitting down at the piano is even easier for me. Also, the gloves comment was good.   Excercise is good to keep the body healthy and having a healthy body is going to improve piano peformance to some degree.  I was talking about extreme weights...which I conclude I dont recommend to the serious pianist because of the possibility of injury and the short term stess after weight lifting.  I am very supportive of cardio excercisek, though.  Cardio is the best excercise to get in shape and its effect on the heart, circulatory system, and overall toning of the body has benefits to almost anythign you do.  It is a little known fact that Beethoven used to wake up early in the morning to jog the streets of Vienna to maintain superior condition...he had a sixpack too.  Even Bach was ad avid cardio excericiser and he fashioned the worlds first stair stepper out of 2 broken down harpsicords.

[alwaystheangel]

Beethoven had a 6 pack?!?!?!?! Wow....

[cloches_de_geneve]

If your muscles are very relaxed in general, weight lifting in moderation is probably ok.
However, if you tend to be tense in general, keep away from it. Remeber what Chopin used to say to his students: A pianist's body should feel very soft, like a rubber sponge. He also discouraged to practice for more than a couple of hours in succession to avoid tension and rigidity.

[cloches_de_geneve]

It is a little known fact that Beethoven used to wake up early in the morning to jog the streets of Vienna to maintain superior condition...he had a sixpack too. 

Do you have the reference for this?