Piano Forum

Topic: Practise & weight control?  (Read 2381 times)

Offline bitus

  • PS Silver Member
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 207
Practise & weight control?
on: February 17, 2004, 07:28:00 AM
How does practise and piano playing influence your weight?  Don't be afraid to post, ladies... there's not a picture section in your profile... not yet ;D

The Bitus
Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.

Offline bernhard

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 5078
Re: Practise & weight control?
Reply #1 on: February 17, 2004, 11:43:19 AM

It doesn’t. :(

Contrary to some opinions I’ve read that practising for two hours is the equivalent of 30 minutes jogging (the figures vary according to the writer) the physical exertion involved in piano playing is minimal – equivalent perhaps to sitting in front of the TV and pressing the remote control.

Sorry, you will have to get out of the piano bench and do some serious, vigorous work out as everyone else who wants to be fit, trim and healthy.

If there is disbelief about these statements, use a heart monitor while playing and while jogging (or any other aerobic activity) and compare the readings. You will see that piano practising barely raises your heart rate, and certainly does not keep it up for any extended period of time. You see, the muscles used in piano practising are too small, and anyway piano playing is more a feat of co-ordination than muscle strength. So hoping that a lot of piano practice can replace vigorous physical exercise is just wishful thinking.

But it gets worse. Even if you practise a sport regularly (things like squash, or tennis or football) you will not be getting fit either. Professional sports players are usually very fit because they have a parallel fitness routines, while amateurs who just practise the sport believing they are deriving the same benefits are usually the ones having heart attacks and injuries.

If you want to know more, try:

Edward Jackowski – Hold it! You’re exercising wrong – Fontana

And don’t get me started on diets! ;)

Best wishes,
Bernhard.
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. (Hunter Thompson)
 

Logo light pianostreet.com - the website for classical pianists, piano teachers, students and piano music enthusiasts.

Subscribe for unlimited access

Sign up

Follow us

Piano Street Digicert