Welcome back to Musician’s Maintenance, for musicians who don’t want to be an injury statistic.
This week’s edition is sponsored by my Online Personal Training Pilot Program. I’m offering a steep discount on weekly customized exercise programs in this pilot program. I’m only accepting 3 clients, so if you know you need to exercise and are ready to hire a professional to guide you, learn a little more below or get all the details here.
I’m Dr. Cody Weisbach, and I appreciate spending the next few minutes in your inbox. Below you’ll find the workout of the week to help maintain your body at least as well as you maintain your instrument.
Let’s go!
Online Personal Training for Musicians – Pilot Program
Musicians have very specific needs when it comes to exercise. Increased strength, flexibility or fitness are all great, but they do not correlate with better playing.
I haven’t seen a lot of quality exercise options out there for musicians, so I’ve decided to try to make something better for those of you who know you need to exercise and are ready to hire a professional to guide you.
My programs are tailored to the needs of musicians and heavily focus on…
- Helping you recover from the physical stress that long hours of practice, rehearsal and performance place on your body
- Improving strength and mobility in key body areas that reduce your injury risk
- Fitting into your busy schedule. Because even the “perfect” program will fail if it’s too much to fit into your life
The program includes weekly customized programs as well as messaging access to me to answer questions and make adjustments as needed.
I’m only accepting 3 clients in this pilot program, and those 3 will receive a steep discount in return for helping me make it as good as it can be.
Get all the details at the link below.
Online Personal Training for Musicians – Pilot Program | Musician’s Maintenance
Move: 5 Simple Exercises for Healthy Shoulders
I believe that healthy shoulders and shoulder blades are key foundational areas for musicians to keep everything from their neck and shoulders, all the way to the wrists and fingers healthy.
Here is a simple but effective program for shoulder health by physical therapist Dr. Tony Comella. It focuses on key muscle groups important for musicians, plus I know Tony is great because he was one of my students a while back!
Check out the post to learn the exercises, then try to routine below.
- Shoulder Abduction Isometric: 30 sec hold per side. Enough pressure so you feel moderate effort, but not pain. Hold pressure and breathe. If effort or pain increase as time goes on, then decrease your pressure to keep it comfortable.
- Band Abduction to 90 degrees: 10 repetitions per side. 1-2 seconds up. 3-4 seconds down. If you don’t have a band you can either do this with no weight, or use a water bottle to add a pound or two.
- Band Abduction to 120 degrees: 10 repetitions per side. 1-2 seconds up. 3-4 seconds down. Again, if you don’t have a band, use a water bottle.
- External Rotation Isometric: 30 sec hold per side. Same rules about pain/effort as with the shoulder abduction isometric exercise above.
- Band External Rotation: 10 repetitions per side. 1-2 seconds out. 3-4 seconds back. If you don’t have a weight, try this variation lying on your side.
- If you feel good and have a little extra time, run through the program 1-2 more times.
As always, make sure you understand the newsletter exercise ground rules before you start. Also, if this program doesn’t work for you, check out the Musician’s Workout Library to find something that does.
Pain Here: 5 Exercises | Tony Comella, DPT
Help Turn the Tide of Injury in Musicians
The rate of injury in musicians is insanely high and injury ends more careers than it needs to.
If you want to be a part the solution, one of the easiest things you can do is connect fellow musicians with good resources.
If you find information like this helpful, please consider forwarding this email to a friend, colleague, teacher or classmate. They can also sign up here. Thanks!