A few months ago, I started a blog for Singers Who Lift. I am a professional singer working in both the classical and musical theatre worlds, and have also been a dedicated gym bunny for at least a decade. As a dancer, I take my gym training seriously as part of my job and worked with amazing trainers to learn exercises properly.
For years, a lot of my singing colleagues – especially in the classical world – would ask me if I didn’t find that weight lifting put strain on my voice. No. I’d never noticed any problems or correlation between training and how my voice felt or responded. That said, I’d always prided myself on strong technique, both as a singer and on the gym floor.
Then the pandemic occurred and suddenly I was not singing, not dancing and not training at the gym. Theatres and gyms were closed for lockdowns and beyond. In fact I spent the best part of 16 months without a gym. I still sang at home and did a resistance band workout most days, but my routine was not the same. When I finally returned to the gym, I started noticing a problem with the tension in or around my larynx and I realised that my alignment was out of whack and my technique somewhat rusty.
As a vocal coach, I knew some of the reasons behind this and quickly fixed my issue with careful attention to my technique and breath. But now that I better understood what colleagues were experiencing, I decided I wanted to learn much more and explore practical ways to combat this issue, not just for myself but for my colleagues and clients….singers who lift! And so begins a series of posts on laryngeal function in lifting, glottic closure, subglottic air pressure, and perhaps most importantly: best practices for breath flow which I am personally trialling on the gym floor.
I’d love others to join the conversation and share our experiences as singers who lift. So drop me a line and please join me in this community #singerswholift