Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Piano and Exercise....the PE thread

Thought I'd start a thread on this. Seems we keep sticking in some kind of exercise in other threads. It surely helps us in our quest to play piano.

You can post anything you want related to exercise on this thread. Got a new bike, etc.
Especially important is exercise that is focused on playing piano.
Anything you think might help others.

Before piano, I used to commute to work by bike routinely, but now I have to choose between 20 minutes more practice time or a ride to work.

How's that for a dilemma?!

In the last few years, I’ve been in a regular routine of exercising and watching what I eat… though I still like potato chips now and then.

The exercising has become a very important part of my daily/weekly schedule; I lost over 50 pounds the first year I started exercising, and I've been maintaining my weight since. In fact, I honestly don’t like it when something comes up that interferes with my exercising time.

I workout on a stair-stepper machine, do sit-ups and lift some free weights an hour or more on my days off from work, (the weekends) and I try to exercise at least 30 minutes 4 out of the five work days. I take one day a week off my exercise routine.

I feel better, look better, and my blood pressure, and cholesterol, are lower than they have ever been… of course, I do take a statin drug for the cholesterol; I asked my Dr. about stopping the statin, but he said it was good to take it for maintenance purposes. Not sure I buy that, but I still take the statin daily.

I think my exercising has done a lot to enhance my piano playing/practicing. Or, perhaps I just feel better and playing the piano is just more fun for that reason.

Anyway, I hope I can keep it up (the exercising). I honestly think it is the best thing I have going for me at this stage of my life.

Rick

You people might not know. I almost died permanently 9 years ago. I did die for a few seconds. I had diabetes that was causing weight loss. Doctors can't treat that. It either stops or it doesn't. I suffered damage, even nerve damage.

In my quest to find how to effectively recuperate and get healthy again. I had two sources of great info.

One was a book named: Younger Next Year. It is written by a retired lawyer. He did it with the permission and input from his Gerontologist. It is focused on people retiring. It is proven that these people start exercising. The result is they get younger each year instead of older. The age determined by common clinical tests. Think about this and playing piano. How many time you've used the excuse of getting older. You really should check this book out.

The other one was I ran across a guy teaching training. His name is Scott Sonnon. I wouldn't suggest to anyone here to try to get into training with him. His system of training is so involved mentally. You have enough trying to learn piano. I have always suggested to people to get his mobility program. He says that is the most important part of training. It is the one and only thing he wants people to do everyday. It is a fountain of youth.
I'll post later on some mobility to fingers I came up with just for piano. Also the reasons why.

My wife and I are runners. We live close to a wonderful park that has miles of running and biking paths. We run 5 and 10k events here in town. Whats great about being old is that there is not too much competition in my are group. We had to slow down a little this summer as we have had a health problem to deal with but we are now on the other side of that and hoping to start training for a half marathon this next spring.

malkin... I commuted to work at one time. Only problem was; I was so worn out after work. I really pedaled slow on the way home. It was only about 4.5 miles.

Rickster....sounds great. Sounds like you're doing real good.

WJ3....gee not much competition? I got second place in my age group in my ultra marathon. Now we can ignore the itty bitty, teenie weenie, little...well... fact.... that there was only two people in my age group at my distance. The important thing is I got second place! ... Good going for you. Keep at it.

Of course we will ignore that!

I used to wear (under my helmet) a cycling cap with the world champion's stripes on it. It always cracked me up, and I always said to myself, "I am the world champion or this here commute."

I used to race other cyclists on the 3 mile trip to work. We were crazy, and usually a bit on the "late" side. So there was no let up; a down gradient all the way, we were flying, and very sweaty when we got there.

It was a bit different coming home. Now, women pass me and I can`t do a darn thing about it . . .

Nice thread! To my regret, I am not much of a sport person, but I intend to do something about it.

Last winter I started some indoors rock climbing - a great mind/body workout but not very good for the hands. You're supposed to use your legs more than anything but in the end you still use your arms a lot, especially when you are a beginner and a bit scared of heights! So fingers and forearms get stronger but possibly less nimble. I stopped for the summer but I want to start again in October, it was great fun. I also climbed a bit outdoors with friends who are good at it, but my goal is just to be safer when I go hiking and to be able to do some via ferrata's and things like that, I'm so not into real climbing.

I also want to start running seriously next fall. I had started a C25k program but I didn't stick to it. Now it's the time! I move around a lot here in the country, tending my olive grove and garden, but I need something more structured and complete.

My only hobby up until last year was running. From a casual runner with perhaps one marathon a year I really upped it in the last two years running in both 100 km an 100 mile events. I was forced to stop running altogether and took up piano and then of course put on weight. So now I like to get out about three times a week on the road bike, my usual course is 32km and takes me just over an hour. So today is one of my cycling days but found a new piece of music which has me captivated, oh the dilemma.

My sport is tennis. I practice tennis for 8 years in a club near my house. We have one/two sessions with a teacher during the weekdays, and we do some games in the weekend (usually at Saturdays).

Now, the interesting is that I can find a similarity between tennis and piano. In both activities I am "alone" i.é, I play piano alone, and tennis is played alone (I don't like to do doubles). So, every decisions and every failures are imputed to "me". I don't have any partner to accuse for a miss ball as I don't have any colleague to blame about a lost chord. On the other hand, I've to have the capability to restore my confidence for my self. Once again, in tennis and in piano (remember: I don't have a teacher), confidence must come from "inside".
It was funny when I started thinking about this.

Carlos CC I think there are a lot of similarities with piano and some sports.

My preferred exercise has changed over the years. I did triathlons in my thirties, rode dressage horses in my 40's and 50's, and now I just hike. Some health issues that cause vertigo have forced me to keep two feet firmly on the ground, but what a better place to hike than in the middle of the alps! Swiitzerland is covered in trails, and I can literally walk out my front door and end up on top of a mountain. This is what is outside my front door:



So, it is not as intense as the activities of the past, but climbing the hills does get my heart rate up! I hike daily, and try to get a long one in once a week.

Well, I'm not a very sporty person. I played squash a lot in my early 20s, and loved that. (I can't remember why I stopped, truth be told).... and for a while I was going to the gym very regularly . A detached retina put a stop to that for a while, yet even after my eye healed (and it is fine) - I have some restrictions for the types of activities I can do (no aerobics, no jumping, nothing with my head hanging down). I have found it impossible to get back into any sort of gym activity.
I am just too nervous about it.

I'm also hypothyroid so my metabolism is slow. Exercise is VERY good for me - I need to build up more muscle to have my system function better.

Cycling is the exercise I ENJOY. Anything else is duty.
Where we live, there are a stunning amount of cycling paths - paved ones along the major canals, dirt paths along the river, and trails in the woods, dirt roads through the farms - lots of opportunities to ride in car-free places!
When we go out, our minimum ride is 45 minutes, and our longest rides to-date are 52km. In the past few weeks we've done runs of 35km and 42km - we haven't hit the longer run yet. Maybe this week. I'd actually like to get beyond the farthest place we've been... that in itself isn't the problem. It is the return trip!


I have a mat and small weights which I can use at home - and I need to use more often!

I also read up on the mobility exercises Ron mentioned and I've started on those. I particularly like the ones for neck arms and shoulders.


I walk to work all the time - and that means 3-4 15 minute walks times 2 per day, most days of the week - some days a bit less. For some of my work cycling is more logical - we're talking 3-6 km one way.

The trouble is that I would much rather sit at the piano than do sit ups and weights!

I have the book Ron mentioned "Younger Next Year". I found it quite inspirational when I first read it. I think I should re-read it.

So....hmmm, if the FOYD, MOYD threads help keep me on track with piano - perhaps this one will encourage me to get rolling more with PE. .....That would be a good thing.

I will report back in a few days!

Wow SwissMS, what a view!

Wow, that's quite a view!

I also used to ride horses, when I was a teenager. The basic dressage/jumping skills for my riding license, then just some trail riding. Now I'd love to get a small cart horse, but roads are just too steep here!

SwissMS you were posting while I was writing - I missed your pic! Wow..... that's quite the view to wake up to! Gorgeous!

My wife and I have always been runners. We've each done one marathon, a few half marathons, and countless 10-k and 5-k races over the decades.

On the bike, we've also done BRAG (Bicycle Ride Across Georgia) a few times - it's a week-long bicycle vacation across the state - lot's of fun - usually about 350 miles.

And there's hiking - I volunteer to maintain a mile of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia. I plan to hike Maine to Georgia one year...

But my sport of choice is orienteering - running with a map and compass through the woods. I make maps for our local orienteering club, and that keeps me really on my toes.

Being fit and staying active definitely helps stay alert and focused at the piano!

Sam

For exercise I pat myself on the back, jump to conclusions, wrestle with dilemmas, knock my head against a wall, run in circles and sometimes kick butt...

Seriously, in my wild and crazy middle age I participated in triathlons, biathlons, marathons and various and assorted road races - now my wife & I bike on local rail-to-trail paths and I work out at a fitness center and play golf, which is truly a "good walk spoiled" as Mark Twain was remarked (only in half jest), where occasionally I get some bonus exercise by wrapping a club around a tree...

But, the workout I enjoy the most is the one at our local ice cream parlor and involves only the eager use of a spoon...

Gee... Lots of responses.
I'll try later to respond to each and every person since I'm the OP.

I really hope that this thread helps people who haven't done any exercise. Don't want to be no athlete. Not interested.
It's just that we are basically physical beings. To exercise somehow, helps us exist. Don't have to let people see you. Don't need no criticism from wannabe's. You can always do something.
I can't stress how important Mobility work is. It isn't even exercise. It makes deep changes in you. Leaves you wanting to move. It is no wonder why people who don't exercise, don't feel like it. Their bodies chemical reactions have adapted to that. The endocrine system. Your body adapts to whatever you expose it to. Make changes slowly so the endocrine system can adapt.
Gee... Piano is so difficult to play well. We need all the health we can for out bodies to execute that.

A Russian saying: Movement is life and life is movement. And dance is a celebration of life.