Every musician knows that practicing your instrument is a crucial part of any professional career. But most musicians don’t have a clue what it takes to prepare their bodies for a tour or stage performance.
You can have all the skill in the world with your instrument, but if you don’t have the physical stamina to play every single night, no one will know how talented you are.
It takes a great deal of energy and strength to perform on stage night after night. You have to prepare your body as much as you prepare your instrument. Consider it an essential piece of equipment that, if neglected, will render your performances worthless if left uncared for.
Here are the 5 keys to a successful fitness regiment for any musician. Each key can be covered at great length, but here are some important points about each.
Key #1: Nutrition – The way you “feed and refuel” your body, before and after a performance, will determine how successful you will be in achieving your ultimate physical performance goals on stage.
Also, the types of foods you eat and the balance of those foods will determine how successful you will be when it comes to reaching your fitness goals. A very successful method used by many prominent and successful professional musicians is a diet plan similar to Zone. Each meal and snack must be properly balanced in the same proportion of:
40% low-glycemic carbohydrates, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains
30% lean protein such as chicken, turkey, fish, soy, low-fat dairy, and lean beef
30% healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, flax, fish oils, nuts and seeds. Eating in this ratio helps control insulin levels, the hormone that causes weight gain and increased hunger. Mick Jagger, Sting, and Jessica Simpson are just 3 stars using this nutritional regiment.
When all is said and done, 50-80% of your results will come from how you decide to implement your nutritional key.
Key #2: Hydration – Surely you have heard the phrase “Water is the essence of life”. It’s true! Hydration is a key element to allow the body to perform at its highest physical and mental level in any situation. Performing on stage can be very physically and mentally demanding. A professional musician must take advantage of all the elements at his disposal to ensure that he is at his best. Water helps the body recover from nighttime physical activity. Drinking water throughout the day leading up to a performance can also greatly improve your success that night. Foo Fighters members consume at least 12 ounces of electrolyte-infused water just before going on stage to ensure they are well hydrated for a show. Once on stage, they take three to four sips of a drink every 10 minutes if possible, or five to six drinks every 15 minutes to ensure a good stomach-intestinal flow. I know… it sounds gross but it’s effective.
Key #3: Rest – The body, on average, needs at least 6 to 8 hours of sleep each night. Without it, it will start to rebel against you. The body will begin to become disappointed and will not perform to its full potential if you sacrifice rest. The brain will start to misfire and trick you into a false reality if sleep is not a major spoke in the wheel of your overall fitness. A very popular practice among hundreds of rock stars is self-healing meditation. From Madonna to Sting, self-healing meditation is an integral part of many professional musicians’ daily routines to stay rested, prepared and fit.
Key #4: Weight/Resistance Training – Performing a weight/resistance training program, even just 2 days a week, can exponentially help your body become more resilient and efficient at handling the punishment you experience every night on tour and on stage. This can be done in several ways; For example, a circuit training program, a functional training program, or a pyramid-based weight training program, are just a few types to choose from. Josh Todd of the rock group “Buckcherry” performs a weight training routine every day with only his own body weight doing push ups, sit ups, pull ups and shadow boxing. It’s what gets him through the incredibly physically demanding shows he brings to the stage night after night.
Key #5: Cardiovascular Training – Improving the efficiency of the body’s heart and lungs is another crucial piece of the fitness puzzle. And it can be improved by simply implementing 2-3 days of a minimum of 20 minutes of cardio training. Like weight training, there are several types of cardiovascular programs to choose from and it is recommended to vary these different programs to see timely results. This fact became very apparent to the members of Counting Crows when they hired a personal trainer to work with them during one of their extensive tours. David Immergluck, who plays guitar on “Counting Crows,” wondered why, even though he rode a stationary bike for half an hour every day, his body didn’t change. He couldn’t understand why he was doing the same things over and over again in the same way, but not seeing the change. When asked by the coach, “Do you play a song the exact same way, day after day, over and over again?” He said “of course not” because that wouldn’t challenge him as an artist, help him grow or evolve and lead to stagnation, so he hit him. As with music, if you want to make changes, evolve, grow, improve, however you prefer to express it, you cannot expect a new result if you are always doing the same steps.