Warm-Up Exercises - Revision history

Meambobbo at 18:47, 9 July 2017

2017-07-09T18:47:16Z

Meambobbo: /* Stretching */

2016-04-30T02:22:12Z

‎Stretching

Meambobbo: /* Stretching */

2016-04-30T02:19:12Z

‎Stretching

Meambobbo: /* Stretching */

2016-02-22T03:23:52Z

‎Stretching

Meambobbo at 03:23, 22 February 2016

2016-02-22T03:23:29Z

Meambobbo: /* Finger-Stretching */

2015-12-24T19:54:32Z

‎Finger-Stretching

Meambobbo: /* Stretching */

2015-12-19T05:16:14Z

‎Stretching

Meambobbo: /* Cardio */

2015-12-19T04:10:38Z

‎Cardio

Meambobbo at 05:27, 6 December 2015

2015-12-06T05:27:48Z

Meambobbo: /* Stretching */

2015-12-06T05:20:23Z

‎Stretching

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:47, 9 July 2017
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	<span style="font-size:1.4em">{{loud\|ALWAYS WARM UP!!!!}}</span>		<span style="font-size:1.4em">{{loud\|ALWAYS WARM UP!!!!}}</span>
		+
		+	I am not a doctor. See [[MAB_Wiki:General_disclaimer\|Disclaimers]]. Any medical advice below should be reinforced by your own research and advice from a professional.

	Warming up helps improve your playing and avoid injury. '''Be sure to warm-up both your fretting and picking hands.''' Your fretting hand needs to be stretched so that some uncomfortable chord shapes or finger-stretches don't push you into injury or cramping. This includes your wrist, which needs to angle in difficult positions as well as your fingers. Your fretting hand wrist and elbow need to be loosened up as well. All the muscles and ligaments involved in playing guitar (there are a ''lot'' in your hands) need to be given a gradual introduction to the workload you are about to put on them, to make sure they have good blood flow and nothing is out of place. When you start playing a gig or even recording, trying to hit that difficult lick can be a jarring shock to the biomechanics involved if they weren't warmed up.		Warming up helps improve your playing and avoid injury. '''Be sure to warm-up both your fretting and picking hands.''' Your fretting hand needs to be stretched so that some uncomfortable chord shapes or finger-stretches don't push you into injury or cramping. This includes your wrist, which needs to angle in difficult positions as well as your fingers. Your fretting hand wrist and elbow need to be loosened up as well. All the muscles and ligaments involved in playing guitar (there are a ''lot'' in your hands) need to be given a gradual introduction to the workload you are about to put on them, to make sure they have good blood flow and nothing is out of place. When you start playing a gig or even recording, trying to hit that difficult lick can be a jarring shock to the biomechanics involved if they weren't warmed up.

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 All stretches should be done carefully - forcing a stretch too quickly or overextending the muscle can itself result in injury.  Any pain associated with stretching should be mild and spread throughout the muscle, not sharp and confined to a joint or nerve.  Slowly increase tension until the muscle feels slight (but not sharp or intolerable) pain and hold for 20-30 seconds, then release.
-{{youtube|Z0vD5zoaBs4}}
+<youtube>Z0vD5zoaBs4</youtube>
 === Fingers ===

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:19, 30 April 2016
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	All stretches should be done carefully - forcing a stretch too quickly or overextending the muscle can itself result in injury. Any pain associated with stretching should be mild and spread throughout the muscle, not sharp and confined to a joint or nerve. Slowly increase tension until the muscle feels slight (but not sharp or intolerable) pain and hold for 20-30 seconds, then release.		All stretches should be done carefully - forcing a stretch too quickly or overextending the muscle can itself result in injury. Any pain associated with stretching should be mild and spread throughout the muscle, not sharp and confined to a joint or nerve. Slowly increase tension until the muscle feels slight (but not sharp or intolerable) pain and hold for 20-30 seconds, then release.
		+
		+	{{youtube\|Z0vD5zoaBs4}}

	=== Fingers ===		=== Fingers ===

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 == Stretching ==
-'''Stretching is crucial to reducing the <u>Repetitive Stress Disorder</u> (RST) and <u>Carpal Tunnel Syndrome</u> (CTS).'''  It improves flexibility of muscles and tendons, reducing their pressure on nerves and blood vessels.  It improves blood flow, serving to remove toxins and metabolic byproducts from muscles.  It also produces fluid that serves to lubricate joints.
+'''Stretching is crucial to reducing <u>Repetitive Stress Disorder</u> (RST) and <u>Carpal Tunnel Syndrome</u> (CTS).'''  It improves flexibility of muscles and tendons, reducing their pressure on nerves and blood vessels.  It improves blood flow, serving to remove toxins and metabolic byproducts from muscles.  It also produces fluid that serves to lubricate joints.
 '''While stretching is a good part of a warm up, it will have a more powerful impact ''after'' a playing session.'''  The small, repetitive movements required by intense guitar playing will aggravate and tighten the muscles and tendons of the hands and wrist, putting pressure on the nerves in the wrist, causing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  ''I recommend a light stretching before a session, perhaps even integrated into your cardio routine, and thorough stretching afterwards, particularly focused on the forearm and finger muscles.''

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 The main thing to remember for warm-ups is to go slow.  Ease your hands into the workload required for playing guitar.  Your warm-up exercises should hit all the muscle groups you use during playing.  You want to introduce all of them to a very mild difficulty, not a severe strain out the gate.  If anything produces a sharp pain, back off and try to ease through it slowly.  If it doesn't get better and in fact gets worse, you may already have an injury you need to get treated.  Trying to push through the pain can often result in a catastrophic injury that prevents you from ever playing guitar again...or even worse.
-Failure to warm-up can cause early onset of Carpal Tunnel or tendonitis.
+Failure to warm-up can cause early onset of [[Injury|Carpal Tunnel or tendinitis]].
 == Cardio ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:54, 24 December 2015
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	[[Category:Exercises]]		[[Category:Exercises]]
	[[Category:Warming Up]]		[[Category:Warming Up]]
		+	[[Category:Injury]]

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 == Stretching ==
-I like to spread the fingers of each hand and touch my palms and fingers together, then raise my elbows/lower my hands so my palms can no longer touch.  When done correctly, you should feel each finger muscle get stretched - you should feel it through your palms and wrists all the way into your forearms.  Then I rotate my wrists, so that my fingers point towards me.  Then I turn my wrists in the opposite direction so they point away from.
+'''Stretching is crucial to reducing the <u>Repetitive Stress Disorder</u> (RST) and <u>Carpal Tunnel Syndrome</u> (CTS).'''  It improves flexibility of muscles and tendons, reducing their pressure on nerves and blood vessels.  It improves blood flow, serving to remove toxins and metabolic byproducts from muscles.  It also produces fluid that serves to lubricate joints.
 After giving all my fingers a good stretch as such, I pull my hands away from each other and ball them into a tight fist.  Then I rotate each wrist in a circular motion to loosen them up as well as stretching my forearms on the other side.  Then I hold my forearms straight up and try to point my fists at each other - this should stretch the forearm muscles thoroughly.  Then rotate your fists to point away from your body, then towards your body.
 Next, be sure to stretch your shoulders.  Grab above your elbow with the opposite hand and try to pull your elbow towards your rib cage below your armpit.  This will stretch the shoulder and shoulder-blade muscles.  You can also grab your opposing forearm behind your back and try to pull.  Once complete, be sure to make large circular movements with your shoulders.
 Finally, stretch your neck.  Try to hold your shoulders back and push your head back, like you are trying to retract your chin into your neck.  Now turn your neck as far left and right as possible, back and forth.  As you turn back and forth, slowly start tilting your head backwards, so you are looking upwards.  Next, try to push your shoulders lower, while tilting your neck left and right.  Don't tilt the neck too hard - try to lower the shoulders more until you can your lats get a good stretch.

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 == Cardio ==
-It helps to do several minutes of cardiovascular activity before playing.  Running in place or jumping jacks or simply pacing around the room quickly will get the heart working and force blood flow to all the muscles in the body.
+It helps to do several minutes of cardiovascular activity before playing.  Running in place or jumping jacks or simply pacing around the room quickly will get the heart working and force blood flow to all the muscles in the body.  Restricted blood flow to muscles results not only in weakness and difficulty to control but the build-up of acids and other toxic byproducts.
 == Stretching ==