Singer's Guide to Weight Training

Joanna Cazden

Twice last week, I met new clients whose voice problems traced back to the time they had started serious weight-training. I've seen others who got sudden lesions, including one nasty vocal hemorrhage, when they changed trainers or otherwise increased their workout intensity.

Most voice problems have more than one reason, so I won't argue for an exact correlation. But when this is the only new lifestyle element, and its time frame matches the beginning of a voice problem, I get suspicious.

It's totally possible to have a buff body and a clear-sounding, flexible, pain-free voice.  You just have to be smart about both.

Vocal mechanics review: in addition to their job making sound, the vocal cords work as a valve in your airway.  For instance, they open extra-wide during aerobic exercise to help you manage bigger amounts of air. And they close tightly to protect your lungs every time you swallow.

The vocal valve also closes when you lift something heavy. A dumbbell, a suitcase or a big screen TV—if it's hard to move, you'll hold your breath for an instant. Closing the airway is an automatic reflex that makes your torso more stable, better able to push & pull. Try it.

Now, fitness trainers routinely tell people not to hold their breath during the lift. This is good, standard advice that helps avoid serious problems like blackouts or strokes. At my gym, most people exhale dutifully on the exertion, & inhale while preparing for the next rep. The problem I see, in strength training for singers and other voice professionals, is the moment before the lift.

Most people hold their breath while getting into position, to seal the ribcage closed and feel a nice firm setup. Unfortunately, in that last split-second when you brace yourself and get ready to push, your vocal cords—itty-bitty muscles about a centimeter long, held in place by even tinier ones—are being asked to help manage a 50, 100, or 300 lb weight. It just doesn't seem fair.

Then when you do exhale, the air pressure held in your lungs explodes through the now-open valve. Even if you stay silent, avoiding that gym-beast yelp or grunt, at the moment of release that air blasts through your voice box like a hockey player bursting through a double-flap kitchen door. The cords are violently blown apart and their edges get a little roughed up.

During an hour-long routine, that explosive burst can happen several hundred times! And each time, the cells on the edges of the vocal cords get frayed, dry, and sore. Rough edges make rough sound. Repeatedly squeezing the cords together with many pounds of force, and then blasting them apart, can lead to vocal cord callouses (nodules), blisters (polyps), or worse. The tiny muscles that manage the valve get overworked too, which you might feel as a vague ache in your throat.

If you're serious about protecting your voice, you just have to pay attention as you're getting into position, and be sure you're not bracing inside your throat. Any level of weight that makes you hold your breath is too much for a singer, or any professional speaker, to risk.

Drop your weights down as far as necessary to breathe smoothly throughout the routine. If you're "working to fatigue," the first moment you absolutely need to hold your breath is your cut-off. That's when the targeted muscles are already fatigued and your little vocal muscles are recruited to help.

To keep the same intensity for your workout while protecting your voice, use relatively low stacks and just increase the reps, or change your tempo, for instance lowering the weights very slowly. You can read my comments on other fitness activities, and their benefits and risks for vocalists, in the free online excerpt of my vocal health book (www.tinyurl.com/Cazden-book.).

P.S. Vocal cords love humidity. So if your gym has a steam-room, use it! Without talking.