can weight lifting affect your guitar playing?

[Super_shredder]

hey i started properly working out like monghts ago but now ive heard a few people saying it can damage you guitar playing...

so can anyone confirm this?

chris

[Nazgul]

I don't know...I think I downpick better (metallica master of puppets style) after some weight lifting.

[Cygnus X1]

Only if you are juicing.

I used to use one of those hand squeezer doodads when I started.

Working the biceps reduces fatigue, especially on the left arm, makes it easier to relax and let the fingers float the neck.

Working the right forearm makes downpicking easier, I would think. I do find myself stressing the forearm too much on picking.

[Super_shredder]

yeah i can play speed metal much better then i could be before now.

[KMud]

My fingers felt markedly less dextrous after a heavy session and my playing would be stuck at around 75% until the next day, so I stopped doing weights for fear of permanent damage.

[Cygnus X1]

My fingers felt markedly less dextrous after a heavy session and my playing would be stuck at around 75% until the next day, so I stopped doing weights for fear of permanent damage.

Just guessing, too much upper body/quads,triceps and pecs probably limits dexterity in the hands.

The Johnny Bravo image doesn't look like it would help hand dexterity.

What about balancing/cool down with hand workouts. (I don't mean wanking either ).

[patricef]

It doesn't seems to affect John Petrucci, for Georges Lynch, I don't know, I heard stories about him taking steroids, so...

[GodOfRhythm]

Bullshit. If anything, my playing has improved since I started lifting. What is said is true though, right after a session you'll obviously be fatigued more than usually. But the day after you're just so much more relaxed.

JP isn't taking steroids. He's got a belly going on, but that isn't from juicing. He's just eating like a madman and lifting heavy. He already was predisposed by having a naturally muscular build, so his gains are in line with expectations.

[KMud]

Just guessing, too much upper body/quads,triceps and pecs probably limits dexterity in the hands.

The Johnny Bravo image doesn't look like it would help hand dexterity.

What about balancing/cool down with hand workouts. (I don't mean wanking either ).

You may well be right, but it felt like it was weakening my joints too (my wrists still crack grotesquely as they rotate)...perhaps I'm genetically predisposed not to take well to weight-lifting, or perhaps I had trainers that didn't know proper form!

[GodOfRhythm]

You may well be right, but it felt like it was weakening my joints too (my wrists still crack grotesquely as they rotate)...perhaps I'm genetically predisposed not to take well to weight-lifting, or perhaps I had trainers that didn't know proper form!

It's important to start out slow and pretty low, to give your tendons and joints a chance to adjust to the ever increasing workload. Don't squeeze the bar and in the long run you'll be blessed with stronger mucles, bones, tendons and health.

[Super_shredder]

cheers some good advie there man

[Bengal]

2 words. Kane Roberts...

[Joe_Steeler]

2 words. Kane Roberts...

Man you stole from my brain!!! :ROTF:

[Spivonious]

My playing definitely improved when I was lifting in the gym. Especially forearm muscles. Much less fatigue after blistering left hand runs or atomic blast right hand riffage.

[JACKSONFREAK]

The juice will take the balls right out of your playing. lol
No seriously. Woring out is good for the body and the joints. Just don;t over due it. And obviously right after a work out your muscles including your fingers will be fatigued. So they wont move as fast as they did prior. But the next day. All will be good. And i heard Lynch was taking roids not Petrucci.
Gil