Monthly Archives: August 2011

If you are a keen runner then you know it is extremely difficult to regulate your breath while running. This is more difficult if you are just starting out as a runner. If this is the case with you then it is a sign that is telling you to take it easy, slow down and overall take a rest. When you run you are increasing your cardiovascular and muscle health and placing more strain on all your muscles. The more you exercise the quicker your heart is pumping to pass the oxygenated blood around your body to all of your muscles. As the body attempts to draw in more oxygen to support your muscles, you will notice your breathing becomes shallow and frequent.  However,...

Anyone who is a keen runner will know that when out running it can sometimes be difficult to pull in enough oxygen to meet the demands their body is asking. Although this type of breathing difficulty is usually associated with someone who is out of shape, it can indicate a more serious problem if you are in shape and could be medically related.  It doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner to running or an expert runner, breathing difficulties can occur regardless of your age or weight.

Body process

When out running the most critical factor to ensure the body functions correctly is the respiratory system. In fact, whenever the body undergoes any form of...

How do we perfect our breathing and vocal exercises for singing? Are there any magical breathing exercises that will fix all of our vocal problems?

The answer to the above is no. However adopting some breathing techniques will improve your vocals no end. Breathing is a complex event that no teacher can explain without getting into medical terms. Not only that, students will never understand completely when a teacher tries to explain about breathing techniques and why it is important to breathe correctly when singing.  When a teacher tells you to breathe from your diaphragm it isn’t easy, but with practice it will come naturally.

Keep...

I’ve had a good week, getting chores done, exercising and then having a long weekend visiting friends and catching up in Herefordshire, where I used to live.

It’s like going back to my extended family. I have to do my visit over two separate weekends to conserve my energy. So I split it North and South. My southern visit will be in the autumn. On this visit however everyone was so pleased at how strong and well I looked.

My family and friends all get a copy of my weekly blog and so all know about my exercise routine and the POWERbreathe. I did many a demonstration with it, such a simple design but so effective.

Miles has used the POWERbreathe everyday for two sessions. As you can see there are notable improvements in his performance from the results taken after week one. He will continue this week but move to level 3.

Laura has missed a couple of days this week and you will note that possibly as a result she has not made as significant an improvement. Most of the results have remained very similar to those after week one. Laura will continue on level 2 for a few days before changing to level 3 and is hoping that next week she will not miss any sessions and that there will be a more impressive improvement.

For more detailed results, read more at the Music Tutors

This week has been a good overall training week, in that I managed to get in the pool and practise all the areas I wanted, with inuries permitting, and I also got into the gym a few times to work on strength development. I already feel so much stronger from all the Pilates classes, free weights and body weight exercises! The benefits I've seen in the pool are great so far, I'm noticing that I don't feel as strained or tense and so the injuries aren't playing up as much which is great. I've been trialing out under the recommendation of the POWERbreathe Guru using my Powerbreathe in my training, so have been taking it down to the...

Hi everyone I’m back with my 19th journal man time is flying!  Not sure what I’ve got to tell you all this week, I’ve pretty much done exactly the same as last week except I managed to throw in 2 different birthday parties as well somehow.  Exercise wise I did exactly the same except on Saturday I ran a further 14.5miles in the miserable rain and wind and it has to be said it was horrible. I had planned on trying 18 miles but just couldn’t do it in the weather!  I took a pretty hilly route again so I made sure I only stopped at the top of the hills and some of them were torture and my legs were pretty dead after the last two weeks. Also my chest felt a...

There are many individuals who want to improve the quality of their voice. To do this correctly it is recommended you use vocal exercises for deepening and projecting? the voice. There are various medications available to do this but by using vocal exercises you are free from any side effects.

Vocal exercising for deepening your voice should be conducted through regular vocal training. If you correctly do the training you can improve the condition of your vocal cords without abusing or harming them. However, various ways of vocal training need to be implemented.

If you have a naturally deep voice then it is relatively...

With the good progress following last week's race, coach and I decided that it was perhaps safe to increase the intensity of the training somewhat. I have also been giving the World championships some serious thought, and have come up with a set of weekly goals to help me decide. I only have a few weeks left... The head injury is a funny thing. The thing I am struggling with at the moment is the heart rate. When I start a session it's a massive effort and the heart rate is through the roof. As the session progresses, when I normally should be getting tired, I seem to gain a second wind and finish better than I started! When I asked an...

There is no rhyme or reason why fatigue & tiredness suddenly hits but it does! I did manage to do my Pilates on Monday and swimming, but I only did my POWERbreathe every other day…and my 15 minutes of Pilates based workout which I normally do before I go to bed didn’t get a look in. Neither did my twice-daily walks – AND IT SHOWED! I’m now back to introducing the exercise elements that were dropped, which I know are so important and somehow I need to find a way to not get into this situation again; difficult but not impossible.

I want to share with you my big objective. It’s been nearly 4 yrs, come September, when I had my last relapse and had to go...