Vocal Exercises

Based upon our scientific understanding of the response of Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT) in athletes (i.e. the muscles we use to breathe), a number of factors have proved to be of benefit to performing artists, including vocal exercises for singers / vocalists, actors, teachers and public speakers.

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POWERbreathe - Training Benefits For Performing Artists

Based upon our scientific understanding of the response of Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT) in athletes (i.e. the muscles we use to breathe), a number of factors have proved to be of benefit to performing artists, including vocal exercises for singers / vocalists, actors, teachers and public speakers.

• Enhances the ability to inflate the lungs (take deeper breaths)
• Enhances the ability to control the breath
• Enhances the ability to sustain forceful breathing (breathing does not become fatigued)
• Training may affect the intrinsic laryngeal muscles which control the action of the larynx

A study group of singers who’d undertaken POWERbreathe training reported an improvement in their singing ability and commented that their voices felt “warmed-up” after using POWERbreathe.

And in 2007, a group of Pineapple Cheerleaders participated in a 6-week intensive vocal fitness program that incorporated POWERbreathe:

"Since regularly practicing with the POWERbreathe, I feel that my cheers and chants have developed a better sound and have a more rounded tone...Having completed the POWERbreathe program at the same time as working on High School Musical, I was pleased to see that both my vocal range and audibility had significantly increased by the end of the 6 week run. Throughout the later shows, my tone of voice remained consistent with the same audibility and I felt that I was genuinely less tired by these last shows compared to the earlier ones." Julia, Professional Cheerleader, Pineapple Cheerleaders, UK

Read more from the Pineapple Cheerleaders >

POWERbreathe inspiratory muscle training, for:

• Learning the principles of deep breathing for a better performance
• Learning to control the breath for maintaining good form
• More efficient and thorough warm-up prior to rehearsal or performance

POWERbreathe inspiratory muscle training (breathing muscle training) has been developed and validated by professional sports scientists and researchers in inspiratory muscle physiology and boasts numerous research papers attesting to its efficacy.

POWERbreathe Inspiratory Muscle Training is scientifically proven to:

• Improve inspiratory muscle strength by 31.2%
• Improve inspiratory muscle endurance by 27.8%
• Reduce whole body effort during exercise/activities
• Improve performance within 4-weeks (following tried & tested training regimen)

Train smarter, not harder, to perform better.

POWERbreathe Inspiratory Muscle Training For Performing Artists

If we make any muscle stronger we improve our ability to control it, and the movement it creates, whilst operating under load. For example, if you strengthen your arm by weight training, you will discover that your ability to perform the same task is improved as a consequence of your superior arm strength.

When we breathe via an external resistance such as POWERbreathe, all of the muscles of inspiration are activated to an extent that is proportional to the size of the added resistance. It is reasonable to suggest that this also applies to the lateral cricarytenoid muscles, and to the other muscles that act to pull the vocal folds apart, including the cricothyroid. Certainly there is a large movement of the larynx during loaded breathing that is readily observed externally. This being the case, vocal exercises with POWERbreathe may enhance the ability to generate tension in the vocal folds and thus increase vocal range.

Our scientists’ work with singers supports this notion as they reported an improvement in their singing ability and reported that their voices felt "warmed-up" after using POWERbreathe.

For the respiratory athlete, such as a vocal performer ,vocal exercises with POWERbreathe provides a unique stimulus to the inspiratory muscles, as well as to the smaller vocal accessory muscles. This stimulus cannot be produced without imposing an external load to inhalation, but the functional enhancement it stimulates may provide for enhanced capacity, endurance and range.

Respiratory athletes have reported that training and warm-up with POWERbreathe provides something that they cannot achieve through any other means of training, practice or warm-up.

In common with physical athletes, respiratory athletes engage in specific training to maintain and enhance their performance. Our work with physical athletes has demonstrated that even in the highly trained international standard competitor, their inspiratory muscles are essentially untrained. This is because most of their training occurs at intensities of exercise that do not provide a training stimulus to the inspiratory muscles. Whilst this problem may not be quite so pronounced in respiratory athletes who engage in specific breathing exercises, our anecdotal reports suggest that they too can benefit from the 'super-enhancement' of inspiratory muscles’ performance, which comes from training with POWERbreathe.

Research:

Links to research papers, published in peer-reviewed, high quality scientific journals. As well as original studies, we have also included some articles that review IMT; these have been written by experts in this field of research.

The underlying physiology of IMT and inspiratory warm-up

• Effects of changes in inspiratory muscle strength on the sensation of respiratory force.
• Influence of acute inspiratory loading upon diaphragm motor-evoked potentials in healthy humans.
• Diaphragm and intercostal surface EMG and muscle performance after acute inspiratory muscle loading.
  

Exercise-induced inspiratory muscle fatigue in sports & exercise

• Inspiratory muscle training: a simple cost-effective treatment for inspiratory stridor.

Warm-up in sports & exercise

• Specific respiratory warm-up improves rowing performance and exertional dyspnoea.
• Effect of specific inspiratory muscle warm-up on intense intermittent run to exhaustion.

Inspiratory Muscle Training in sports & exercise

• Effect of high-intensity inspiratory muscle training on lung volumes, diaphragm thickness, and exercise capacity in subjects who are healthy.

Studies showing that IMT is helpful in people with medical conditions

• Respiratory muscle strength training applications. Purpose of review: To provide an overview of respiratory muscle strength training applications for voice and speech disorders.
• Inspiratory Muscle Training in Exercise-Induced Paradoxical Vocal Fold Motion.
• Inspiratory muscle strength training with behavioral therapy in a case of a rower with presumed exercise-induced paradoxical vocal-fold dysfunction.