Physical Fitness for the Aging Fiddler
Since I recently passed 60 I thought it would be a good idea to take stock of how things are going physically and the best way forward. I hope some of these thoughts are useful since I would have to say that, on the whole, violinists do not age particularly well. However, I don’t accept the premise that the violin has to be inherently stressful, nor that the effects of aging have to affect one’s ability to play - at least not as much as is perhaps imagined.
My starting point in this exploration is the established fact that from the age of 60, everyone’s rate of muscle loss and VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake) is consistent and quantifiable. This means that it is actually remarkably easy to predict what your life is going to be like at 80. If you are of average or lower level of health at 60, then your life at 80 is going to be incredibly limited and sad, even though you feel basically ok now. If you are a peak performance athlete who is still exercising, then you can go quite comfortably into the night, barring disease or accident.
To offset the effects of age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia) it is important for violinists to do some form of resistance exercise (walking and yoga are not enough!). The best is widely acknowledged to be free weights. (Machines do not cut it because they don’t load the whole skeleton.) So far so good, except that I do not really have the time to go to the gym regularly, it’s expensive and the probability of injury is moderately high, even with good coaching - which is relatively rare.
I have concluded that the safest and next-best option for violinists is resistance bands. These have the dual advantage that they can easily be taken on tour and also are unlikely to lead to injury. One of the most useful exercises a violinist can do throughout the day is use a light band held out in front of you at chest height. Keep a slight amount of tension on the band even in this position then pull the arms backwards as though you were using a chest expander. This exercise, done at regular intervals throughout the day will help to prevent one of the somewhat overlooked and most dangerous aspects of violin playing: The tendency to allow the rib cage to contract inwards.
However, I cannot really say that using bands is the complete answer to the problem, so I next turned my attention to yoga, which is something I have been doing twice a day for short periods for a number of years now. (The joy of YouTube).
One of the things I have realized is that we tend to talk about "stretching" all the time, be it in relation to yoga or just as "another good thing" violinists need to do. Over the years I have become increasingly suspicious of this word, the kind of response it implies and the deleterious effect it may actually have on violin playing and the body in general. I am as guilty as the next person of assuming that stretching is ‘good’ because it does often make you feel good.
I started to think about what I was doing in yoga, trying harder and harder (within reason) to get a little extra "stretch." I began to feel something was wrong with this approach, whereby one is forcing the body to do something. (Surprisingly, the moment I stopped stretching in any position and instead used my mind to release joints and muscles, my overall reach and position improved by as much as 10 cm in many positions.)
A long introduction, but I think I have found something that addresses these kind of issues, something that could help violinists could do a better job of playing injury-free and longer in general: the study of "fascia." The body’s fascia is basically a membrane made of the same material as muscle that holds everything in position. As we age this kind of "suit" inside our body becomes slack and muscles begin to move slightly out of whack. When this happens collagen begins building up the distorted area, causing the unnatural use of our body to become the new norm. Little by little, everything becomes less and less efficient - but the process is so subtle we are hardly aware of it.
Thus, I think it is vital for violinists to understand and work on this "internal suit." By means of this propinquity we can not only play better and more efficiently, but also age much more pleasantly (It can be applied during resistance band training.)
So, how does one go about this? The internal suit (fascia) can and must be stretched taught in all directions by correct positioning of head, spine, breathing and... "the feet"! The position of the head and spine correlate with Alexander Technique. There is a big overlap, although fascia training is less of an intellectual process.
For me, the biggest issue is the feet, and I think this an area where violinists can make big changes which will improve their quality of life and also playing!
The problem with our feet is, because of our busy lives and their ignominious position on the body, they tend to play second fiddle to everything else, when talking about posture. (No pun intended.) However, it is worth giving these appendages a great deal of thought because if the foot muscles have become weak and you have lost contact with your toes, your fascia simply cannot work properly. Your energy is just leaking into the ground.
A simple test of basic connection is to sit in a chair, raise the front of your feet as high as you can and straighten and bend your toes quite a few times. There is quite a strong probability that your calves will start to ache after a while , but the million dollar question is "Did you feel any reaction in your glutes?" If you are a professional athlete that is pretty much a given. If you don’t have this reaction then your fascia is not integrated and none of the muscles in your body can work at their optimum level with minimum effort. In other words, your violin playing is nowhere near as relaxed and easy as it should be, even if you think it is!
If one wishes to work on this, then there a number of steps one can take. I started by wearing those shoes that have a very thin sole and a massive amount of space for the toes to roam freely. Then I begin everyday by massaging my feet on a roller designed for the purpose. After that I do toe strengthening exercises such as just curling them under, forcing the arch of the foot to raise.
After I have warmed my feet up I practice standing on one leg for as long as possible. When I start to fall over, I don’t tense up and try to save myself. This is vital. I simply drop onto the other leg and balance until I need to change again. This is an extremely stimulating exercise that will get the mind and body well and truly ready for anything the day Is going to throw at you.
Finally, throughout the day, whenever I have one minute free I stand on the balls of my feet and bounce up and down. The angle of the ankle must remain constant so the front of the foot is doing all the work. Practicing this exercises many times a day for a minute or two will have a remarkable effect on your posture and also health. If you are young and injury free then actually jumping off the balls of your feet is perfectly ok.
I will stop with these suggestions and explore the breathing and other stuff later. I am going to end by sharing something with you that surprised me a great deal. I have not been able to practice much at all recently for diverse reasons, so this morning I picked up the violin half an hour before my teaching began with some trepidation. I was stunned to find that through doing this work on my feet, upper body exercise with stretched fascia and a way of breathing somewhat different from the norm my ability to whip the bow from one end to the other at high speed and under control had increased exponentially. My sound was also much richer and deeper. Somehow, everything feels more comfortable and a million times more efficient. I will continue to share the journey with you.
Warmest regards,
Buri
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Replies
It gets rid of stretch Marx.
Your favorite exercise is strikingly similar to one recommended by my mother for losing weight: Pushing yourself away from the dining-room table!
Great tips. I've been looking into myofascial release therapy (though it's pricey). I've got ten years on you and am feeling the effects of time, lol.
A good article Buri, thanks. I am five years into retirement and I find a lot of good advice and exercises on the Bob & Brad, and Will Harlow, YouTube channels.
I'm just relaxing to ease a slight attack of Johann Strauss shoulder this evening: violas and violin 2 will understand.
Interesting article - I read it twice. I’ve found resistance training and violin-playing fully compatible, at least for me - can’t speak for others.
I had my first experience with resistance training in high school phys. ed. class. After high school, I took a 6-week course in it. Counting this, since the late 20th century, I’ve had 5 personal trainers and have picked up valuable pointers from each. Nowadays, I get further advice from online instructors, including the above mentioned Bob & Brad. Instructional videos by Jeremy Ethier and Jeff Cavaliere, to name just a couple of other trainers, I’ve also found especially useful.
Walking is a big part of my life; but I agree with you that it’s not enough. I do it every day, but I also combine it with resistance training 4 days a week. Besides morning, afternoon, and evening walks, I also walk 5 minutes, then stretch, before lifting any dumbbells or barbells.
Ditto for music practice. I don‘t just pick up one of my fiddles and start playing. I first walk, then stretch, then play.
I’ve been injury free since November 2015. The injuries I experienced in the gym before then were nothing disabling - just nuisance setbacks resulting from moments of inattention or slack form. Live and learn.
I find yoga to be very helpful! But as you say, it is not really enough, some cardio and resistance training has to be worked into it.
Back to the subject of walking, to follow up on my yesterday post:
On completing a resistance training session, I walk again - this time for 5 minutes - along the outer perimeter of the gym floor. Resistance training, or strength training, the way I do it, is a highly anaerobic activity, which carries the risk of blood pooling in the lower extremities by the end of the hour. This pooling can bring on dizzying and fainting. It’s never happened to me, but I’m taking no chances. The post-workout walk gets the blood pumping fast through the whole system once again and gets things back in balance.
I work out in a gym five days a week I find my weakest area to be right between my shoulders. I get very sore after playing just a few minutes. I’m 74 years old…..
I started playing violin about 14 years ago at 55-at the same time I started adult ballet. A lot of the foot exercises and balance exercises suggested in this article are part of our practice. Approaching 70, I feel no age related limitations with violin and can play for hours. Our adult ballet cohort includes dancers from 25-85, male and female. I find a ballet class is way more fun than doing gym exercises but absolutely agree that physical practices that enhance the brain body connection and work on balance and alignment are super valuable.
Jane that is fascinating! I'm sure ballet has quite a lot of foot and balance work, even more so than yoga (which does have some, but not as much positioning of the feet...) I always think of ballet in terms of the young phenoms doing "toe" - but now that you bring it up, ballet seems like a great idea as a kind of exercise program. Is your class ("adult ballet") geared toward students "over-50"?
Hi Nickie,
When you say you work out five days a week, do you mean all those sessions are using weights? If so you may be overtraining. Past the age of sixty recovery becomes harder, so twice a week of compound exercises may be the limit. In some cases it can be only once a week. Doing cardio the other days is fine but not high intensity every time. The rule of thumb for cardio is you can still talk but you don’t want to :). After that HIT training is actually only necessary once a week. That should leave you gasping though. There are a lot of good resistance band videos on YouTube that might really help with your back issue. If you don’t have any knee or ankle issues then light ‘Rucking’might be a fun alternative every now and again.
Cheers,
Buri
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June 15, 2025 at 03:17 AM · Dilbert’s idiot boss once defined yoga as merely “stretching for communists.”