a quick route to a toned stomach
I was recently scanning a magazine in the hairdresser’s, and found myself looking at a beauty page which included some simple steps to toning the stomach successfully. When I read it, I realised I already had this knowledge, it had just never occurred to me to apply it to this end!
How often this seems to happen to me - and, I suspect, to others too! My lack of suitably lateral thinking keeps me running along well-worn tracks towards a blinkered goal when I could be looking around me and moving in all sorts of different and interesting directions!
Basically, the exercise uses the body’s natural breathing mechanism to work towards the desired goal of a flat, toned stomach. As a singing coach, I already have a reasonably detailed knowledge of how this mechanism works, so this knowledge was already at my finger tips, if I had but known it!
Put simply, the body breathes out to create a vacuum in the chest area and lungs, forcing nature to do what it always does and fill the space with more air - thus breathing in is a natural and unstoppable force. As I emphasise to my students, if you breathe out properly and allow the body to do its job, you’ll always have a steady flow of air over the vocal cords, thus allowing for a strong even powerful sound. Everything else is merely tweaking! (Maybe an oversimplification, but accurate enough!)
When breathing right out, the body tightens up the core muscles, and you can feel this quite distinctly. In the stomach toning exercise, you merely extend this, by consciously pulling in your abdominal muscles as exhalation is taking place, holding the breath for a count of ten (something not encouraged during singing!) then allowing the breath to rush back into the body, which it will, quite naturally.
You never allow the breath to stop when singing, you’re either breathing in or breathing out (ie singing) but you never hold your breath. If you do, your brain starts to worry about what’s happening, and you begin to tense up - not a recommended course of action when you need good relaxation throughout your body!
So back to this exercise - it’s repeated three times, then have a rest for a while. And that’s it. You can repeat it whenever you have a few seconds in a restful situation (though I’ve found it works best when standing up rather than sitting or lying down).
Like I said - simple. I’ve got all my friends giving it a go, so why don’t you try it? Make sure you don’t hold your breath for too long, though!!
Let me know how you get on.
