20 minute warm up
The physical warm up, is a vital part of any exercise. It has two main advantages as pre-exercise routine. One being slowly increasing the lung capacity, and two, lightly stretching, and pulling the muscles making them more susceptible to the abnormal stress put on the body. The exercises I have chosen to do, work as an all over body warm up, from the toes to the head. It can be used as a warm up, but also as an early morning, and end of the evening exercise, toning not only the body, but also the mind.
We begin by working the legs, starting at the toes by rubbing them for roughly ten seconds. Then rub the top, and bottom of the feet, again for roughly ten seconds, then move on to the ankles. Repeat all future leg rubs for ten seconds each. These three exercises will lightly stretch the Achilles tendon. We then move on to the calf muscles, spending time on each leg, front and back. Again moving up, we rub the hamstring, spending time on each leg, and on front rubbing the quads. To finish this part of the exercise we rub, and slap the buttocks, to stretch, and increase blood flow, and give heat to that area. These exercises prepare the legs, to enable them to safely continue to warm up on the next part, which is a yoga move, known as the Sun Salutation.
The Sun Salutation, or salute to the sun will work both the lung capacity, and therefore the heart rate, as well as stretching most muscles of the body, and in particular the lower back, spine, and solar plexus. It involves twelve separate movements, which we begin with slowly, and concentrating on our breathing. We repeat the exercise 6 times, on each side, speeding up each time, as we become more comfortable with the movement. At the end of the exercise, our heart rate will increase, lung capacity will have grown, our muscles will be more supple, and we will be warm. Therefore works as a very good warm up exercise.
We begin in the Sunrise, or Prayer pose. We exhale, then raise our arms to the sky, inhaling to fill the lungs, as we feel the spine lengthen. This will primarily work the solar plexus, and abdominal area. Slowly, as we exhale, we drop forward till the hands touch the floor, bending the knees, and keeping the back straight. This will gently stretch the lower back, and spine. Keeping your hands where they are, inhale and stretch you right leg back as far as possible, then drop your right knee to the floor, as you raise your head. This will work the leg muscles, as well as the shoulders, biceps, and triceps.
Holding the breath, move the left foot back, and hold the body straight, as in a push up position, this will work the hamstrings, and shoulders. Exhale as we drop the knees to the floor, keeping the hips up, but chest to the floor. Inhale as we slide forward to put the hips to the floor, then arch the chest up, and bring your head back. There should be no tension in the shoulder or neck area, as it should work the solar plexus, and abdominal area. Begin to exhale, bring the hips up, push your heels to ...
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Holding the breath, move the left foot back, and hold the body straight, as in a push up position, this will work the hamstrings, and shoulders. Exhale as we drop the knees to the floor, keeping the hips up, but chest to the floor. Inhale as we slide forward to put the hips to the floor, then arch the chest up, and bring your head back. There should be no tension in the shoulder or neck area, as it should work the solar plexus, and abdominal area. Begin to exhale, bring the hips up, push your heels to the floor and drop your head between your arms, again gently working the leg muscles.
Start to Inhale, and bring the right leg forward, similar to the fourth position, but with opposite legs. Then, without moving your hands, bring the left leg forward, as you exhale, with your forehead at your knees, again stretching the lower back and spine. We then inhale as we again stretch up, reaching to the sky, and exhale, as we return to the prayer pose. This should then be done again, beginning with the left leg.
Once this has been repeated six times, we will be warm, but we still have to work the neck, and facial muscles more. To do this we stand straight, and lift the head slowly back, opening the mouth wide as we do this. We hold it, then bring it forward to a comfortable position. We repeat this three times. We turn the head, slowly, to the left, then hold, to the front, then hold, to the right, then hold, then back to the front. Again we repeat this three times. To finish the warm up, we shake the entire body for roughly twenty seconds, including, and concentrating on the hands.
This physical warm up should take roughly ten minutes, and if done correctly is quite rigorous, so a short rest period should follow. Lie on your back, with your body as relaxed as possible, until your breathing, and heart rate are back to normal. This can be done alone, or if a partner is available, can be an ideal time for a massage. This should take roughly 3 minutes.
This will leave us roughly seven minutes to work on the voice, speech, and singing.
To have a complete warm up, you must work four main areas. These are
Intonation
Breathing
Articulation
Resonance
Intonation
Warming up intonation is important in both singing, and speech. Good intonation stops boring, and monotonic speech. Ideally for this there should be a piano, to help with pitch but it can still be done without. For this we use the word ning, and say it seven times, up and down the scale. Using the word ning not only helps intonation, but saying it clearly, and loudly helps projection, and articulation. This word also helps for a facial warm up.
Breathing
Having already worked on the breathing in our physical warm up, we now should work more specifically on the diaphragm. For this you should stand up and take a short sharp breath, hold it for 5 seconds initially, then let it out. You should do this 4 times, each time adding 2 seconds to the holding time, until the last time you are holding for fifteen seconds. When letting the breath out, it should be done controlled, and slowly. Next you should take a breath and fill up the lower part of the stomach. Then another breath and aim for under the rib cage, then finally another breath, aiming for the top of the diaphragm. Once in you should slowly breath out. This should be done five times. At this point a lot more air than normal has been taken in, so if feeling dizzy, or nauseous, a short break should be taken.
Articulation
For articulation, the best way to warm up is by doing some tongue twisters. The three I use are:
Bitter batter
Minimum Criticism
The tip of the tongue, the teeth and the lips
These are simple to remember, and work all the correct sounds. I start slowly, and then get faster, and faster, always making sure the words are correct each time. If I get one wrong, I start slow again, and then get faster again.
Resonators
When warming up the resonators, both the vocal, and nasal resonators need to be worked. The simplest way to work on vocal resonators is by saying
Hah hah hah hah hah with the neck back
Hah hah hah hah hah with the neck up
Huh huh huh huh huh with the neck back
Huh huh huh huh huh with the neck up
Hee hee hee hee hee with the neck back
Hee hee hee hee hee with the neck up
For the nasal resonators
Close one nostril, and hum from that nostril, then the other one, then focus a hum through your nose with both open
Everything included this should last roughly twenty minutes. If done daily, morning, and night this will help the long-term fitness of all parts of the body, and mind.
0 Minute warm up
This warm up should be used primarily for prior to a show, or physical class. Where the twenty-minute warm up had benefits long term, the shorter version primarily a short-term fix.
On our feet, we should shake the hands, then the arms, then the upper body, then the legs, then the whole body. This is a good start as it gets the mind, and body going.
Next we shall pace on the spot. Slowly at first, then speeding up ever so slightly. Not pushing it at this time, just a gentle way to increase the heart rate.
Then 10 star jumps, starting with a bit of energy, increasing the power of the jumps each time. Then back pacing on the spot, this time a little faster, and going into a jog on the spot. Once the heart is going, and a small sweat coming, slow down to walking on the spot. With the muscles now warm, it is safe to stretch.
Stretch all parts of the body, starting at the top, and working the way down.
Put the arms out to the side and circle from the shoulder, then the elbows, then hands. Bend to the side and hold, then the other side, and hold. Bring one knee up, and hold, then the other knee. Sit on the floor and work the feet by rubbing them.
The body should now be a lot more supple, and ready for work. Stand and shake out once more. Stretch the back by bending and reaching for the floor. Then stand; do this a few times, stretching further each time. After five stretches like this, put your hands on the floor, and walk your hands forward and do 5 push ups. At this point we should do some gentle abdominal work, for roughly three minutes. With breaks in-between each rep of ten.
This should take seven minutes, and the body is warm.
At this point we should work on the mouth.
Starting by eating imaginary chewing gum, which is working the mouth, and then do some tongue exercises, sticking the tongue out as far as possible, out, down and up. Both In, and out of the mouth. Then make some horse noises, which is working the lips.
Next working the voice start repeating these noises
Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah
Huh Huh Huh Huh Huh Huh huh
Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee
No No No No No No
Nee Nee Nee Nee Nee Nee
Moo Moo Moo Moo Moo Moo
Mah Mah Mah Mah Mah Mah
No Nee Moo Mah
No Nee Moo Mah
La La La La La La La La
Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo
Le Le Le Le Le Le Le Le Le
Li Li Li Li Li Li Li Li Li Li
Loo Loo Loo Loo Loo Loo Loo
Lee Lee Lee Lee Lee Lee Lee
Lie Lie Lie Lie Lie Lie lie Lie
At this point, roughly ten minutes from starting we should be warm enough to start work.
