Theater Industry - Reactionary or Precautionary?
How you build your body impacts how you sing or dance.
Remember that how you train will impact how your body develops its physicality, in other words its resilience. Training for injury prevention has become even more important with the evolution of theater towards a more physically demanding choreography. Nowadays, it isn’t uncommon to encounter professionals in the the theater industry talk more and more about their experience with shoulder injuries, hamstring strains and tears, lower back tweaks, and ankle and wrists aches. Professionals pointing fingers at the performers for not being prepared and/or not being adequate for the part, and in turn performers pointing fingers at the higher ups for either not providing the necessary tools to prepare and/or creating a choreography that demands too much from their bodies. The worst part is that more often than not performers choose (perhaps due to their inherent position in the tiers of performance as a changeable piece of the puzzle) to still go on stage despite these pains.
The hard truth is that we cannot blame one party more than the other for these challenges. They are part of the ripples extending deep into youth pedagogy due to a lack of attention to prehab focused (not rehab) movements within the performers’ training while preparing for choreography and show, as well as the looming reality that for the people at the very top, performers are simply replaceable.
The theater industry has established itself as a reactionary industry in the fitness realm — you get hurt so therefore you go see the PT or acupuncturist or massage therapist. Performers often begin paying close attention to the type of training they expose their bodies to until after an injury has taken place or they have undergone a very physically demanding and body-tasking show. The attention to athlete and sport specific training as well as appropriate physical preparation backed by science and the growth in the fitness industry is yet to be seen in the live performance industry and that has as much of an effect felt on both ends of the spectacle — the quality of the show provided to the audience and the financial aspects of the show.
Why would you invest in a Ferrari if you’re planning on running it through the mud, taking it off roading and leaving outside for the weather to decay it?
So let’s take it back a step. Let’s go over a few tips of what you (performers) can do these coming months to ensure you better prepare your body as a whole.
Pause for a second, take a look at your training then (before the pandemic) and your training now (if you are training), even if you are not yet back to training. This is your chance to make your training more preventative rather than reactive, prepare for what you know will be asked of you rather than adjust and cram in the last minute for results.
Start with this:
Simplify the essentials that make up your training routine and remind your bodies of the sensory side of training — what you ought to be feeling as you go through a particular exercise.
You might notice that the heavier you go the more form is bound to shift, tweak, modify, compensations may emerge, etc.. and that’s bound to happen to an extent in order for your body to perform at its best. We are built to be resilient in many different positions, not meant to walk around like stiff boards.
On the opposite side of the spectrum though if we lower the weight then we allow ourselves to pin point specific breakdowns in the movement that hide under heavier weights. Ultimately allowing your body to recognize its weaker points and strengthen them.
When you talk about training — as a performers in particular — there are 4 key parts of your body you want to be confident about :
Finding your hamstrings
Finding your obliques
Feeling your pelvic floor move with your breath
Feeling your scapula (shoulder blades) move in all directions
Strengthen your asymmetries — there are multiple ways of training both sides of your body while still maintaining adequate asymmetries that are natural to the body.
1. Isolating each side while performing a dynamic movement can bring both benefit to the muscles’ performance and aesthetics.
2. We also can be sure that by shutting one side down and allowing its opposite to work we lay ground for stronger links between posture, healthy breathing (proper rib expansion and compression), and performance without feeding compensations.
Don’t get caught up in all the equipment — although tools may vary, the Principles behind movement do not change. Dumbbells, bars, barbells, kettlebells, bands, balls can all be overwhelming and confusing when trying to figure out which is better for you.
Focus on instilling movement principles that are applicable to how you currently move and how you want to perform. If you can succeed at drawing a line connecting the exercise, intentions behind the exercise, and mechanics of your body and craft to your goal and the results you see week to week, month to month it won’t matter if you used: a dumbbell vs a kettlebell or the bike vs the treadmill. The point of the matter is keeping the goal the goal.
Keep this in mind:
The wall that stands between your body and achieving the consistency you look for in your performance could very well be found in your training. Whatever the kind of training you may be doing chances are that you’re most likely unknowingly encouraging your body’s own way of cheating in order to achieve certain movements so instilled in you that you don’t even think about them twice anymore. This is an opportunity we must take to make sure you teach, test, and optimize the right muscles while you train so your body PREPARES before the fact (not repairs after the fact), and ensure it will continue to work for longer.
