Can playing the guitar help me lose weight?
Playing the guitar itself isn’t exactly a high-calorie burning activity. You do need tons of mental energy used as attention, concentration and focus as well as listening and reacting in the moment. But the the physical needs that might be considered the “exercise” are limited to fine motor skills and the movement of very small muscles.
Sure, there are musical styles that encourage a lot of running around the stage and the energy of the music and the lights could make a person sweat a lot. But, compared with say, speed metal drumming, guitar playing is a pretty low-impact activity.
There is something that guitar playing does give you that could help with your weight loss or personal health goals. A huge benefit that actually helps a person with anything they want to achieve in life. Discipline.
It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to learn to play the guitar well. Guitarists use discipline every day to take the right steps needed for their advancement. They know that without practice and right thinking they can’t expect to meet their longer term goals. We also know that we don’t just learn to play great music overnight. This is process of transformation that takes time, patience and persistence. Discipline is what keeps us on track even when the going gets tough. We know that we have to set up a regiment that includes certain topics. For health and fitness that usually boils down to diet and exercise. I heard a doctor say once that your fitness is 30% what you do in the gym and 70% what you do in the kitchen. I didn’t really do any research on it but it sounded good to me.
From a guitar players standpoint this relates to how much practicing we do (like exercising in the gym) as to what kind of material we are injecting into our musical minds, imaginations and overall performance (getting the best stuff from the kitchen into our systems and leaving out the junk). When you’ve got the right information on what you need to put in to get the good stuff out, you’ll know what it takes and how to do it to get some great results. Not immediate results but rather over a period of time.
I’ve known students who have a routine of “yo-yo” practicing. They are up and they are down. They’ll have a great week or two and then be totally off the wagon. They haven’t developed the discipline needed to do the right things in the long term. Students that have cultivated the habits of disciplined practice go a lot further (it still takes some time) with a steady uphill climb. This is regardless of their physical limitations, musical intuition or talent. They have the discipline to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done and they do it to the best of their ability on that day. Everyday.
Music is an amazing thing and has many benefits in our lives. The level of discipline that you get in learning to play a musical instrument is higher than in almost any other activity. Learning music can teach you about yourself, how you learn, about your strengths and weaknesses and about how you adapt to adversity. It’s just the thing for training discipline into your system. It helps you conform to delayed gratification and taking a longer term view. Hey, that’s going to help out everything.
Music is analogy for so many aspects of our life. How we created and are recreated from moment to moment. This happens in all areas of our life including health and fitness. Where we put our time, energy and attention are the things that get better. You put the good stuff in you get the good stuff out. You put in your time and do the best you can now.
We don’t always have to feel like it. Some days we just do it because we know what’s good for us. That’s discipline. Studying music is a great way to develop it. Once you’ve got it you can apply it to any area of your life.
Can playing guitar help you lose weight? No. Not directly. But the discipline you learn by studying music is definitely the same stuff that will keep you on the right track in the gym and in the kitchen.
Apply your self-discipline towards what you want.
I know you are going to get some marvelous results.
Jason
Jason Riley
Classic Eclectic Acoustic Electric
I’m a hustling musician and family man. I love to learn, play, share and encourage others in music. This is my Blog!
www.jasonriley.com
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