Should a guitarist work out?

Question

Should a guitarist do binge-workouts on his upper body? I notice that after an extensive workout on my arms and chest, coordination in my hands, arms, and fingers depletes dramatically. I know this is because of damage I am doing to my muscles that work my fingers and hands. If I work out my upper body like this over a long period of time, do I surrender the coordination I need to play the guitar? I don't see many professional guitar players with muscular upper bodies.

Answer 1

Lifting weights does not affect dexterity.However it takes 72 hours for the body to repair the muscle group affected by your workout.If you plan it properly and schedule your musclegroups accordingly then you'll do fine.By the way ever hear of Danzig?

Answer 2

Well you haven't seen the new "Bow-flex man" commercial! He works out, has a great body, and plays guitar in a band!
I don't know what "damage" you would be doing to your muscles of your fingers and hands while weight training? I'm thinking your fingers are sensitive anyway because of all the guitar playing you do? Possible? If this is so, you may want to weight train with machines in the gym for awhile instead of free weights, this way you won't have to grip anything and your hands and fingers won't be affected.
Be sure to train your upper body every other day, they need a day for recovery and it must be consistent to see results. Hope some of this helps......

Answer 3

If you work out and you stress your scalenes and traps (neck and shoulder muscles), you can restrict the blood flow going to your hands and fingers and the strength will be diminished. My belief is that the most important thing to do is stretch. If you want to do light weights for toning, go ahead. But again, STRETCH a lot after all workouts...and between workouts. Do cardio to maintain your wellness -but you can do the treadmill or other machines.