The following applies to almost any type of physical exercise; 1 Before the activity, do a warmup (jogging is fine for outside activities but might seem a bit extreme for indoor ones), 2 After the warmup but before the activity, do a series of stretch exercises (for most instrumentalists, these would involve the whole body above the waist), 3 During a relatively sedentary activity, do what keyboard operators call "pause exercises" (general stretching and flexing of everything possible for about ten minutes) every 50 minutes or so, 4 After the activity, do a more extensive and pysically demanding series of stretch exercises, and 5 Finish up with a warmdown, usually more jogging and gentle flexing. Most musicians I've known tend to be a bit disparaging about "keeping their fitness levels up" but, if you're going to use muscles seriously you've got to treat them properly, whether you're a guitarist, concertina player or a netballer (you can tell I coach my daughters' teams). The principles are the same whether you're working with gross motor or fine motor skills. All that's different is the particularities of movements you wish particular muscles to perform. Another aspect that I recall from my IV judo days is the need to be able to relax muscles whenever they're not required. I'm sure other experts will tell you the same but Noel Hill (Anglo Concertina player) is the only other musician I've heard give the instruction "Your neck, shoulders and arms should be as relaxed as possible while you're playing!" All the muscular effort should be directed to only those muscles required to operate the mechanics of the instrument. This implies that you routinely use good posture. I'm not a guitarist but I had a great opportunity to watch Andres Segovia play for a whole concert while I was only about 6' away and, untutored though I was, I could see that he wasted no effort supporting the instrument with fingers, wrist or arms. His posture was such that most of the instrument's weight was supported by his legs leaving all the effort of his arms and wrists directed purely at getting the music out of the instrument. I hope this helps. Cheers, Rowan.
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