I am not sure about the rest of you but hauling camera gear and carrying 1-2 cameras, lenses,on-camera flashes, battery packs etc really does a number on my hands and back. How many of you have sore hands the next day? How about your lower back? Feet hurt? neck hurts?
Well,then you should really try and incorporate exercise into your life. And not just cardio but stretching. Stretching the muscles that you use all the time as well as strengthening the opposite muscles with really help.
When I was dancing, my teachers always talked about overusing the same muscles and muscle imbalances. Most ballet dancers have great inner thigh strength and can rotate their legs outward but most can’t walk with their feet parallel. Hence spotting a ballet dancer a mile a way by the turned out feet. We always did conditioning exercises to strengthen those opposite muscles and also stretch them.
What happens with muscles that get used all the time- they get sore and take over for the muscles that don’t get used all the time. They get very tight too.
So if you notice when you are constantly holding your camera, your fingers get sore, the back of your hands get tight, your wrists are tight, your forearms are tight. Sometimes, I feel almost like arthritis in my hands. So, to help this out: (I am not a medical doctor or therapist and just offering suggestions based on prior experiences, do not do anything that hurts, check with your medical doctor prior to doing any kind of exercise or stretching regimen)
before you leave for your shoot
1-open your hands out wide, fingers spread wide open and then make a fist, articulate each joint as you do this 10 times
2-spread out fingers and wiggle them
3-relax hands and rotate your wrists outward 5x, inward 5x
4-shake your hands and then your arms
5-stand up straight, lift shoulders near ears and drop, making sure you exhale on the release, do this 5x
6-roll shoulders back 5x, roll shoulders forward 5x
7-extend arms and circle arms backward 5x, forward 5x
8-drop head forward and then look up 5 sets
9-turn head right and left 5 sets
10- roll head around clockwise 3x, counterclockwise 3x
11-roll head forward 3 breaths, then shoulders 3 breaths, then down to waist 3 breaths and then all the way down 3 breaths, really relax into position, bend knees slightly if needed, breathe into the tense spots, then slowly roll up, repeat 3 times
12-standing straight legs about 2 feet apart, take right arm and reach over your head to the left and then do other side, keep evrything in line, head looking straight forward, not down or up, alternate sides 5x
13-reach left, then drop forward then reach over to the right and come up, so your body is making a circle alternate sides 5x
14-arms out straight in front, grasp your finger of one hand and bend back, (this should make your hand 90 degrees and stretch fingers and the underneath of your forearm. stretch for 15-30 seconds- breathe and keep energy flowing don’t do this statically. I mean keep stretching further instead of holding still.
15-Then do it the opposite way-stretching your wrist downward
16-clasp hands, turn wrists so palms are and stretch arms out in front
17-stand feet hip width apart, reach arms up to sky, release knees and swing upper body over and down to floor and swing back up
once you know these it will take about 10 minutes…I have more and I’ll try and post little exercises to try, these are great for releasing tension, really make sure you breathe in and out, full inhale and exhales and remember stop if it hurts and feels like you will injure yourself
enjoy!
2-spread out fingers and wiggle them
hello jazz hands.