When people ask me why I decided to become a personal trainer, the answer I give is that I realized that I could not get my students to stand up straight and take a deep breath just by asking them to. Exercise science has provided me with the tools I need to bridge the gap between the concept of good alignment and breathing and the practical means for developing them.
One component of breathing technique that I teach my students is the importance of maintaining an expanded rib cage while singing. “Diaphragmatic action is assisted by the intercostals,” explains Barbara Doscher in The Functional Unity of the Singing Voice. “If the ribs collapse, they cause a corresponding collapse of the muscle attachments with the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles.”
Meribeth Dayme describes posture and breathing as highly integrated in her valuable book Dynamics of the Singing Voice. “An inexperienced singer tends to allow the rib cage to be drawn downwards by the increasing expiratory effort,” she observes, “and great concentration is needed to overcome this.”
Unfortunately, concentration alone is not sufficient to inhibit the descent of the ribs during expiration. If it were, we would see far fewer collapsing rib cages in our concert halls. You must not only develop great concentration in this area but also complement it with balanced upper body strength and flexibility.
Maintaining an open rib cage while exhaling is exceptionally unusual and highly counterintuitive. In normal breathing, the chest rises on inhalation and descends on expiration. Keeping the ribs open while exhaling requires such specialized coordination that I can think of no other human endeavor that calls for it, with the possible exception of creating similar technical benefits for wind or brass instrument performers.
Let’s take a closer look at the biomechanics involved in maintaining an expanded rib cage. An open rib cage requires a high, stable position of the sternum. As I am about to demonstrate, a high sternum requires the ability to dynamically sustain retraction of the shoulder blades. In other words, you must cultivate the strength and flexibility to retract your scapulæ and, thereby, elevate your sternum in order to keep your ribs open while singing.
Try this exercise to put yourself in touch with the muscles involved in scapular retraction:
1. Stand with good alignment.
2. Slouch by allowing your chest to collapse and your shoulders to slump forward.
3. Very slowly engage the muscles of your shoulders and upper back to restore alignment.
4. Repeat several times.
5. Note where you sensed the effort. What muscles must you engage to re-establish good alignment from a slouched position?
In the context of this exercise, the most significant muscles responsible for restoring good alignment are the rhomboids and the middle and lower trapezius. These are the muscles you must engage if you wish to maintain a high sternum and an open rib cage while singing. Singers are far from the only population for whom excellent alignment is highly desirable, so most fitness experts and physical therapists have plenty of experience helping clients strengthen these important postural muscles.
“The scapula, or shoulder blade, is attached to over a dozen muscles, including the middle trapezius, lower trapezius, and rhomboids,” writes exercise specialist Richard Choueiri on azcentral.com. “These three muscles act to retract the scapula, thus bringing the shoulder blades together. This movement is called scapular adduction, or scapular retraction.”1
Choueiri also notes that strengthening these muscles is only one component for improving alignment. “If you have a poor posture in which your shoulders are rounded forward,” he says, “this means that you have tightness in some of your anterior muscles, such as those in your chest and front shoulders.”
Alignment Improvement Regimen
I first learned the basics of scapular retraction from Rick Richey, who was the fitness manager at the gym where I held my first training job. Richey has since earned a master’s in exercise science and now offers workshops throughout the country and produces instructional videos for the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
Improving alignment means restoring balance between complementary muscle groups. Richey points out that when an imbalance exists, it is because “there are tight muscles that are pulling me away from optimal [alignment], and there are weak muscles that are allowing them to pull me away.”
An effective regimen is, therefore, structured around the following steps:
1. Release the tight muscles through massage or self-myofascial release with a foam roller.
2. Lengthen the tight muscles with static stretches.
3. Activate and strengthen the opposing weak muscles.
4. Integrate these newly conditioned muscles with full body movement.
Here is a sequence of stretches and exercises that Richey recommends for improving upper-body alignment. Perform this sequence regularly to develop the strength, flexibility, and coordination you need to maintain a high sternum and an open rib cage while singing.
Step 1: Release Tight Lats and Pecs (figure 1)
Step 2: Lengthen Tight Lats and Pecs (figure 2)
Step 3: Activate and Strengthen the Rhomboids and Middle and Lower Trapezius
From a standing, bent-over position, retract the scapula in the following three orientations:
• “Y” Position (figure 3)
• “T” Position (figure 4)
• “A” Position (figure 5)
Repeat the Y-T-A sequence several times to practice and reinforce good scapular retraction in all three positions.
Step 4: Perform a High Row to Integrate Targeted Muscles (figure 6)
The ability to dynamically sustain a high sternum and an open rib cage is essential for well-coordinated airflow release and breath management. As you can see, the muscles that you must engage to elevate your sternum while exhaling are actually located in your back and shoulders.
In normal breathing, the sternum naturally descends on exhalation—so focusing on the location of your sternum and trying to prop it up while singing will not only fail to succeed but will also create discomfort and tension. Learn to retract and stabilize your scapulæ, and your sternum will stay put.
