In Conversation With... Jorge Navarro-Colorado

Finding Balance: From Muscle Tension to Strength

Since my student years, I’ve always struggled with muscle tension that affected my voice. At the time, I didn’t realise how much my height and posture habits contributed to that tension — especially around the neck, larynx, jaw, and tongue. As a result, I spent years trying to “fix” vocal issues that were really rooted in my body’s overall alignment.

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Years ago, I decided to start going to the gym, hoping to improve my health and posture. Instead, the opposite happened: the tension got worse. My voice began to feel even more restricted, and on a few occasions I experienced muscle tension dysphonia so severe that I couldn’t sing freely in front of colleagues or audiences. Once, my voice simply didn’t work at all during a Sitzprobe in front of the cast, chorus, and orchestra, leading to being replaced for some parts of my role by another singer. Those were some of the most distressing moments of my career, and they took a toll on my confidence and mental health. I eventually had to stop training altogether.

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What helped me turn things around was discovering bodywork therapies that relieved the chronic tightness in my system and helped me realign so that the tension didn’t return. I began regular voice-focused massage, which released the habitual tightness around my larynx. I had some mixed experiences at first — including a few that actually made things worse — but eventually found the approaches that worked for me. I later discovered Rolfing, a therapy that works with the body’s fascia — its connective tissue — to restore balance and alignment throughout the body. After completing a full Rolfing series, I noticed a profound change: my larynx no longer felt trapped in a high position, I could breathe and sing with much more ease, and my voice became more resonant, flexible, and balanced, with easier access to both the high and low ends.

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I gave the gym another go after that, and everything was different. Strength training no longer interfered with my singing — in fact, it started to support it. Over the last few years I’ve built a regular fitness routine (around three sessions per week for the past three years, increased to five or six per week over the last three months), and it has transformed my energy, stamina, mood, stage presence, and above all, my confidence. I feel stronger, healthier, and more grounded than ever. My singing benefits directly: freer voice, less tension, better breath management, and greater endurance.

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Maintaining this routine while travelling for work hasn’t always been easy. As singers, we spend a lot of time on the road, often in hotels or temporary accommodation, and not every city or venue makes it simple to keep up a consistent fitness plan. I’ve learned to adapt: joining local gyms for longer contracts, bringing stretch bands in my luggage for resistance work when no equipment is available, and creating short hotel-room circuits that keep me active. That flexibility has been key to making fitness a sustainable part of my life rather than something that disappears whenever I travel — and in a way, it makes the journey more fun!

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I’m now passionate about fitness as a way to sustain both vocal and mental health. For singers, movement isn’t the enemy — it’s essential. Whether it’s strength training at the gym, yoga, Pilates, or swimming, some form of physical training helps keep the whole instrument — body and mind — in balance. The key is awareness: posture, breathing, avoiding tension in the neck, jaw, and tongue, and seeking proper information and guidance when needed. With that mindfulness, exercise can become one of the most powerful allies a singer can have.