exercise/drumming

[timthedrummer]

ok so here's the deal
my parents just got a pool put in, and i have been doing alot of swimming (i havent done exercise other than drums for ages) and im noticing i am so much sharper on the kit now, i can play alot faster while being controlled etc
does anyone else find this after they exercise??

[Fede]

For a couple of years I had a practice room that was about a 10 minute bike ride from my home (my folks home). I noticed an obvious tendency towards my footwork being very good, fast and fluent whenever I went there on bike, compared to the times I borrowed my parents' car. No doubt about it. The difference seems to have faded, though....don't know why. Now I have about 10 km (~7 miles) to my practice room so it should make sense that the difference had become greater, but for some reason it isn't so....(?)

On the subject of swimming:
You reminded me of a story I heard recently at work. I work at Yamaha Scandinavia here in Denmark. A few years back, my boss planned a "Yamaha Allstars Band" tour of the country, featuring Peter Erskine, Mike Stern, danish bassplayer Chris Mihn Doky and one more chap, I think....memory fails me at the moment.

Mike Stern had this thing about swimming. He had to go swimming 4 (four!) times a day for the duration of the tour! One day he turned to my boss half an hour (30 minutes!) before they were scheduled to go on stage, and said "I wanna go swimming!"......!!!

So they actually took him to the nearest pool and they were on stage only about 10 minutes late.....but still.....geeezz..... :)

[timthedrummer]

wow thats crazy!!
i hope i dont get that addicted lol

[alencore]

my cycling did help my endurance on drumming especially on those double bassin' stuffies.

[Brobjer]

I used to have a big musicroom at our attic in our house. I practiced for maybe eight hours a day at that time. My parents got mad after a year of obsessive drumming 24/7 and they fixed a big musicroom a ten minutes walk from my home.
Just having the drums near me, so I could go up whenever I wanted and leave whenever I wanted really made me wanna prectice, and I have noticed that ten minutes makes a big difference. Now I have to plan my practicing better and I can't go play whenever I want. It makes me lazy and I don't get so much longing for playing anymore, because I was so spoiled before, always having access to the drums.
This is a thing that I think is gonna make difference in the long run. I can't go to the new music room to play for maybe ten minutes. Y'know, sometimes you just feel to play for only ten minutes. This kind of practicing is very good aswell. Short sessions, many repetitions. I used to do that a lot. I went playing for maybe 15 minutes 20 times a day! I felt a huge "hung" for the drums and always wanted to play.
This time is over now, when I have such "bad" connections to the drums. I guess that I, although, have pretty good connection, comparing with many other drummers who has a much longer distance to their drums.
I think, this is the worst thing that could happen a drummer.

Andreas

[timthedrummer]

my teacher is a freak and he pretty much only practices on a practice kit- maybe look into getting one of those
they will keep up ur techique and u wont get distracted by soloing all the time cuz its just rubber!
i know what u mean andreas, i actually play for 30 mins, have a break, get inspired, go back to it, to make sure i dont stagnate. especially when im doin double kick stuff. but i cant relate in the sense of not being able to play
my neighbours actually ENJOY my playing so i can practice from morning to 10 at night if i want.
but im being considerate by buying a practice kit i spose hehe. :)

[quitou]

I'm quite lucky with regards to neighbors aswell...they all say that they can hear me practicing (and there are times when I go nonstop for 4 to 6 hours) but they really don't care....one lady actually told me that she enjoys it....as she says, our neighborhood is so quiet and boring, it's nice to get a bit of noise and stuff going on....I can also pretty much practice at any time during the day until around 10pm and they never say anything....but I do own practice pads as well....I have a bass drum pad and one for the hands as well and I spend a lot of my practice time (especially when developing the feet) using them instead of practing on the actual kit....I also have those drum mutes that you can put right on top of the drum and those keep things quite quiet....my parents are really cool too....I can practice all night long if I do it on my pads or with the drum mutes on....they say they can hear me quite clearly even when I play with those but it doesn't seem to bother them (even when it's in the wee hours of the morning)...lucky I guess!!!

[Brobjer]

Okay:)
Sometimes it seems that, when I go to my drumming room, I have a tendency to not get good practice out of what I am doing.
I guess that it is a better idea to be able to practice your actual rudiments in a calm area and with the drums right by me, so I have the patterns ready to practice when I go to the drumming room.
As for my own sake, I can not have my drums in my house for the moment, because we rent apartments to guests in the same house. That would be like asking them to move, right :)
Then, I believe that a bass and snare practice pad is the best sollution for this.
I will buy a set of these next week. Thanks for the suggestion Quitou!

Andreas

[timthedrummer]

maybe try and get a full practice kit...

[quitou]

A full practice kit would be really good...probably better than just a bass drum and snare pad because it is basically a drum set and thus lets you practice a little more realistically as though you were on a real kit....I guess it just depends on preference.

[Lucius]

Hey Tim, your talking about Pete (Drummond) right? Does he have pads on his kit, or one of those little billy hyde practice pad kit setups? with the rack and stuff, i was always looking into getting one of those..

[timthedrummer]

hey lucius
yeh pete has the billy hydes practice kit, with the rack and this old school bass drum practice pad that is really realistic...
im gonna get the LARGE pad for the snare, as the small one is too small for crossstick etc...
and pete has a rubber cymbal, and also rubber between the hats

[alencore]

wanna build stamina really fast?

Play "The Shortest Straw" - Metallica. Try it on those poor practice pads so you can wail like crazy then on those poor drums..hehehe.

[Milo Porto]

Originally posted by alencore
wanna build stamina really fast?

Play "The Shortest Straw" - Metallica. Try it on those poor practice pads so you can wail like crazy then on those poor drums..hehehe.

i dis-agree with ya there alencore...i'd say blackened-metallica..is a killer track!! :D

althouhg id say most/all of the songs in the justice for all album are meadness!! :eek:

[quitou]

I agree Milo,
The justice album is by far Lars Ulrich's best drumming performance....I actually own a drum book with transcriptions of every song on that album....some of the stuff is quite difficult to play....

[jimi]

About exercise and drumming, Virgil himself said that he has always been sporty since he was a teen and has done everything from footie and swimming to martial arts and weights. as you know he runs alot and said to mind yourself if doing weights and to make sure you keep up good practise on the kit so that your drum muscles stay tuned in.

[alencore]

(in reply to Milo n Quito)
won't argue with that.

i learned that crazy song for a month just to relieve my anger of some sort. i notice some things got faster and yet easy to perform after learning the song.

though i think those songs at Kill em all are quite freaky as well in terms of speed like Battery.

[Milo Porto]

Originally posted by quitou
I agree Milo,
The justice album is by far Lars Ulrich's best drumming performance....I actually own a drum book with transcriptions of every song on that album....some of the stuff is quite difficult to play....

well at least catching justive for all would be a less pain in the arse compared to virgil's stuff......if i had to catch virgil's song i think i would pass out!! :D

BUT nothing is impossible...it is still possible to catch his stuff...its just that you have to put in 110% into it........:D

[MaltBuddow3]

Yeah.. I've been working out for about 3 months now and my playing has really improved, plus I just started doing yoga, man it really helps with focus.

[Mack N Drum]

I work out 5 days a week: 3 days of weight training and 2 of cardio. Swimming is really great, but I like to run and cycle as well. Cycling has really been beneficial to my double bass playing, because it exercises the hip flexor--a key component to double bass mechanics. I also make sure that I warm up my body prior to a formal drumming warm up. I'll typically do jumping jacks or running in place while gently shaking my hands.

On the practice pad subject, I have a complete Gibralter set up. It's great, but it's sometimes difficult to develop certain patterns/grooves that require a lot of independence, because you can't hear the individual sounds. It's a great way to focus, but I think it's good to break it up between the pads and the real kit.

[BrettLee]

I think all these fitness/exercise discussion also have some relation to the great Virgil here. He has excellent bodybuild, and he looks like he has all the energy in the world for his drumming!! Every clip I see of him, he never looks tired, and you could really see his muscles flex and burning while he does all his incredible drumming.. Does anyone here know what's his fitness routine is like? Would really like to know..I know he does the famous splits.. keke

[Revan]

If you guys want an exercise regimine that will turn you into a monster, send me a message or something. All it consists of is calisthenics - no weights.