Sorry, I don't buy it for one second you can do 250 singles without having ever practiced heel-down. You're telling me you're faster than The Black Dahlia Murder's fastest song by 10bpm. A claim like that requires proof: a 1.0x speed video with a clicktrack.
You don't have to believe. Others didn't either.
Here's a vid I made specifically for proof, else I'd never have recorded something like this but a number of users asked me to do so...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnGNok9SHsM
I didn't say I never practiced heel down. I practiced heel down but to a tiny extent as compared to practicing heel up. And I'm not telling you I'm faster than The Black Dahlia Murder's fastest song by 10bpm because... heck, I never listened to that band, I was giving bpm's, not specific bands. (And what sense does it make to give specific bands? Other bands would have a laugh @ that tempo range because they're way faster.) Plus, don't underestimate the difference between firing away 16th notes in an out-of-music context - just for technical/practice sake - and having 'real' music going at the same speed. That's a big difference. I never said I can play songs @ 240/250.
I am talking about heel-up... the floating foot requires the same motion as a heel down stroke except with more upward and downward latitude.
Hey, this is theory. Did you read this somewhere? Or did you actually put in the hundreds of hours of hard work to finally _land_ at the motion the way it's supposed to be? Well I _landed_ at flatfoot but only after months of hard footwork practice. Same as swivel - there are things you have to work yourself into (...it takes time!), not by reading: ah, that's the way... yes, now I know the motions. Reading theoretical stuff and having your body doing the motions (at higher speed), that's a big difference. Flat foot and heel down might seem similar but they aren't that much - they don't
feel similar when you're playing them.
If you're @ 140 bpm heel down I can't imagine you have ever experienced flat foot and how it feels at, say, 200 bpm? So what are you talking of? Things you've read? But not experienced yet? Ah, ok, I'm all ears.Yes, that's my small world - the world I've experienced, not the world I'm dreaming of.
I'm sure you can get fast just doing floating-heel-up, but practicing heel-down helps to get you there more quickly (standard disclaimer: it's not a miracle, still requires hard practice). It's apparent you're more concerned with making sure your opinion carries the day rather than accept other people have other experiences than yours. Have fun in your little kingdom.
I agree - heel down is recommended a lot. Hey, I don't dislike it! I just haven't focused on it a lot (will/might do at a later time) because... you guessed it, I wanted to get better at heel up. And as for 'get there more quickly'... hard practice will get you there, that's my experience. Yes, that's my small world - the world I've experienced, not the world I'm dreaming of. If you have a better/more reasonable kingdom (based on what? on books? DVDs?) - please share your secrets.
Edit: LOL. Just saw you said you've been playing for one year, and you seriously claim 250 bpm sixteenth singles? Yeah, okay... Don't worry. I'm not coming back
Funnily, I saw that myself... BUT... did you notice that this post of mine was from 2011? I've been drumming (rather: practicing motions) for 2.5 years now. I had a quick start into faster heel up singles. It took me 4 (!) days to hit 200 bpm from the moment I bought a double pedal (and a so-so BTW, nothing hi-end). I was @ 240 after some 6 months. Yes I'm happy about that. But who cares? Who even does have to care except me? But... I haven't progressed much/any further - 250 is my max but as I haven't practiced speed a lot lately I would even not hit 240 every day, or it might feel super hard.
BTW, I never listened to the band you mentioned (hey, there are thousands of bands ot there, some of which I know, some of which I don't), but 230 bpm is standard, there are countless bands doing stuff at that speed. Some are (much) faster than that! What if my feet are faster than Lars Ulrich's? This alone doesn't make me a good drummer...
I'll try for the last time to point out that you _don't_ have to focus on heel down if you want to hit fast (200+) tempos with heel up. That's based on my experience. I didn't read this in books.
If you want to hit some similar speed... ANKLE MOTION is the way to go. Just keep pushing yourself, it will 'click' at one moment and you'll feel like in hyperspeed mode from that time on. Or... go practice heel down. Which is good for control but you'll never get at, say, 220 with it. Very few do, and some of those would switch to heel up and wonder why they ever wasted time with heel down (John Longstreth switched to heel up, never looked back).