playing drums while being sore from the gym

drummermatt93

Junior Member
hi all...ive recently got back into lifting weights and i have a question about playing and being sore. as most of you probably know, after working out, your muscles need time to recover/heal in order for it to properly gain muscle that you broke down...you can't do chest on monday then tuesday and so on...it needs time for it recover and come back stronger...my question is: say i do chest tris and shoulders on monday, when should i be able to play the drums next without interefering with the recovery process of my muscles? i know that playing the drums is nothing compared to lifting heavy weight, but it is definitely a workout that gets the muscles going (more so on my dominant side hitting the hi hat or w/e a million times and same with bass drum)....by playing the drums with sore muscles, am i not giving my muscles enough time to properly heal? or does it not necessarily matter? i wuldnt want to do squats one day and then go hard on the double bass that night or the next day while they should be resting....you feel me? but at the same time i dont want my practice time to revolve around when im working out....so again if i did back and bi's tonight, would having a hard practice session on the drum kit tomorrow negatively impact my muscle recovery for my biceps especially?
 
I know more about weight training than I do about drums so take this with the proper grain of salt. In my opinion drumming would be a good way to keep the fatigued muscles loose between workouts. I don't think drumming puts anywhere near the strain on your muscles as power lifting does. While my drumming muscles are fatigued after playing they are not shredded up like they are from lifting. I am sure experts will chime in with possibly differing opinions....

MM
 
I know more about weight training than I do about drums so take this with the proper grain of salt. In my opinion drumming would be a good way to keep the fatigued muscles loose between workouts. I don't think drumming puts anywhere near the strain on your muscles as power lifting does. While my drumming muscles are fatigued after playing they are not shredded up like they are from lifting. I am sure experts will chime in with possibly differing opinions....

MM

thanks for the quick reply Mike!
 
I'm guessing your'e young...and born in 1993. If so, Your rate of 'healing' after a workout is high for one thing. For another thing, not sure how long you practice, or how you play, but drumming adn workign on technique need not be a super strenuous exercise - there are some grossly out of shape people who are fantastic drummers, and can perform for hours. The reason is their technique is superb.

I wouldn't worry about muscles 'healing'.... drum on.
 
try playing double bass after leg day... hell, I did leg day on monday and I can still barely walk.

Ha ha - I'm pretty much there today.
Sounds like you over-did it a bit though.

Overall, I'd say there's too many variables to generalize.
Depends on the intensity of the workout, the intensity of the drumming,
which parts have been worked out hard and need to recover,
other physically stressful activities you've been doing, and so on.
I usually try to practice a bit every day, but am taking a break today.
 
WhatI've found is that you must keep a different mindset for both activities and that's hard. In other words, at the gym, we push for "one more rep". We push past the point where we feel comfortable to a point where our muscles may be crying for mercy.

If you take the same approach to practicing you will sound like a weightlifter on the drums. You must develop a relaxed technique so don't do a pad practice session right after doing curls, for example, because your hands will be so pumped you will play like a barbarian.

But drumming won't interfere with you workout recovery as long as you don't go nuts.
 
I started a serious cross-fit routine a few months ago, and found it difficult to sit behind the drums and play. That lasted for about two weeks, and now it doesn't bother me at all.

Seriously, for those of you that are still doing focused work-outs, you need to switch over to cross-fit. Power-lifting, gymnastics, cardio, yoga, it's got it all. It's a great combination of strength training and flexibility, and I honestly believe that transfers over to the drum kit. I'm way more focused than I ever have been behind the kit, and I believe I'm playing better.
 
Drum sticks weigh ounces so I don't think they will interfere with the healing process. It may even speed up the process by keeping things moving without stress. But because we all heal differently due to age, conditioning , etc its hard to say without trying
 
idk, i find with the music my band plays, whenever i practice our songs always get a burning feeling in my right shoulder,tricep,bicep, area from constantly hitting the cymbals or hit hat....and if work out my shoulders/trics and then i go practice i feel like im overdoing it when those muscles should be resting....and also whereas my left is just hitting the snare and it doesnt feeling anything compared to the right arm always getting a workout when i play.... idk im probably just over thinking it and should just go about my day without thinking about it
 
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