need a little help, hand cramp

My (right) hand was cramping up at some rock gigs, and I figured it was a strength/stamina issue since our band was playing much louder at the gigs than we rehearse.

Leading up to a gig I practiced for an hour a day, for 7 days prior to the gig, on a pad with these sticks:

http://www.interstatemusic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_900046496

They are HEAVY! It's like swinging a baseball bat with those weighted doughnuts on them! Often times, after practicing with those sticks for an hour, I'd pick up my normal 5A's and they would feel like twigs! I couldn't believe how light they made normal sticks feel like, and can only imagine if I had gone back to my trusty 7A's!

We played a full 3 hour show (with a super long 2 hour first set!) at the end of the day neither of my hands started cramping, nor were the muscles sore afterward. We were playing just as loud, if not louder, than ever before and I credit the stamina to the pad-time I spent with those heavy drum corps sticks. I now keep the heavy stick/pad practice going, but not an hour-a-day, more like an hour-a-week and it seems to maintain the strength and stamina I need for any gig, no matter what the volume.
 
More sleep, more water, a little bit of salt and potassium in the diet, less caffeine, less alcohol, stretch and warm up before a gig and practice, work on your technique - don't grip too tight, develop your wrist and fingers.
 
Yeah, warming up is definitely beneficial and that will change as you get older. I never used to have to warm up either (and not just for drumming, but for hiking and other things, too). Now I have to warm up or I get cramps shortly after starting. It really seems odd to me, because you don't have to warm up much. If I even warm up for four-five minutes it makes a huge difference--including just four-five minutes of what seem to me to be half-assed stretches before I hike. But it works, and that's good enough. As oscarius mentions, being hydrated is important, too. I also make sure I drink about a quarter to a half a liter of water before I start, then I make sure I drink periodically while I'm going.

Aside from that, just concentrate on relaxing and being loose when you're playing, especially when you're playing faster tempos, as it's harder to remember to be relaxed and loose on those, and it can seem a bit counterintuitive.
 
Speaking from personal experience I'd make sure you have not got Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or RSI before you start getting into stretching and stuff like that. The pain you describe is what happened to me.

I had RSI from typing loads and this ended up affecting my playing. I was initially told to stretch by a doctor and this made the pain worse. It was in fact a tip I got off here about angling the keyboard a different way which sorted my problem out. Can't remember who told me the tip but whoever it was...thanks a million!

It did make me analyse my technique a bit more and now I do warm up before I play.

Hope this helps and that you havn't got RSI or anything.
 
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