Drum Exercises at the Gym

Do you drummers know any good exercises that i could do at the gym to increase my double bass stamina or any other exercise that is weight related

I do tricep exercises for my arms, and calf stretches for the lower legs.

I've been thinking about this lately too. I find that if I do a moderate workout on the cross trainer in the morning then I feel warmed up and play double bass better later that day. And biking is quite good, it's not at the gym but hey it gives you a reason to bike there and back

Also you can use ankle weights while you are practising to help build the muscles and then take them off for gigs, I got that idea from a video I saw a while back - I think it was Gene Hoglan (Fear Factory) that said it. He also said about wrist weights but I found it hard to stop them from sliding up and down your arms when practising!

You need to do exercises to build endurance. Sticks weigh ounces, so no real weight exercises needed here. Bass drum pedals have small springs that are stretched by huge legs. Weights not needed here either. As for ankle weights, they are a leading cause of stretched or torn achilles tendons which take a long time to heal. Jog, ride a bike, treadmill etc. Use the weights, light ones for building endurance and n to for muscle mass. Some of the best drummers in the world are very little guys.

I don't suggest weights rather your weight in conjuction with chin ups and push ups etc. theres many grips to include and full reps to have taking days off and resting is important also. Any exercise that involves your body weight as opposed to adding friction and stress is better than building size. You need your dexterity and flexability so building tendon strength is good but not muscle size. Walking running and jumping are the best leg exercises and for a total non-stress workout swimming. Nothing replaces sitting at the kit working out but you need proper sitting height and ofcourse back support. If you don't own a high quality drummers seat get one. There was a thread on here the other day talking about veteran drummers backs and the serious consequences from poor posture and crappy seats. Hate to sound like that grade school teacher yaking about sitting correctly but she was right. Every drum instructor will tell you that your posture needs to be correct it actually helps your performance from speed to power. As a young man I always thought basketball helped my drumming. Hand dexterity and building wind to perform with strength and stamina. Doc

GRUNTERSDAD said:

You need to do exercises to build endurance. Sticks weigh ounces, so no real weight exercises needed here. Bass drum pedals have small springs that are stretched by huge legs. Weights not needed here either. As for ankle weights, they are a leading cause of stretched or torn achilles tendons which take a long time to heal. Jog, ride a bike, treadmill etc. Use the weights, light ones for building endurance and n to for muscle mass. Some of the best drummers in the world are very little guys.

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I wasn't aware of that about ankle weights, thanks for the info. I usually stay away from jogging though as it is high impact and can cause stress fractures if you're not careful. I heard that buying a small trampoline and using that can be a good substitute but I haven't tried one myself.

There are low impact treadmills and elliptical machines that will work you out with out the pounding of high impacts machines.

How much muscle mass is really needed to move a beater 8 inches to a drum head?

Endurance excercises, I'm down with. Not totally convinced they'll increase your double pedal speed per se, but for general fitness and well being it certainly isn't going to hurt. But I've never bought into the need for leg or arm weights. Weights are designed to work muscles through a full range of motion......how often does this actually occur on a drum kit? Especially with respect to feet on pedals.

You want endurance on a kit.....play the thing....often.

A drummer can burn a lot of calories while playing but playing the drums doesn't take strength. Drumming takes stamina.
Everything that we drummers do uses the basic laws of physics to achieve great speed without exerting large amounts of energy.
Do exercises that promote stamina when in the gym.

Heavy deadlifts. That's the only one.

Pocket-full-of-gold said:

You want endurance on a kit.....play the thing....often.

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That was my thought. Extra fitness generally will surely help but playing double kicks fast is intense exercise in itself ... trouble is, the neighbours probably won't like it. So the next best option is to work out the particular muscles.

If I was playing the hard and loud stuff and was running into pain and endurance issues I'd check which parts of my legs felt it worst after playing and then ask a gym instructor about ways to develop and support those muscles.

Crossorads, it might also be worth checking with a drum tutor / mentor to see if your technique is efficient or if you're working too hard to achieve the musical results you're chasing.

I found the perfect drumming exercise at the gym.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rgM_kEUJmY

Squats, squats, and more squats.

Crossroads said:

... to increase my double bass stamina...

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Can you be more precise here? I've learned in this forum that 'stamina' can be understood quite differently. One person thinks of 'I want to play 30 seconds @ 180bpm', the other 'I want to play 5 minutes @ 250 bpm" - just as an example.

Personally I'm fine practicing doublebass 1-3 hours a day, mostly daily. Working out at the gym or doing weight training at home (which I'm doing from time to time, but not recently) is absolutely no must. Even reasonable physical exercise won't give you more control for the motions, 'just' more power. That is, you'll get better at what and how you're working out at the gym. IMO you should prefer medium weight/a high number of repetitions to heavy duty/few repetitions. The first will improve your stamina, the latter will improve your maximum power but not your stamina, and tends to be detrimental to your muscle speed.

Just ask drummers like e.g. Derek Roddy how they acquired their stamina - no weightlifting... But hours and ours of dedicated practice instead.

Don't forget your hands/forearms! I'm using a gyrotwister / powerball once a week which for now is enough to shock my forearms. I started to use this thing only recently and will increase the frequency gradually when getting stronger. Your hands should be up to your feet, and depending on the hand technique I'm using, my hands are not up to my feet.