Feet made of lead

I started exercising regularly a couple of weeks ago (light weights, jump rope, jogging) and it seems to have had a negative impact on my playing. My legs are tired and I can't play things on the kick like I used to. My fills are sloppy and I play with less energy cause I'm tired. Will this go away once I'm back in shape? Anyone else experience this? It's really got me down.

Oh yeah, I eat decent and I take my vitamins.

Hmmm, well, when I was running a lot I felt really good for a while on my kicks, then I felt like crap for a while, and then I went back to feeling good on them.

I imagine it'll be the same for you. That tends to be what happens when you lift weights. AT first you feel great, then you're sore and weak and then your body gets used to it and you're fine. I would keep it up for a bit if I were you.

I almost cancelled a show I was so bad after I started running once...

Your best bet is probably to start spending more time with your couch and large quantities of donuts.

In reality, the better shape you're in, the better you'll be able to play, IMHO. This is especially true in the area of having enough stamina to do long gigs.

That being said, you can overwork yourself, or do certain things that could potentially make your drumming worse. Luckily, I don't think running is one of those things. Once you're in 'running shape' you'll probably be right back where you were, only with more gas in the tank. Granted, if you come right in from a run and sit down behind your kit, you might not have much energy left, but if you do both activities when you've got energy, you should be fine.

The only exercise I'd ever think of avoiding from a drumming perspective would be hardcore body building type stuff. Being massive and quick and flexible is a tough balance to reach. You've seen the type...muscles on top of muscles, but they're so massive their arms can't hang straight down to the ground. I can't imagine a guy in that kind of shape would be able to get around a kit quickly. Short of getting into that kind of condition, I can't imagine that being stronger, more flexible, or having better stamina could possibly hurt your drumming in the long term.

Then let me introduce you to Bobby Rock.

http://www.bobbyrock.com

Tim

Not meaning to hijack the thread but does anybody know the name of those weights which you can attach to your legs and arms when exercising?? I thought that they could help when playing drums by strengthning your limbs and building up your stamina.

Yeah, I've seen his stuff published in Modern Drummer.

Here's my personal take on the guy:

If memory serves me correctly, he's the kind of guy who smuggles his own food into resturaunts, and is a little bit obsessive regarding health and fitness...which is ok...his choice. I'm more of an "everything in moderation" kind of guy. Bobby Rock (again, totally my opinion) kind of comes off as a "obsessive health nut" in my book. Lighten up, pal, have a cheesburger and a beer once in a while...enjoy your life!

I also wouldn't classify him as a serious bodybuilding type of guy. From what I remember from his MD articles, he was all about general fitness (including weight training), but stressed that "getting big" had to be balanced with maintaining flexibility and aerobic conditioning. That, to me, makes a ton of sense.

My only comment was in regard to people who's only focus would be building giant mass (think competitive, greased up, steroid popping body builders). In that case, it can be really easy to lose range of motion if you don't work on keeping it. THAT would be detrimental to drumming, IMHO.

Anyway, since 99.9999% of the population isn't worried about having 300lbs of muscle with no body fat, it's kind of a moot point.