Drums as Exercise
Anyone who has played a gig behind a drum kit knows that it makes you sweat. Not many drummers play in a jacket or a shirt and tie for very long - give it ten minutes and the tie gets dragged open, the jacket is off and your shirt is sticking to your back.
If you see a big band drummer wearing the same gear as the band, and his hair is blowing back, it isn’t to get a windblown look for the video, it’s because the fan keeps him from sweating like a pig on a spit. Moving four limbs with concentrated power at high speed is intense cardio-vascular exercise.
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Drums Legend, Clem Burke of Blondie
A-Yeon, making exercise look cool!
Two British sports science researchers from the Universities of Chichester and Gloucestershire measured the heart rate, oxygen consumption, lactic acid build up and peak endurance of Blondie drummer Clem Burke over a period of 10 years to find out just how much energy he used when playing gigs. They discovered that Clem exerted himself in a 90- minute concert as much as a 10K runner or a professional soccer player.
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“His heart rate averaged 140 to 150 beats a minute, reaching as high as 190 beats. He burned an average of 600 calories per performance and averaged about 2 quarts in lost fluids. “ Sam McManis, McClatch/tribune News, 27/12/09
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So if exercise bores you; if you can’t face cranking your legs around in a spin class, or slogging your soles around the path in the park, while people watch your over-sized butt wobble past, and you haven’t been invited to join the Golf or the Tennis Club, consider drums as a form of general well-being. It is undoubtedly the most fun exercise around; exhilarating, challenging, sweaty and pure mindful or mindless joy (you chose). And you can start for the price of a cushion and a pair of drums sticks. Come on! It’s the future….!