Rock drummers are as fit as professional footballers
Just ask Dr Marcus Smith of Chichester University.
He connected Blondie drummer Clem Burke to heart rate and oxygen uptake measuring equipment, and revealed that:
- in 90 minutes of drumming, heart rate could go up to 190 beats a minute (averaged 140-150 beats a minute). This is comparable to other athletes.
- drumming for an hour in concert would burn 400 to 600 calories
And while top English Premiership footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo are expected to play a game or two a week, meaning 40 to 50 games a year, drummers on tour would be doing it EVERY night, at DIFFERENT venues. In the case of Burke, he once played 90-minute sets at 100 concerts in a year!
Why is this study important? Because this could help develop outreach programmes for overweight children who are not interested in sport: it’s more likely they’re interested in music – which youngster doesn’t?
Time to dust off that old drum kit: it’s definitely more fun than the old treadmill or doing laps at the pool.
