Fitness for Metal/hardcore musicians.

Are you talking about general physical endurance, or about your hands/fingers?

 

Dont forget cardio. It's easy to ignore, but it is such a critical part of long term health. You think its hard playing like that now, give it 10 years- and that goes for anyone, at any age.

As for hand strength, I've had to come by mine organically. Ive had a take a week off here and there when I was doing a lot of plaster/drywall, for instance. The strain of using those tools for 8 hours a day, for days at a time, forced me to cut back a bit on playing temporarily. Upside is, now I have to be careful with old ladies when I shake their hand!

I also like to warm up my hands by putting a hair tie or scrunchie over my fingers, and opening my hand against that resistance. Your hands will be doing essentially the opposite motion when playing (either gripping a pick of finger style), so it's good to balance that out. It also warms me up pretty quickly.

 

The single best thing you can do for general health is long distance running. Other than that, I'm a big proponent of doing bodyweight exercises rather than free weights. This is a good way of becoming genuinely and naturally "strong for your size and build" rather than unnecessarily bulking specific muscles. It also evenly works out not just the targeted muscles, but also all the supporting muscles which free weights (with certain forms) don't engage.

 

I do not wish to start an argument, but almost every word of this paragraph is wrong.

 

A healthy diet, at least 8 hours sleep, and a devil-may-care cup of cocoa before bed.

 

Mountain/trail biking. No impact on the knees like running. Mp3 player, far from the madding crowd. Exercising those finger tendons on the brake levers, see stuff...

"The bicycle is extraordinarily efficient in both biological and mechanical terms. The bicycle is the most efficient human-powered means of transportation in terms of energy a person must expend to travel a given distance. From a mechanical viewpoint, up to 99% of the energy delivered by the rider into the pedals is transmitted to the wheels, although the use of gearing mechanisms may reduce this by 10–15%."

You know it makes sense.

 

Move lots of heavy speaker cabinets around.

 

Play standing up at least 2 hours per day. This keeps me ready to gig.

Evaluate your stance while playing. Engage your core and use you muscles to hold the weight of your bass. Not your spine!!

also, Protect your hands with gloves if you’re working in a rough environment.

Get yourself a hand exerciser like this:

 

Oh yeah, running is great too. Even Chess players swear by it.

 

We got mountain bikes for our kids and now I am finishing up some new trails in the woods to ride them!

 

The most important thing for me onstage is being limber and relaxed. I always feel my best for playing and in general when I do yoga stretching exercises daily. Maintains core strength and makes movement easier.

 

Or go the other way. It's HEAVY metal after all...

 

I don't know why people are suggesting you need to increase your hand strength. You will not become a better player gripping harder. If anything, you'll become worse.

I would suggest a healthy lifestyle, for sure, but the only exercises I would recommend to enhance your playing would involve having a guitar in your hand.