One of the best and most enjoyable ways I know to stay in shape for playing drums is riding a bike. No, not a motorcycle, although that is extremely fun, a bicycle! Yes, even me, the original deep fried American couch potato, can enjoy exercise if it's interesting and not to doggone strenuous, and biking really fits that bill. Of course, this is not a year around activity so you'll have to find something else to do in the cold weather. I don't know about you but being frozen even on a bike is no way to go through life. If you work it right and ride all the months that are actually tolerable weatherwise then you won't be off the road too long. Start off slow in the early spring with short trips of whatever you can tolerate without over exerting yourself then gradually build up. Before you know it you'll be riding 5-10 or more miles a day and actually liking it! It's got to the point for me that I can't wait to get off work to go on my daily bike ride. It's very relaxing and it shapes your body up quickly. Make sure you bring music with you. I always bring tapes of my favorite bands/drummers. It adds a lot to the enjoyment of the ride and it allows me the luxury of listening to entire albums. If you're like me you usually don't have a lot of time to do that.

Here's a drumming related exercise that is concentrated to the arms and wrists and requires a little ingenuity. What you do is take a nylon tackle line, the same thing you use to secure fish in the water after their caught, and tie a 5 or 10 pound weight, like from a regular weight lifting set, to one side of the line. On the other side tie a metal rod about one foot long and one inch in diameter, like from a weight set again. You may want to apply duct tape to hold the line in place on the metal rod to stop it from slipping around. The exercise is while standing hold the rod with both hands, one hand on either side of the rod, and rotate it, winding the nylon cord around the rod which pulls the weight up to the rod. Do this about 5 to 10 times with both your palms facing up and then both facing down. I can't thing of a more efficient workout for your fingers, wrists, and even arms. Do this about 3 or 4 times a week. If at anytime you feel over exerted or feel any pain stop, and either decrease the amount of weight, slow down, or decrease the amount of rotations.

One more thing you might try is working out with a speed bag 15-30 minutes, 3 or 4 times a week. It's great for your shoulders and arms and it helps you further develop your natural rhythm.

A question you might be asking about now is do I have to do all this just to play drum's? The answer is no. But maybe a better question to ask yourself is how good a drummer do you want to be? Simply put, these exercises can help pay off in increased endurance, and playing ability.