Long Practice Session Help

[abigail]

Hey mallet people! I've been playing Burton grip for four-mallets for about 4 years now (I'm a senior in HS), and I was planning on auditioning for a corps this coming year (Colts). I know that if that is going to happen, I need to hit the Stevens super hard, which I am doing... for three days. I have been sitting working on independent combinations for approximately 3 hours just today, and while I had pain earlier, I cannot really feel my hands anymore. I'm just wondering, if that pain does come back, and I still am insistent on practicing, is there a way to minimize pain to a certain extent? I'm not asking for complete feel-free, but if it gets ridiculous, what can I do? Also, does the strange bump on my index finger go away? Thank you!

[waffley]

Where is the pain coming from, like it is regular muscle burn or something else? If the latter, you need to rest your hands before you get tendinitis. If the former, there are many things you can do.

Remember to take breaks and stretch your wrists and fingers (praying stretch, the Mr. Burns, etc). Massage the muscles of your hands (especially that meaty part of your thumb) as well as your forearms. Get a friend to roll a drumstick firmly (but carefully) over the knots in your muscles. Stretch and ice your muscles at the end of each day. Icy Hot comes in handy too (when you're resting and relaxing, not when you're practicing!!)

Also, remember to REST. Stevens grip utilizes the small muscles in your hands that you would never use otherwise. For better coordination and better chops, you need to build muscle. When you exercise your muscles, you are ripping them apart, and they need to take a breather in order to grow and build stronger muscle. When you don't give yourself time to rest, you are limiting the amount of muscle you can build. This doesn't mean that you need to stop completely, but put in certain days when you can mentally work out permutations, do some slower solo learning, and/or not use the big beefy chop-out mallets.

The strange bump on your hand doesn't go away, it kind of becomes a sixth digit. I hope you weren't next in line to build the next big hand modeling career!

Hope that helps. Starting your training and practicing early is already taking a big, very good step to ensuring you have a great audition. Good luck!