Preparing for Drum Corps- Colorguard Edition

          With the past and upcoming tryouts for the 2019 drum corps season in motion, I thought this post would be a great one that most of my friends could relate to. Preparing pre tour for drum corps is essential for a better experience with your corps, in my opinion, not everyone thinks so, but I bet you will after this post.
         
          When I say preparing I mean very specific things, not just raising money or gathering items for tour, or even the infamous packing for tour. What I mean is preparing your body, preparing your skills and most importantly preparing your mind. One of the top reasons members leave within the first few weeks of tour, besides injuries, is mental stability. And that is totally okay, never feel like if that has happened to you that it was the wrong decision because you need to take care of your body and your mind. I am giving tips however to prepare yourself mentally and physically in hopes of making someone's experience better weather they are a rookie or someone who left early one season and would like to try again.




Preparing yourself physically:


In my opinion, this is one thing I did not do my first summer, but I did my second summer and it helped me tremendously in getting better in my skills and also making my time with my corps overall better, not that my first summer wasn't a hoot, I just struggled a lot my first summer physically that I spent a lot of time in frustration. Now am I saying you have to be fitness show ready....no. I am just saying that being able to run a mile or two couldn't hurt you and you won't regret it. Building your stamina this way can make it easier...and more fun...to complete daily full runs of your show right off the bat instead of the one night before finals where your adrenalin is pumping. Also strengthening your wrist and arms can be beneficial when learning work and furthering your talent. If you have to strengthen when you get to move ins, then that leaves less time to get better at your actual skill.


Here are some  things I did in preparation for my second summer (note that I did not actually expect to march that summer, but I was on a  fitness kick and I believe that helped me tremendously and this is what I was doing)- I am a certified personal trainer under ISSA

*Girls*- Weight lifting will not make you bulky or big, you would have to eat an extremely high amount of calories and work out a lot more than a couple of months to see those kind of results. The workouts I have down below for examples are based on a high rep, medium weight range. Medium weight meaning you struggle towards the last three reps but it is manageable. This is mainly to condition the muscles and build up their stamina. This is helpful for performing or practicing for long periods of time. This is not necessarily to help build muscle, although if you are tossing correctly and executing correctly, there's not much muscle needed.

Arm workout example: all 15 reps- find a weight where you can perform 15 reps and just struggle on the last three reps. If you are struggling by rep 8-10 then you are too heavy, if you can do more than 15 it is too light.

Pulling:

Bicep Curls (R &L together)

Bent Over single arm rows (15 on the left then 15 on the right)

Cable machine triceps pull down

Lateral raises (single arm at a time)

pushing:

Shoulder Press

Chest flys

push ups

These are just the many exercises that I did that I believed helped in conditioning my arms. I will also include a small leg workout just for some physical balance, you do not only want to train your arms:

still at the 15 rep range:

Air squats (add weight 5 lbs on each side when you are ready and build on that)

Lunges with dumbbells

Side lunges with dumbbells

Split squats (add weight when you are ready)

Ham string curl machine

Glute kickbacks

*Also conditioning your abs is also a very important concept as it will help you be more stable with your body movements as you move across the field.

Crunches

Plank on elbows

Side planks

Side plank dips

Leg raises

When preparing to be able to run a mile or two it is more beneficial to train in intervals:

20 mins of running:

Run for 2/ walk for two

then you you are ready:

Run for 4 walk for 1

Preparing your skills:

Okay, so you have tried out, and now you have made it.... or you are currently trying out or preparing to tryout. You have to continue to work on your skills to keep them fresh. It is not fair to your team or your self if you have to take 2 days to get back into the swing of things. You should be prepped and ready to go so that you can learn choreography and work. That is what move ins are for. Here are some things I did on an almost daily basis to keep myself ready.

-Drop spins

-Spins and stops

-Tosses (pyramid style)

It looks like little, but I would work on these for about 30 minuets a day because it kept my wrist strong and my technique good. Sometimes it is all about working on the basics, which is important for you to do on your own time so that you can learn what you are suppose to learn in the time you have instead of having to keep going back to the basics on your instructors time. Drum corps is about bettering your skills but not teaching you the basics. You are there because you already know the basics.

Preparing your mind:

This is probably one of the most important things out of all three.  You can be physically fit, you can be skillfully fit, but if you are not mentally fit, you either a) wont make it the entire summer or b) will be miserable the entire time and I love this activity way to much to let anyone go through feeling like this. My first summer I had never really been away from my family and I was not fit and I was an 11th grader who in my opinion got lucky when I made it. That is not me downing my self but I definitely was not at the skill level I am today and I did nothing to make it better or to improve it. I also had no one to tell me I should. Of course we got told that we should prepare physically and mentally by our instructors, but I had no one near me making me do it, so I didn't. This is me telling you right now, that even though your instructors aren't in your house making you get up to go run, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it! I promise, you will not regret it. I didn't listen to my instructors my first summer and for the first half of it was miserable, but it was my own fault. I felt like I had no friends, I didn't know anyone, my body was physically exhausted, my mind hurt 24/7, it really was a nightmare. Half way through I started getting better physically and mentally and I made more friends and put myself out there more, but half my summer was wasted because I chose to be that way. I chose to be miserable and I knew that if I ever marched again, I would choose to have the best time of my life and I did.

Here are some tips on preparing mentally:

1. Know who you are spinning with!!!

    This is so so so so important, if you do not know who you are spinning with, then how will you feel when you finally get to move ins? You'll feel like you know no one like I did and trust me, it is a lot harder to talk to someone in person. So get on those Facebook groups and group chats that EVERY corps has and talk talk talk. Get to know everyone on your team and you will feel less alone once you get there!

2. Get to know your instructors!

     I have not met an instructor yet that had a problem with you asking them questions or sending them a video of your work and asking them what you could work on pre tour. Doing this will let you know what your instructor expects of you and you will feel less attacked when that person starts to criticize you on the field. I don't know about you, but I feel more offended when someone I do not know or have never spoken too corrects me.

3. When training physically PUSH YOURSELF!!

     Yes my workouts are high rep medium weight, but you must still push your self because you will be pushed harder over the summer and if you have never pushed your self then it will be VERY mentally draining when it all happens at once for the first time on the field. If you do not feel like training that day... go anyway because guess what, after you pay your $3000 and you are on that field for move ins you really don't have a choice! unless you want to waste $3000. You have to know and expect that this summer will be the HARDEST summer you've ever been through- unless you've been to military basic training. Testing your limits on what you can do is a huge step in mentally bettering yourself for tour. When doing daily things, if you are shopping and realize you do not  want an item and you have the urge to just lay it on a random shelf instead of going back to where you got it across the store, make the decision to go back to where you got it and put it up correctly. I promise this sounds silly but it helps !! It helps teach you discipline and cuts down on daily laziness. Discipline is a big thing in drum corps and laziness isn't folks!!

With all of this being said, after you've physically, skillfully, and mentally prepared for your summer tour, just remember that you have to actually love this activity to be able to do it. So LOVE it and have FUN. Breath when you can, rest when you can, eat when you can, drink water when you can, and make friends when you can and I promise you will be just fine. I hope this helps a lot of people or at least gives you an idea if what to expect and why preparing is IMPORTANT!