【ドラム】VLOG #6 -女子ドラマーの体づくり- RINA

Translation & Subtitles: thoseguiltyeyes | scandal-heaven.com
Hello! RINA here.

I get questions about this from time to time,

and today I will be talking a little about how I train my body.

I don't do anything like limit myself for a diet,

but as playing the drums for live performances is pretty hard to do,

there are things to take care with when building up your physical strength and training your body for that,

as well as mental aspects to consider.

I will be talking about these things.

I've mentioned this many times,

but I first started playing the drums when I was 15 in my third year of middle school.

Back then I just tried to increase the things I could do,

such as playing an eight-beat rhythm or four-on-the-floor.

I didn't at all think about my body while playing my instrument.

That thought never occured to me.

I prioritized being able to play my instrument and didn't consider anything else.

That continued for about five years,

until I was around 20 years old.

Thinking about it now,

I wasn't really worried about anything and I didn't have any problems,

so I just played in way that made it easier for me.

I kept on going without paying attention to my body.

Then, sometimes my wrists would feel tired and hurt.

I would ice them down after playing.

I made sure to always cool them down.

I'm sure there are people who know this is a basic thing for drummers to do,

but I really didn't know anything.

I thought the pain and discomfort I felt was due to something small like fatigue,

and I was doing things in a way where that would gradually be resolved.

I would be back to normal after icing them.

I would stretch for a while, head to rehearsals,

play the actual show, and ice my wrists afterwards.

My menu grew--well, I can't really call it a menu,

but I made myself a routine where I'd stretch properly and then play the drums.

I started doing this when I was about 22, 23 years old.

I didn't have any problems with that method,

but when I turned 25, I suddenly started feeling discomfort in my lower back.

I didn't really think much about it at the time

and chalked it up to fatigue or stiffness.

I thought it'd get better if I just rested.

It suddenly disappeared on its own after about a week,

so I thought it was just due to fatigue.

I forgot all about that discomfort.

A little bit of time passed,

and when we were in the latter half of a tour, my lower back felt weird again.

It felt heavy.

I went to get a massage.

It was an aroma oil massage and it felt nice,

but that heaviness and little bit of pain didn't go away at all the next day.

It felt like a lump of pain that wouldn't go away.

That never really happened before,

so I went to the hospital.

There, I had them do all kinds of exams,

and I interpreted what they told me as,

"There doesn't really seem to be anything wrong,"
"Perhaps you're mistaken,"
"You should get better in a bit."

I left feeling like I was ignored.

The pain still didn't go away after a month.

When I drummed, I felt like I was getting into the habit of bending my lower back.

The pain was still bearable then.

One of our roadies introduced me to a doctor that specializes in caring for the body,

and I had the doctor come on tour with us.

They continued to watch what I could do.

I couldn't really go and see a doctor at a hospital who could tell me exactly what's going on.

I continued to have this unexplainable sense of discomfort.

I kept on touring like that,

and one day I suddenly felt a completely different level of pain I hadn't felt before,

which I thought was weird.

I went to see the doctor that our roadie introduced me to one more time,

and they told me that I had sciatica.

At any rate, my lower back was in pain.

I was told that I needed to improve my strength to support my lower back by doing muscle training.

I starting doing Pilates

and doing training that I could do while still being in pain.

I tried out a lot of things.

I began to come across Pilates exercises that I couldn't do,

and I felt like I couldn't do them due to there being too much training to build up the necessary strength.

At that time, my right leg--

the outside of my right ankle started to get really numb.

My right leg felt really weird when I was sleeping, when I woke up, when I would sit, when I would stand.

However, when we would play a show, a switch would be flipped and I would get an adrenaline rush,

so I wouldn't be that bothered by the numbness or pain.

I managed to endure it and kept training as much as I could on my days off.

I was kind of worried that this training wouldn't actually fix it.

So I went to a different hospital.

There, I had an MRI done where they checked to see what was going on inside.

The results came in,

and I had a full-blown herniated disk.

This often happens to drummers,

and of course I knew of the term "herniated disk,"

but I never thought it would happen to me.

I was quite surprised and shocked.

I wasn't sure what to do,

but knowing that I had a herniated disc and that this was the source of my pain

was a little relieving--or rather, it provided me with peace of mind.

It's so important to correctly know what's going on with your body.

I think each hospital has its own strong points,

bBut I wouldn't know that this is what I had if I didn't go to a hospital that's right for me,

so I think it's important to try going to several different ones.

I then thought about what I should do to be able to keep playing the drums.

I needed to fix things little by little,

so I started doing rehabilitation.

I wasn't able to do training anymore.

At that time, my posture wasn't very straight.

I always felt numb from my lower back on my right side to my toes.

How can I explain it?

Just my right leg,

It felt like it was always immersed in carbonated water.

My left leg and my right leg felt completely different from each other.

It was even hard to sleep.

I couldn't sleep at all,

and when I'd wake up in the morning, I couldn't get up quickly.

How can I put it?

When I slept this way,

I couldn't get up like this.

I had to turn on my side and push myself up with my hand.

It felt like a workout.

It makes you feel really anxious when you can't use your body the way you want to.

I got to the point where I'd be like, "I wonder if I can play our next show."

That's how tough it was for me.

It was hard for me to tell people about it.

It's not like I was spewing out blood or withering away.

But I talked about the trouble I was having with the other members and our manager.

Even during rehearsals everyone would match my pace,

and they told me to just take things easy during shows.

The body care doctor would be on standby on the side of the stage.

If something happened during a show, even it's right in the middle of it,

we could take a break, I could get myself adjusted, and we'd continue playing.

That's what our entire team told me.

It was such great moral support.

Looking back on things,

our 47-prefecture tour where we played 53 performances around the country,

that was like a bout between my body and my emotions.

Also, during SCAFES, our 10th anniversary show held outdoors,

my back was tightly taped up.

When we held a hall tour in support of our album "HONEY"

and I was taking painkillers for nerve pain,

the other members' and staff's words made me feel secure.

They told me, "No matter what happens, it's okay.

Don't worry about it and just give it your best shot."

They gave me that sense of security as we toured.

After doing rehab for a year and a half,

I finally got my body to move the way I wanted it to.

When I had first started rehab, I wasn't sure it could truly get me back normal.

They asked me use small movements to turn back as far as I could,

but this was as far as I could go.

I couldn't really turn myself that much.

But as I did it little by little, my range of movement grew.

I kept it up for a year and a half.

It's thanks to the doctor who cared for me.

It was tough, but experiencing that pain and discomfort

and going through this rough time

made me realize that, when I became able to move my body,

I needed to build up a body that had the strength necessary to play for a long time.

I'm not glad that this happened,

but it's certainly important that this gave me the chance to think about that.

It's calmed down quite a bit now

and I now go to the gym and do personal training,

Like training my core, adjusting my balance, and building my stamina.

I'm doing it in a reasonable range every time while consulting with my trainer.

Training really is like an amulet for your emotions.

I think it's important for me to do as much as I can.

I'm taking it easy

and not overdoing it at all.

For example, even if there are days when I'd want to meet up with someone or aren't feeling well,

I will not judge myself by comparing myself to when I'm feeling well vs. myself when I'm not feeling well.

Whatever my 100% is for that day is okay.

So if there are people watching who are in a band,

or people who play the drums,

I want you guys to keep playing while taking care of your bodies.

If a band member's health breaks down,

I want you to give them moral support.

Having that reassurance is really important.

This instrument doesn't run on electricity,

and I think it's interesting that everything, like your feelings and physical condition, is reflected in its sound.

We'll be holding a livestream concert on August 21st,

which is the day of our 14th anniversary,

so please watch it if you'd like.

I hope I've conveyed something to you.

I kind of hit you with a lot, so some things might have been hard to understand.

I will continue doing my best while interacting well with my body.

Thanks so much for watching until the end!

Please like the video, subscribe to my channel, and leave a comment!

See you in my next video!