Hey, all. I know there is a topic specifically for Drummers, but I wanted to narrow the scope quite a bit and focus specifically on practice routines. I am starting this topic because I want to know what the practice routines of MA drummers look like. If you wish to share, outline your practice routine and some specifics about it (length of time, favorite exercises, things you seek to improve upon, etc.). Your routine doesn't have to be specifically geared towards the heavy metal genre, it can be anything you happen to p. Finally, this would be a great way to all learn from each other and improve as players. Thanks, everyone!

Hail,
I try to rehearse one hour per day. I play with intra-auricular phones, plugged intro a metronome or into my MP3 player (containing scratch tracks for my future songs).

I try to work the skank beat. I've been peaking around 210 BPM for months. I also try to keep my blastbeat and double bass level. My double bass has peaked around 140-150 BPM for years. I don't really aim at getting faster. But my blastbeat level still improves. Sometimes I blast at 190-200 BPM very shortly.

Most of the time I either try to work a pattern with accelerated tempo (X, then X+10, then X+20 etc), or to rehearse one of my future songs before being able to record it correctly.

Sometimes I get bored and miss playing in a band. I try to force myself to rehearse even when I don't feel like doing so (like now, for instance), but playing the drums requires a lot of energy, so it depends on my food and time schedule. When I sleep during daytime, I stop playing for several days or one week.

It's hard to really improve my level with my current way of life. Besides, I don't even feel the motivation, since everyone wants to use free drum softwares and create shitty tool-assisted-one-man-projects...

I just try to work enough in order to maintain my level.

As a sidenote, if anyone want me to work for them, don't expect me to do it for free or without returning the favour. Drumming is like sport: an investment of time, money and energy.

when I first started I played around an hour a day just playing mainly blast beats.

then i moved everything to my shed outside and I went to 2 hours.

then I moved it to a storage unit and played 2-3 hours and then joined a band.

joined another band and just practiced with them where out of 5 hours 4 of them were solid playing.

then joined another band on drums and another so where I was spending around 8-10 hours every single day drumming to songs and whatnot. and all with 5lb ankle weights on.

when most of my bands died I jammed maybe 30mins 5 times a week just not doing anything.

more so right now I drum when I'm recording and don't sit down and do any exercises or anything like that just playing what i'm going to play for recording or what Im learning for. regular exercise and cardio keeps me in shape so I can sit down take a minute to be warmed up to play and then I just play. When I get my shed built at my house I plan to go back to practing and recording far more.
Since KFD meantioned it I'll say that on my average fast speed that I pull out in songs for double bass is 780BPM. I mainly want to practice more to get that to 800. I do 13 beats per second with my feet so my goal is to make that an average of 15 per second.

I should probably throw my practice routine in the mix as well. Here is what it looks like currently:

5 days a week for 1-2 per day with weekends serving as rest time
Speed and endurance work in the feet, playing a range of tempos starting at 150bpm, ending at 200bpm, and coming back down while playing rudiments on top
Coordination exercises at various tempos, usually beginning at 100bpm and increasing in tempo until it falls apart
Rudiments played on a practice pad at various tempos

While I try to keep my speed and endurance at a consistent level (I can blast and play double bass between 180-200bpm), I am steering more towards coordination exercises and other technical exercises in order to come up with better ideas for fills and different ideas for drum beats. I always try and look for things outside of heavy metal practicing to add to my repertoire.
Usually I take weekends off, but occasionally I'll just jam for 30 mins or an hour to remind myself that drumming is fun.

1) Grab sticks
2) Grab guitar player
3) Improvise until tired
4) Drink break
5) Repeat until work

I think it's working pretty good. Most people think I've been playing longer than I have.

I've been playing drums since I was 20. I'm almost 33 now.

Usually have a playlist of the songs I need to practice for band, I pick the ones I think I need the most work on first..then usually just playthrough them all.

Sometimes I drum along to tracks on shuffle on foobar, helps with variety. Sometimes I just play free what I want. But most often just use a metronome and improvise, work on bass technique, double bass, limb independence and timing. Lots of d beat and punk drumming as well

Maybe about 30minutes to an hour and a half a day depending on my schedule and mood

Today I enjoyed playing. I have found a good formula: alternate practising exercises and freestyle. For example: practise skank beat as long and fast as I can, then play a cooler and more varied pattern on a slower tempo when I'm tired.

I never play with "naked" ears. I always play along the metronome or some song with intra-auricular phones. I'm not used to the tone and volume of raw acoustic drums.

I'm not really interested in developping my double bass speed. I'm not a death metal drummer and don't intend to be so. I rather consider myself as a hybrid punk rock/black metal drummer. I'm very fond on working on patterns implying the open/close hat and tom-toms. Since I can play without muffled heads, I've also tried to work my snare technique. I learned the stick-on-snare-rim technique, for example.

I like to replay my old songs, I'm probably not the only one to do so here.

I like to launch a mid-tempo and to jam on it, not in an easy and simple approach, but with complex fills and figures. Sometimes I create a drum pattern in my head and then try to play it. When I don't manage to play it, I try to rehearse with a slow then accelerated tempo until I master the pattern. Really frustrating when the pattern is simple-sounding, but hard to play. Perseverence is more than necessary, but I sometimes lack patience.

I kind of fail playing two consecutive bass hits with my right foot, for instance. I try to work on it, but my progress is minimal. Thus I often end up using the double pedal, which doesn't sound the same (two bass drum hits played with one single foot don't sound the same as if played with both feet on double pedal).

I also have a real hard time to master fills which combinate feet and tom-toms. I practised a lot, but did not progress much. I wonder if my technical skills are limited... My biggest issue lies in the left-right/up-down synchronization management.

I'd like to try playing with brooms some day. Brooms are a bit expensive, but I have to try at least once.