Workouts Director Spotlight

With all of Bakuhatsu's members being college students, we're all finishing Winter Quarter finals this week and then it's a week-long Spring Break. During that time, there's no mandatory practices or workouts so our Workouts Director, August Walker, has taught us a lot over the last couple weeks so we can exercise on our own and stay in top taiko shape. His advice is great for anyone who plays taiko, so here it is for all who might be exercising on their own or with a team.
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​What are key muscle groups/areas that people should focus on when wanting to exercise for taiko, and why?
"I find that the most important thing for taiko players is to be steady and focused, in body and mind. When you see a performance where every movement looks deliberate, or an unshaking yatai form, you as an audience become drawn in. That’s why I think that the core muscles, like your abdominals and obliques, are so important. While your core doesn’t move your body, it stabilizes it, letting the rest of your movements be beautiful and controlled. A strong core also means a strong posture, and a strong posture opens up the diaphragm, letting you breathe more deeply and really get oxygen to your muscles. There are just so many benefits."
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Bakuhatsu doing side planks together at one of our weekly workout sessions.

What are some exercises people can do at home? 
"The best part about working out specifically for taiko is that you don’t need any equipment. Unlike traditional strength training, in taiko we aren’t necessarily worried about putting on a ton of muscle. In fact, too much muscle can limit the range of motion we as players need. When I plan workouts for Bakuhatsu, I try to really focus on cardio, balance, and form. In terms of cardio, taiko players can benefit both from endurance and burst energy training, which is why we’ll mix up jogging with sprints in our workouts. Another great type of cardio exercise would be HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, which really pushes the body to utilize both aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. It definitely combines the best of both worlds. In terms of balance and form, some exercises I really advocate for are traditional planks, side planks, and push-ups. When done correctly, these exercises work the whole body, from the back, around to the core. You can be a very strong person, but if you’re not balanced and smart about these workouts, you can tire out a lot faster than someone weaker than you."

What kind of schedule do you recommend for workouts?
​"For me, it’s definitely doing a little bit of exercise every day. You can set yourself a goal, like do 100 pushups every day, and work to that goal throughout the day. Throw in a plank, some HIIT, or even go on a walk, and you’re really working on the kind of balance that you want for taiko. If you supplement this with bigger workouts once, twice, or even three times a week, you’ll see a big improvement. Keeping it consistent is what’s important."
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Any additional thoughts on workouts and taiko? 
"Form over everything. If you can do 50 pushups in a row with your elbows splayed out to the side and butt in the air, it doesn’t matter. If you can control your form, then you can control your body, which is what taiko is all about. I recently took this concept to Bakuhatsu after spending week after week pushing for higher and higher reps in our exercises. We spent time really going over the details of form and the movements of each muscle group in our exercises. All of a sudden, people who were doing 20 pushups were down to doing 3. But those three pushups were more beneficial to them than arbitrarily high numbers of reps could ever be."

Bakuhatsu doing planks together during one of our weekly workout sessions.

​Written by Shai Nielson, BTD Historian 2016-2017