Back on Warped Tour, Simple Plan’s drummer Chuck Comeau agreed to take part in a very interesting study by Dr. Nadia Azar from the University of Windsor, who’s current research revolves around the topic of drummers’ athletic performance with the goal of “helping drummers play better, faster and stronger while avoiding injuries”, as she states on her university profile.
In order to study Chuck in his natural environment – while playing on stage – two armbands and a heart rate monitor were attached to his body on two different shows on Warped Tour – in Toronto, Canada and in Rochester Hills, MI. The only difference between the sets was that Toronto’s setlist featured one extra song, making it longer and hence the data for each show were expected to differ in some of the results. In her post where she summed up the findings about Chuck’s energy expenditure, Dr. Azar noted that there was one moment furing the show when she was afraid that the collected data might not be as accurate, when Chuck’s armband nearly slipped off during one specific moment of the show. I’m sure you can all guess which one:
‘I knew from the get-go that this was going to be a unique data collection experience. During our first conversation, Chuck mentioned that he does a stage dive/crowd surf at every show…would that be an issue with the equipment? I thought it would probably be fine, but it almost wasn’t…we had a scary moment during the first show where one of the armbands came loose and slipped off his arm! 😱 Thankfully, Chuck managed to catch and hang onto it until the crowd returned him to the stage.. Lesson learned – we locked them down with multiple layers of athletic tape at the next show to make sure it didn’t happen again 😂’
– Dr. Nadia Azar –
And what were the final findings of Dr. Azar’s study of Chuck Comeau’s physical performance while playing drums? Let’s have a look at the published data!
Total calories burned:
Toronto – 390 calories |||| Rochester Hills – 339 calories
Toronto – 12 calories per minute |||| Rochester Hills – 11 calories per minute
Given the show in Toronto was longer, the number of calories was slightly higher there than in Rochester Hills. According to Dr. Azar, Chuck also burns an average of 12 calories per minute while playing drums and the amount is actually even higher while playing the two most energy-demanding songs ‘Jump’ and ‘Welcome To My Life’, when he burns up to 14 calories per minute. ‘Welcome To My Life’ was apparently also the most intense song at both shows (Chuck also reached 14 cal/min during ‘Jump’ in Toronto). The only time Chuck could “catch a break” during the shows was during his crowdsurfing moment, when his calorie burn dropped to “only” 9 cal/min.
Heart rate:
Toronto – 166 beats per minute |||| Rochester Hills – 160 beats per minute
As far as Chuck’s heart rate goes, his average heart rate in Toronto was again a bit higher than in Rochester Hills. What is very impressive, however is that the results showed that his heart rate in Toronto and Rochester Hills represented 91% and 88% of his age-predicted maximum heart rate, respectively, which, as Dr. Azar notes, are levels that could be compared to those seen in elite football players!
Excercise intensity:
Percentage of time spent at near/at maximum intensity (94 %-100 % of max. heart rate):
Toronto – 28 |||| Rochester Hills – 17
Percentage of time spent in vigorous intensity (77 %-94 % of max. heart rate):
Toronto – 68 |||| Rochester Hills – 77
And finally, Chuck’s overall excercise intensity results tell us that he spends over 70 % of the show in a “vigorous intensity” state, which could be compared to that of a running session and he then spends pretty much the rest of the concert (about 30 %) in an even higher intensity activity level – at his maximum heart rate.
If all of that tells us anything, it’s that (if it wasn’t clear before) – Chuck is definitely not the one to slack off during his performance! We’re definitely all very impressed with his results! And Chuck was certainly also very impressed, as he decided to share them on his social media, adding:
‘I didn’t post this to brag (ok, ok…maybe a little…lol) but I take a lot of pride in the fact that I always give all the energy I have on stage for our fans and I’m stoked that these results indicate that I don’t ever “cheat” and just phone it in and that I truly go all out playing our shows. And I’m also excited to share this with everyone to encourage you to find an activity that will help you push yourself and your body. Maybe you can try drums, a new sport, running or anything else that you will enjoy.’
– Chuck Comeau –
Despite the fact that the band is currently not on tour and is planning to start working on new music very soon, it has just been announced that Simple Plan will be performing a one-off show at the Slippery Rock University campus in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania in just two weeks – on November 2nd!
