This is a very simple tip for making the most out of your practice sessions and the title really says it all. It's so useful that I thought I should include a few notes on why you should try this and I will talk about how I applied it to my practice and the benefits I noticed.
The idea here is that when you are sat at the practice pad, or even doing a workout on the full kit, use a set of sticks that are heavier than your standard pair. I personally use Wincent 5BXXL sticks, so to get heavier than that I went for a pair of 2Bs. The additional weight and thickness makes all rudiments and exercises that little bit more demanding, which means that more is acheived by doing them. This is the same idea as adding a few extra pounds on the weight machines at the gym, the exercise is harder but you gain a little more from it.
When I first tried this I happened to have a couple of weeks away from band related activity so I was doing all my practice on a pad, focusing on pushing the speed of my singles and paradiddles but using the heavier set of sticks. At the next band practice I went back to my standard pair and they honestly felt like they were full of helium or something! This was a band with a lot of high tempo songs that were a real push on my stamina but I flew through everything, barely even breaking a sweat. Double strokes over the toms? No problem! Right hand eighths at 230bpm plus? Eeeeassy! All because I'd up the weight of my practice sticks. It's such a simple idea but I can't stress enough how much benefit you will feel from doing this.
Obviously just changing the weight of your sticks isn't going to help much if you aren't watching your technique and practicing regularly. But combined with a good practice regime you will wonder why you haven't been doing this for years.
