Music |
Gym Music
By
Published: May 12, 2009
Category:
Rock
I work out. In part, because I like going to the gym and the people I know there. But also, because like any sensible late-life father, I’d like to be here to scare the shit out of my young daughter’s inevitable boyfriends. (This is a modest plan compared to the strategy of another late-life dad, basketball legend Charles Barkley, who has said “I plan to shoot the first boy who shows up, and hope the word gets around.”)
So I work out regularly. Not quite as regularly as the authors of Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You’re 80 and Beyond would like me to. But probably more than you do.
Because I’m a gym rat, I get into a groove. Half-hour of cardio. Weights. Machines. I pay attention to Good Form, but sometimes it’s an effort to finish a session. And, as trainers will tell you, doing the same-old day after day brings diminishing returns.
One way to shake things up is to watch Fox News on the monitor. But that’s using negativity to achieve a positive result. If I go to that well too often, I fear I might keel over from rage.
Music is better. It’s the life force with a back beat, sex in 4/4 time, blues you can use. The drums make your heart pound, the bass burrows into your spine, and the guitars and voices lure you up the stairway to heaven. Just keep away from Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake, and almost anything will make your time on the elliptical trainer or treadmill go faster.
“Shuffle” works as well as a playlist. But I like to program my moods, so I go from a full CD to the next. I like to buy CDs so I’ll always have the music. Because I’m aware that many of you prefer to download a single song from a CD, I also list favorite — that is: highest-energy — songs from the CDs.
C.C. Adcock (especially: Y’All’d Think She’d Be Good 2 Me and All 4 The Betta)
Arcade Fire (especially: Black Mirror, Keep the Car Running, Neon Bible and Intervention)
Billy Idol (especially: Dancing With Myself, White Wedding and Rebel Yell)
The Clash (especially: London Calling)
Springsteen: Darkness at the Edge of Town (especially: Badlands and The Promised Land)
The White Stripes (especially: Blue Orchid)
The Black Keys (especially: Your Touch)
Tom Petty (especially: Saving Grace and Ankle Deep)
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson (especially: Rattlin’ Bones and Monkey on a Wire)
John Fogerty/Creedence (especially: Fortunate Son, Up Around the Bend, Almost Saturday Night and Hey Tonight)
Otis Redding (especially: Respect, I Can’t Turn You Loose and Satisfaction)
Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration (especially: Knock on Wood and Born Under a Bad Sign)
To cool down: J.J. Cale.
I could go on — but I’ve burned my 400 calories and nipped at 140 on the heart monitor. Now it’s your turn. Yes, you.
