Hey Baby, I'm Playing Their Songs

My gym is so prosaic; or is it on Prozac?? I don't know. Lately whenever I go, there are lots of people there working out, but nothing ridiculous or funny or strange occurs. Just middle aged folks sweating on the cardios and pushing weights. Wearing dull clothes.

Darn.

Who knew we were such a dedicated and boring lot.

However, a long time ago Suzanne posted her playlist and admitted that she thought it was a brilliant idea for us all to do. My own playlist evolves almost weekly, as I am determined to find the perfect mix of music at the perfect tempo to keep me moving when on the treadmill or the elliptical, then allow me to use music as a distraction and timing method while doing floor exercises and/or weight training.

The first part is critical; the rest less so. I have also perfected the treadmill portion of the playlist; the ellipitical portion still needs to be developed (all suggestions welcome).

PlayList

Song #1: played while walking into the gym and/or up from the locker room.

Inspiration:

Bonnie Raitt: Let's Give Them Something to Talk About.

Treadmill Music:

#1. Boogie Shoes. Ya know this really is a great warm up song.. the tempo, the trumpets, the idea of shoes...

#2. I Walk The Line. Los Lonely Boys. About the same tempo as #1, longer with a very strong beat that forces me to walk to it's time.

#3. Every Breathe You Take. UB40. The breathing part of cardio is starting to kick in.

#4. Smooth. Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas. Perfect strong beat. Perfect tempo. Perfect.

#5. Oye Como Va. Gypsy Kings and Carlos Santana. I think this one may need to be moved back a little further in the play list. But the tempo and beat is good.

#6. Locomotion Breath. Jethro Tull. Increase the speed to 3.4 or 3.5 and step fiercely along with the strong bass and beat of this song. This is about the 20 minute point in a half hour workout and I'm going for the money.

#7. Layla. Eric Clapton. Same tempo at #6 and just in time to finish off the workout.

#8. Suffragette City. David Bowie. The finale. About half way through this song, I hit the half hour limit, and move into the "group exercise room" for my floor exercises. Refill the water bottle, grab a mat and get ready.

Floor exercises/ weight training/ and often elliptical:

#9. Sultans of Swing. Dire Straits. There are a number of stability and balance moves that I do. This is a great song for slowly moving legs. Besides it's my favorite earworm.

#10. Don't You Forget About Me. Human League. Usually where I do balance work and wall-sits.

#11. Aqualung. Jethro Tull. Second Time through the stability moves.

#12. Cocaine. Eric Clapton. Second time through balance work and wall-sits.

Then maybe on to weights! Sometimes used when on the ellipitical:

#13: She's Not There. Santana and Thomas again.

#14: The Way You Do The Things You Do. UB40.

#15: Evil Ways. Santana

#16: Black Magic Woman. Santana

#17: My God. Jethro Tull Live recording.

#18: Crazy Dreams. Los Lonely Boys.

#19: Elegantly Wasted. INXS.

#20: I Would Do Anything For Love. Meatloaf

#21: Brown Eyed Girl. Van Morrison.

#22: How To Save A Life: The Fray.

#23: Don't You Forget About Me. Simple Minds

#24: When It's All Over. Snow Patrol.

#25: American Pie. Don Mclean. The original long version.

#26: I'll Stop The World. The Cure.

Cool Down

#27: Trouble Sleeping. Corrine Bailey Rae

#28: Hallejulah. Rufus Wainwright.

#29 Breathless. Corrine Bailey Rae

#30 Butterfly. Corrine Bailey Rae.

Granted this playlist is heavy on the oldies, but I haven't found songs (especially for the treadmill section) that meet my specific requirements of tempo, strong rhythm, good guitar riffs and great harmonies. I will eagerly check out new suggestions that might work here, but most of the "newer" music I find is ending up at the end of the playlist.

rude and stupid

I didn't go to the gym last week so I had nothing to blog about. But upon my triumphant return, oho! the gym was ripe with fodder.

Our locker room is small. There are 4 stools. At any given time, there may be 4 people. This should logically work out to one stool per person. But no. Fat Lady was sitting on one with her stuff (a plastic grocery bag) on the stool next to her. Then she made a special effort to not pick up her bag when she needed something out of it, leaning over and digging through it as though it were glued down. She found what she needed and took it out, but she also found some trash that she didn't want (used tissues, candy wrappers) and proceeded to throw it on the floor. Not accidentally-dropped-and-forgot-to-pick-up, I'm talking full out thrown on the floor. And no, she wasn't trying to make it into the trash can, which was across the room in the other direction. So while not sitting and avoiding her trash, the rest of us in the locker room also have to contend with the fact that she left her locker door (in the middle, up high) wide open. I "politely" shut it for her, she gave me a dirty look , and stormed out. Another locker room inhabitant and I exchanged "WTF looks."

Then while on the cardio machine, I'm doing my normal workout complete with normal headphones. However, I keep getting disturbed by the person next to me on her cell phone. It rang twice, and she was talking on it loudly the whole time I was there. Maybe she has some important business to cover (gossip) but you can't get a very good cardio workout while jabbering away. And we weren't on tradmills - we were on ellipticals. So not only was she wasting her time (and breath) but she was disturbing other people. Just because you can't get a good workout doesn't mean that you should stop everyone else from getting one too.

What's That Smell?

I should have trusted my nose and not gone into the women's lockeroom
when I could smell some nasty perfume wafting from beneath the door.
However, I opened the door and almost past out. It smelled like someone
walked around spraying the Strawberry Shortcake doll's perfume in all
of the lockers. That mixed with the smell of sweaty feet and mold was
enough to make me start gagging. So here's my question: Why was someone
spraying that awful stuff around? Or worse, yet and probably more
likely, "Was someone actually wearing that horrible perfume?"

So That's Why We Pay the Big Bucks

I went to workout at the SoHo branch of my gym tonight. Yeah... I fit right in, let me tell you. The good part is that all the equipment is new and shiny and works. The bad part is that I was balded by all the shiny, waxed snatch parading around the locker room. The lighting seriously reflected off the poon, I am not making that up. A bald man would possibly kill everyone in sight range with the power rays that would emanate from his skull. He probably should not be in the women's locker room, though, so i think we are safe. Oy.

I Swear I'd Never Say This...

Today was all planned out: some life maintainence stuff in the morning along with walking the dogs. At two I was meeting several of the other BlogHer editors in Oakland for a couple hours of visiting while knitting or crocheting. (I would be the K/C tutor).

In between a visit to the gym.

I calculated the time, and knew if I left the gym by 1:30 pm, I'd have plenty of time to get through the traffic in Berzerkley, find a place to park, and get to the tea bar where we were meeting at 2 pm. Easy-peasy.

Except...

And these are the words I never thought I'd utter:

I was enjoying my workout so much, that I stayed at the gym longer. And showed up late for girlie fun!!

Beanie guy

Ok, I know it's been warmer outside. (It almost got to 60!) So you don't need to wear a knit hat. Especially in the gym, where the A/C is not on, and I had to leave early because I was going to pass out. But it's ok for you, O Wearer of the Knit Hat Inside the Gym, because you're not actually working out. You are just sitting on the machines so nobody else can use them. Go ahead and wear your beanie.

My gym is a YMCA in a swank neighborhood. I do not live in said neighborhood, I just live close enough to enjoy the runoff. Every piece of cardio equipment has it's own 13 inch flat screen television with DVD/CD player and extended cable. All you need to do is bring a pair of headphones, plug yourself in and you're good to go. They even sell headphones at the desk if you forgot yours. In addition, they have a lost and found box because sometimes people accidentally forget their headphones in the machines when they are done.

The lost and found box is near the abs/back weight machines. On more than one occasion, I've seen people come in, take a set of headphones from this box, use them and return them to the box. Now these are the type of headphones that go into your ears, not the old fashioned type with the foam circles that merely rest on top of your ears. While I do not find earwax to be as inherently gross as, say, crotch sweat, it's still pretty nasty.

On Monday the lost and found box was empty. One after another folks walked over only to walk away disappointed. Then some crazy old coot tried to take my headphones, which I had rested on my water bottle and placed on my towel next to where I was working out. When I protested, she said 'Well I didn't think you were using them!' I wasn't at the moment, but that does not negate the fact that they are my private property. Step off, crazy ear wax lover.