From the files of great workout, running, racing or weightlifting music comes the following song – one I first came across in the trailer for the documentary Facing Ali, which will be appearing at festivals soon.
It is one of those rap songs that seems to have a bit of crossover appeal, striking a chord with gymrats and athletes, even ones that typically avoid rap like it was swine flu.
After seeing the trailer, I spent a bit of time trying to track this song down and only recently succeeded. Naturally, I’m playing the living hell out of it right now, and we’ll see how long the honeymoon period lasts with this one. I’ve got a feeling it could end up being a staple.
Anyway, it is a likely candidate to make my playlists for any 5K or 10K, marathon or weight routine going forward. For your consideration, here it is…
Don’t know who this kid is, or how he came up with this pretty cool arrangement of Michael Jackson classics, but he did a couple cool camera tricks and overlayed a half dozen a capella vocal tracks to produce a pretty kick-ass product and tribute to the King of Pop.
I’ve never been shy to point out some good 80s music, and that goes double when it comes to the acoustic 80s crew. These guys have come up with a bunch of unique arrangements to some 80s classics, but I thought these two really stood out, so here are their versions of:
We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off by Jermaine Stewart
The song is called Monkey and it is performed by the group Low.
Why is this relevant and why am I making this post? Because I saw the movie a while back and I have since been on a bit of a search to track down this song. Over the course of that search, I came across many other people asking the same question but none providing the answers.
So anyway, here is your answer: Monkey by Low from the album The Great Destroyer.
The song isn’t even new. It was a 2005 album, but the Killshot producers must have had it in the back of their minds for a few years and realized they had something pretty good to fit into an appropriately themed movie if they ever made one.
Proof that I’m right? You can listen to a clip in the widget below. As you can see, it has also appeared in the film Cry Wolf.
Today I present another sample of my iPod playlist for the heavy weight training days in the gym. This is one of Jay Z’s signature songs and is about as hard-hitting as his stuff gets. Pretty good for a kick around the fourth or fifth set of an exercise when you need a little bit of extra fuel.
Below are a couple of versions of the much-remixed track.
Jay Z – 99 Problems (Instrumental)
And here is an interesting remix I came across in my travels. Bears little resemblance to the original but is kind of catchy…
Today I present another sample of my playlist for the grueling weight days in the gym. This one is a fairly obscure song by one of the masters of rap and, more importantly, a master of weightlifting-inspiration rap.
This is Pain by 2Pac. And if you are doing your job right in the weight room, your pain will run deep! Share it with me!
Today I present a further sample of my playlist for the heavy weight days in the gym. This a tried-and-true gym classic, and is of some good utility in timing your rests between sets. If you begin the song at the end of your last set, you will be hitting a high-intensity, additional-adrenaline-push point in the song at almost exactly two minutes in and, while not as inspiring, there is a distinctive point in the song three minutes in if you are using three-minute rests.
These are the little things that can save you some mental energy or provide an audio cue to resume your sets if you get distracted. I prefer to expend my mental energy on focus during the exercise rather than worrying about when to resume the workout and if the music can save me some of the effort of getting psyched up for the upcoming set, all the better.
Oh, and if you happen to use four-minute-and-thirty-five-second rests by any chance, this is also the song for you.
Today I will offer one more sample of my playlist for the heavy weight days in the gym. This is one that I will bust out from time to time on the fifth set of heavy leg press with a slow tempo count and long negatives. In other words, a rock anthem classic that I save for when I need it. I’d be shocked if you’ve never heard this one in the gym before, unless you are stuck in one of those gyms that caters its music selection entirely to the jazzercise class happening in the spinning room…in which case you may be subject to a lot of RuPaul, It’s Raining Men, Mariah Carey and some bleeding eardrums…
Anyway, here’s a weight room classic (the live version)…
From my playlist to yours, I have another offering / recommendation for some good weight training music. This one is a regular on my iPod for a few reasons. First (and the lesser reason) it was the featured music in the teaser trailer for the film 300. Since this was a pretty badass trailer, it lends the song some adrenalizing imagery (to use a word coined by Def Leppard).
Second, and most important, it is a very good song for pacing your rests in between sets. If you use a two-minute rest between sets – and hopefully are not foolish enough to guesstimate two minutes in your head – then this song is of particular use. Send it to the beginning at the end of your set, and then just as the two-minute mark is approaching, the song just happens to be building up to a particularly jacked-up crescendo. You’ll know when to start lifting your next set.
Also, for the visuals, here is the original theatrical teaser for 300. You’ll probably see what I’m talking about…
The following clip is an example of a pretty decent workout song that you can find popping up on my iPod from time to time in the gym. The song is from the soundtrack for Vision Quest, and 80s action / sports movie where Matthew Modine (of all people) plays a wrestler trying to win over Linda Fiorentino (oh yeah). Anyway, it’s a decent film, has an early cameo appearance by Madonna, and also has plenty of training montage action. So from my playlist to yours, I offer the following…
I am a longtime fitness advocate and a veteran of many grueling battles in the gym.
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Here you will find articles about fitness, nutrition, motivation and bodybuilding. I write about and track my own training and progress in varied activities such as weightlifting and distance running.
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