Music and Exercise

For a few months now I’ve been on what I call the Stop Making Sense exercise plan. Put simply, I put a concert on the TV or on the YouTubes and dance about the living room like an addled muppet. 

What’s really helped is in July I got a Fitbit. It turns out I’m a sucker for computer game like achievements. But it has worked. I’ve lost just over twelve pounds in four months. 

So I figured I’d share a bit on what I’ve done in case like minded not-the-sort-to-exercise-normally types would like to see if it works for them.

In addition to the very bad dancing I’ve added a few calisthenics: jumping jacks, running in place, high knees, and jumping rope (sans rope, I’m too clumsy for that). 

Here are a few of my concert choices and their merits.

1. Stop Making Sense. I have this on DVD but I’m pretty sure it’s on the YouTubes. I remember seeing this as a midnight film and as the theater danced along to it, I remember feeling the next day like I’d played a ninety minute soccer match. David Byrne is super thin. I’d guess given the era of the movie that’s as much to do with mountains of cocaine as the running around and muppetish dancing he does in the concert, and yet, mimicking his dance moves feels like quite a workout. If nothing else the song “Life During Wartime” is sure to get your heart rate up. 

2. The B-52s live in Dortmund ’83. The full version of this is less than an hour but good to burn a lot of calories to. There are a couple songs that are lower in tempo than I’d like, but those are good places to catch your breath because “Rock Lobster” is a great song for dancing like a muppet to, as is “Big Bird” (pun absolutely intended). 

3. The Specials 30th Anniversary Concert. There are a lot of good ska concerts on the YouTubes. For exercise purposes you could do a lot worse than a 40-60 minute ska. This particular concert has a great set of up tempo songs at the start and then mixes things up well from there. 

4. Gogol Bordello Live From Irvin Plaza (2008). For cardio I think Gogol Bordello is the big guns. I remember seeing a documentary about them and one of the regulars of their early shows saying that she had to make herself a deal that she could only go to their shows if she ate a massive amount of carbs earlier that day because otherwise she was losing too much weight. If you’re old like me and your metabolism has given up this is less of a danger, but songs like “60 Revolutions” or “Think Locally Fuck Globally” are great for overcoming the slow metabolism. 

5. Adolescents Live at the House of Blues. Since my jumping sans rope is essentially a pogo, it’s good to have a punk show on this list. Lots of good up tempo music in this show, the classic “Kids of the Black Hole” is perfection. 

Others: I’ve found that Rammstein is great if I’m mixing in my feeble pushups or hand weights. The Clash and Joy Division are perfect for running in place. I like Madness as another ska option, but it’s hard to find a good concert. I found searching for “Baggy Trousers” or “Night Boat to Cairo” will play those and “One Step Beyond” which are really the best jump around like a fool songs. Siouxsie in the Banshess are always great, particularly if you can find the whole Nocturne concert. I do think those that the video of them performing “Love in a Void” on Something Else, is the best for exercise purposes. 

Hopefully those are some good options for getting started to get some exercise in, bouncing or plodding along or dancing like a frenzied muppet.