Treadmill Tunes

Long before I became a mountaineer (and that’s a long time ago!), I used U2’s The Joshua Tree album for my aerobic workouts.

For some reason, “Where The Streets Have No Name” and “With Or Without You” jibed well with my cardio workout rhythm. And that was before Tommy Lee Jones danced to these songs in the movie “Blown Away.”

Singing along with Bono (real name: Paul Hewson), I would jog in place and go through the warm-up routines I had learned as a student of Tae Kwon Do (okay, that’s even waaaay farther back – when everyone wanted to be Bruce Lee!). My routines were punches, blocks, and kicks, with the mandatory “kiya!”

Fast forward to today. Hell if my joints can still execute half of those karate moves, so I don’t even try. But I still do cardio with U2 – this time on a treadmill. I can’t do spinning back kicks anymore (I’ll be lucky to tear a ligament before I bash my head on a piece of furniture!), but on the treadmill, I can simulate hill climbing, and I can still dance-jog to the rhythm of “In God’s Country.”

In fact, I’ve created several playlists for my treadmill travails. These sets of tunes are 30 to 40 minutes long (my daily routine), some more aerobic than others. The first and last songs are warm-up and cool-down tunes; the ones in between vary from high-incline-slow-speed to no-incline-high-speed. Oh, no biggie... my high incline is only 10 degrees, and my high speed is a break-neck 3.0 mph, tops.

[Aside: The treadmill has a safety feature “key.” One end you attach to the machine, the other you clip on to your waistband just so if you fall, your body will tug the key off the machine and automatically kill it (kill the machine, that is, before it kills you). But, I don’t really want to have to experience that, so, I’m not braving any death-defying stunts like hoofing faster than 3 miles per hour. Maybe next year when I train for the marathon. Not.]

Here are my treadmill workout playlists so far:

U2 [The Joshua Tree]
With Or Without You
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
Where The Streets Have No Name
Red Hill Mining Town
Bullet The Blue Sky
In God’s Country
Trip Through Your Wires

Guns N’ Roses [Greatest Hits]
Welcome to the Jungle
Sympathy for the Devil
Sweet Child O’ Mine
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
You Could Be Mine
Don’t Cry

Metallica [Black Album]
Don’t Tread On Me
Sad But True
Enter Sandman
Wherever I May Roam
The God That Failed
The Unforgiven

A Night At The Roxbury [Soundtrack]
What Is Love
Make That Money
Do Ya Think I’m Sexy
Be My Lover
Pop Muzik
Beautiful Life
Little Bit of Ecstasy
Careless Whisper

Satriani [The Extremist]
Friends
The Extremist
War
Summer Song
Why
Motorcycle Driver
Cryin’

Yanni [Live At The Acropolis]
Santorini
Keys to Imagination
Acroyall/Standing in Motion
Within Attraction
Reflections of Passion

I load these playlists depending on my treadmill mood. Yanni’s set is more for routines similar to the feel of stair climbers and elliptical trainers –- apart from the warm-up and cool-down songs, the set features backgrounds to a steady “orchestral” uphill pacing on 10-degree inclines at 1.8 - 2.5 mph. The Roxbury soundtrack, on the other hand, is all aerobic – disco dancing type of jogging at 0-incline, 2.5 mph (I adjust my stride and pace to the rhythm of the song, and I flail my arms mimicking an elliptical workout). The rest of the sets are, well, just music I enjoy walking/jogging/trekking with.

I should make a few more playlists. Maybe The Rolling Stones or Led Zep. The rock bands are the best to treadmill with. I tried jogging with the jazz guys... no good. Classical, uhm… I’ll have to look again.