If you’ve read this blog long enough you may know by now that, next to training, music is my biggest obsession in life. I go to dozens of concerts and live performances per year and could single handedly keep iTunes in business. Here’s a list of some of the newer stuff we’ve been rocking in the gym over the last few months. Some of it is recent and some of it is just stuff that I have recently gotten into or have had renewed love affair with as of late. I’ll try not to repeat any recommendations I have made in the past.
Pearl Jam- There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t listen to some Pearl Jam. They are my all time favorite band by a mile (Public Enemy is second, for those keeping score). I’ve seen them over 50 times live and will see them at least another 50-100 more times. The two best training tracks off the new record are Got Some and Gonna See My Friend.
La Coka Nostra- This is the original three members of House of Pain along with a couple other lesser known friends of theirs. As far as… …continue reading.
Does anyone actually like doing front squats?
Why do so many people think that front squats are somehow magically more “sport specific” than back squats?
When did getting strong get so complicated?
Has anyone who weighs above 180 ever tried to wear an American Apparel t-shirt? Man, is that a funny look. The upper body is skin tight and then it flares out to a giant moo-moo dress at the bottom. Strange..
Is everyone in the fitness industry now a business/ marketing expert?
If you make less than 250k per year can you really be considered a money making authority? What about all the sub 100k earning biz experts? Not good, my friends, not good.
Speaking of business and marketing, if you are one of the presenters at such a conference I probably wouldn’t mention to people on your blog or twitter account that you are driving there or splitting the hotel room with five other guys. That’s not what big time successful people do. If you’re gonna go with “the fake it til ya make it” approach you gotta be on your game at all times, kids.
Has anyone ever done snatch grip deadlifts on a podium?… …continue reading.
Got a little too fired up to train way too long before tonight’s workout. Approximately two and half hours prior to training I was listening to some old Rollins Band stuff and working myself into a frenzy. I want my old size and strength back yesterday. Not three months from now, not a week from now, not tomorrow. But yesterday. And I want to triple my previous bests in the worst way possible.
Since I have gotten worked up like this a million times in the past only to burn myself out come workout time, I tried my best to keep calm. I did some work and talked to people who have a calming effect on me. But no matter how hard I tried to suppress it I couldn’t hide the fact that I just wanted to get my hands on some heavy iron and rip the bar in half.
One of my training partners arrived at the gym early and said, “Wow, you’re already reeeeally pissed off, huh?”
“I wanna rip your fucking face off right now.”
“Now that’s what I like to… …continue reading.
- Rebel Without A Pause- Public Enemy
- We’re Back- Bobby Creekwater, Cashis, Eminem, Obie Trice & Stat Quo
- Renegade- Hed PE
- Bleed it Out- Linkin Park
- PscyhoSocial- Slipknot
- War Within a Breath- Rage Against The Machine
- Fish Out of Water- Mudvayne
- Davidian- Machinehead
- Zero- Smashing Pumpkins
- Survival of the Streets- Cro Mags
- 99 Problems/ One Step Closer- Jay Z & Linkin Park
- Freedom (live)- Rage Against The Machine
- Butcher Knife Bloodbath- Jedi Mind Tricks
- What a Day- Nonpoint
- You Don’t Know- 50 Cent, Cashis, Eminem, Lloyd Banks
- Undead- Hollwood Undead
- Prophets of Rage- Public Enemy
I finally got the ok from the doctor, yesterday, to go back to training. Nothing overhead and no heavy pressing, but I can ease my way back into everything else and finally start regaining all the weight I have lost this year. It’s been a long time and I couldn’t take much more of it. I feel like it’s Christmas morning right now and can’t wait to get to the gym today.
I got a question about music yesterday and since, along with training, that is my favorite subject in the world to discuss, I will gladly ramble on.
Listing everything I train to would take me all day but some of my favorites are:
- Public Enemy
- Rage Against the Machine
- Slayer
- NWA
- Eminem
- Ice Cube
- Killswitch Engage
- Static X
- D12
- DMX
What is it about the owners of public gyms that makes them think that people want to listen to… TECHNO when they train? How does techno equal training music? I don’t get it. Am I the only who is bewildered by this phenomenon? Who gets fired up to lift heavy weights to this crap? Isn’t this what guidos in wife beaters pump their fists to in clubs at 4am? Or did that fad die in the 90′s? I don’t know, but I do that Eminem was right when he said (in Without Me) “Nobody listen to techno!”
So public gym owners everywhere, I beg you, please stop.
With that being said, here is a list of top 25 songs to train to. It was nearly impossible to narrow it down to less than 50 and I will probably be constantly changing my mind about the list but this is what I have right now. Hopefully you will find a few songs on there that you don’t have and can add to your training mixes.
1. Raining Blood- Slayer (Still number one in my book)
2. Loyalty- D12 featuring Eminem & Obie Trice (this song played at least 5… …continue reading.
A good friend of mine asked me yesterday what my top ten albums to train to were. After much thought and deliberation, here is what I came up with. Note that live albums and greatest hits were not allowed; strictly studio albums. Although it is blasphemous to mention their name in public and usually results in your being labeled a douchebag, and Fred Durst was the worst excuse for a rapper ever, Limp Bizkit did make some pretty good music to train to for a couple years there.
1) Rage Against The Machine- Rage Against The Machine
2) Rage Against The Machine- The Battle of Los Angeles
3) Rage Against The Machine- Evil Empire
4) Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (greatest rap album of all time)
5) Slayer- Reign in Blood
6) NWA- Straight Outta Compton
7) Metallica- Garage Inc. (disk 2)
Limp Bizkit- Chocolate Starfish & The Hotdog Flavored Water
9) Marilyn Manson- Antichrist Superstar
10) Metallica- …And Justice For All (when Metallica was Metallica)
JF
Today I’m gonna put training on the back burner and discuss my other biggest passion in life which is music. The state of music today can be quite dismal at first glance. Every Tuesday when new albums are released I log onto iTunes and buy at least 30-50 new songs. I check the new releases, grab some stuff there and then end up spending a half hour searching out other stuff that somehow makes its way into my account. When I look at the top ten charts though, I’m usually sickened. T-Pain? Colby Calliat? Souljah Boy? Baby Bash? Fergie? Good Charlotte? BRITNEY SPEARS????
People, this is NOT good music. Nas was almost 100% on the money when he said hip hop is dead. As someone who grew up listening to real hip hop and has the Public Enemy logo tattooed on his arm, it pains me to listen to some of the crap that is out there today. Luckily there are a few artists still making real hip hop including Nas, Talib Kweli, Common, and my good friend E-Reece.
Fortunately, the state of rock is not as bad as the current state of hip hop. Sure when you… …continue reading.
“Dude, you just got that chicks number?!”
“Yeah. Why are you saying it like that?”
“Cuz she’s not even 21 you moron!”
“WHAT?! How do you figure? She looks at least 25. You checked her ID and determined that it was fake?”
“No wristband, Einstein!”
“Aaaaooooo…That can’t be good. Well, why are their underage girls in here? Isn’t this a bar?”
“Dude, what time did you start drinking? It’s The Stone Pony, it’s a concert venue, first and foremost, you know that. They let anyone in.”
“Well I don’t think Bruce should be letting underage girls in here. Doesn’t he own this place now? I mean talk about Badlands, that’s nothing but trouble right there. She was just Dancing In The Dark so it was kinda hard to tell. Then she whispered that she wanted to take me to her Secret Garden and show me her Tunnel of Love. She invited me back to her place and-”
“Yeah, I know, she lives on Thunder Road and you were gonna show her The Rising, right? Cuz, what, you’re On Fire? I’m from Jersey too, you retard, I know all of Bruce’s songs too. And… …continue reading.
Originally written 8/2005
I decided to write this article a few months ago but never got around to it until recently. It wasn’t until last weekend, when I scrolled through Dave Tate’s hip hop training mix on his iPod, that I realized this article was a necessity. Too many people are listening to, and worse yet, training to bad hip hop.
Before I get into my recommendations of hip hop to train to I must first tell you why I feel I am qualified to write such an article. Afterall, if I saw a hip hop article written by some thirty year old white dude who trains athletes for a living I would be quite skeptical myself.
The year was 1985 and like most kids from Jersey I listened to a lot of Bruce Springsteen. Normally I listened to my mom and dad’s tapes but Born in the USA was the first tape that was ever mine. Around this time I was also introduced to The Who by some of my older cousins as well as U2 and Tom Petty. This was what I listened to all the time. That is until I got my first taste of hip hop.… …continue reading.
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