TomAz's Official 30 Workouts in 30 Days Thread

[TomAz]

As I have mentioned elsewhere around here I have lost some weight over the past 18 months. I have been exercising. I'm not running marathons but I have gotten to where I am walking 4+ miles a day including a lot of hills.

Walking is boring, especially if you're doing it inside on a treadmill. So when I got started I made a Treadmill mix. After a week that got pretty old, so I made another. then a few more then I hit on the idea I would make 30, one for each day of the month. So i did that in the summer of 08, made 30 mixes, and have gradually refined, altered, modified, and expanded them over time. So now I have 30 mixes of one hour each. And, aren't you lucky, I'm going to share them with you, one a day for the next 30 days.

The program that works for me goes like this: start calm, stay light, move to bouncy, and then increase the intensity, and finish with a cooldown song that is happy or triumphant or something. So yeah it's silly, so what. But these are not dance mixes, if you need a beat to time your workout to, these mixes won't work. It's for the mind.

I have managed, for the most part, to avoid keep playing the same band over and over. So over 30 mixes, no band shows up more than 3 times. There are two big exceptions to this that we will see in a few days.

Also, very little of what you see in these mixes is unusual or rare or anything. It's the programming, the way they fit together that might be of interest. Most of you would be able to reproduce them out of your existing music without downloading the mix.





Treadmill #1

1. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
2. Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - Yalla Yalla
3. Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan
4. Squarepusher - My Red Hot Car
5. Beck - Que Onda Guero
6. James Brown - Think (live)
7. The Modern Lovers - Modern World
8. LCD Soundsystem - Us v Them
9. Led Zeppelin - When the Levee Breaks
10. The Godfathers - Birth, School, Work, Death
11. Mastadon - Aqua Dementia
12. Roxy Music - 2HB

[fatbastard]

Hmmm.

[amyzzz]

hahaha none of those songs are on my ipod.

[M Sparks]

This is a good idea. And I actually have trouble with anything with too much of a dance beat, because I start speeding up involuntarily and my old fat heart starts rising above my target rate.

[Pixiessp]

I put my Ipod on shuffle a few days ago and got the most intense mix.
My heart was beating so fast it scared me. I am soooo out of shape.

[Somewhat Damaged]

Great idea, Tom, and thanks for sharing. I've got 3 of those songs but look forward to those other 9. Do you do any weight lifting or do you simply walk for an hour to get all of your exercise in?

[HowToDisappear]

Downloaded.

Thanks, Tom.

[amyzzz]

thanks, Tom.

[TomAz]

Great idea, Tom, and thanks for sharing. I've got 3 of those songs but look forward to those other 9. Do you do any weight lifting or do you simply walk for an hour to get all of your exercise in?

No, just the cardio. At some point when I have more time I will describe it more in detail in terms of weekly goals, heart rate zones, etc.

[BROKENDOLL]

I'm looking forward to an updated picture of the New improved Tom, sprinting acrossed the polo field next year!

[TomAz]

somebody photoshop this onto the polo grounds for BD.

[anti-square]

This is cute. Happy New Year.

[BROKENDOLL]

somebody photoshop this onto the polo grounds for BD.

See how you are, Tom? What I really wanted to do was create my own version of this, but nooooo....You'd prefer to be a sprinting black fellow instead. Let's see how that works under that Coachella sun! LOL

BTW...Happy New Year! Jack La Layne will be sooo proud!

[wmgaretjax]

this is fantastic tom. cheers!

[Abe Lincoln]

The program that works for me goes like this: start calm, stay light, move to bouncy, and then increase the intensity, and finish with a cooldown song that is happy or triumphant or something. So yeah it's silly, so what. But these are not dance mixes, if you need a beat to time your workout to, these mixes won't work. It's for the mind.

Can it help me stop smoking?

[hawkingvsreeve]

I really like that Mastodon is on the first mix.

[Abe Lincoln]

It's a really good mix! Just kidding about the smoking thing...

[crazzz2007]

See how you are, Tom? What I really wanted to do was create my own version of this, but nooooo....You'd prefer to be a sprinting black fellow instead. Let's see how that works under that Coachella sun! LOL

that's not a "sprinting black fellow", you idiot. that's the fastest human being of all time.

[TomAz]

Treadmill #2

1. Luka Bloom - I Need Love
2. Thom Yorke - The Clock
3. Can - Oh Yeah
4. Kraftwerk - Tour de France
5. Tom Waits - Big in Japan
6. Swans - Beautiful Child
7. Akron/Family - Everyone is Guilty
8. The White Stripes - My Doorbell
9. The Pogues - Bottle of Smoke
10. The Damned - I Just Can't Be Happy Today
11. Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster
12. The Buzzcocks - Harmony in My Head
12. The Beatles - Dear Prudence


Tom Waits followed by Swans might be a little much for some people. An Irish folk singer covering LL Cool J might be a little much for many people.

For me the highlight of this mix is the bridge in "Alternative Ulster", when Jake Burns sings "They say they're a part of you / That's not true you know / They say they got control of you / That's a lie you know". Moments like that are like a little injection of adrenaline, which can really help when you're tired and the burst helps to finish the day's exercise.

[stuporfly]

Two for two so far, Tom.

I do the same sort of thing, set up workout playlists, tire of them, then begin anew. You're saving me quite a lot of work for the next little while here.

[mountmccabe]

I realize I will probably figure this out on my own shortly but what length did you go for with your mixes?

I have, inspired by your talk of this earlier, started to make my own mixes. I do 30 minute sessions on an arc machine so I have mixes - now half a dozen - that are just over 30 minutes long plus a few songs of cool down so I don't have to switch anything out as I finish my workout with weights.

[TomAz]

they're an hour. they started at 45 mins but have grown. Warmup & cooldown built in.

[Yablonowitz]

Are you meditating during "Dear Prudence"?

[Hannahrain]

Gregory, why do they say "deceased" when it basically breaks down to mean un-ended? Shouldn't it then refer only to mythological reanimation? I don't know what's going on here.

I know what's going on here now. Nevermind. Hello.

[buddy]

i imagine dear prudence would make a good cool down song.

[TomAz]

I got a post from Greg!!!!!!!!!!!in my thread!!!!!!!!

[BROKENDOLL]

that's not a "sprinting black fellow", you idiot. that's the fastest human being of all time.

Yes, crazzz, it is a sprinting black fellow since I didn't know his name off the top of my head. Funny thing though...While he may have the fastest legs for running, he certainly can't hold a candle to you when you start running your mouth. Why don't you enlighten me with your knowledge instead of calling me an idiot, and then from there, unless you'd prefer I call you Bitch from now on, you can start calling me Brokendoll like everyone else.

[chiapet]

Great idea, and you already won me over with the Roxy Music in the first mix.

[TomAz]

Treadmill #3

1. Treefingers
2. Nude
3. I Am Citizen Insane
4. All I Need
5. Packt Like Sardines..
6. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
7. I Might Be Wrong
8. Street Spirit
9. Bangers & Mash
10. 2+2=5
11. Paranoid Android
12. My Iron Lung
13. Electioneering
14. How to Disappear Completely

This is the most ho-hum mix you'll get from me. You see, at one point I tried making band-specific mixes for my workouts. This one (and #4 tomorrow) are the results. Everything after that though will be back to the mix-of-artists approach. I was going to change these two but I decided I liked them too much. But, yeah, on this board, this one is not going to open anyone's eyes.

Starting a workout with "Treefingers" is not as weird as it might seem on the surface. I find it works really well, actually. Really cleanses the mind from the distractions of the day and lets me just enjoy the here and now.

[frazzles]

Yes, crazzz, it is a sprinting black fellow since I didn't know his name off the top of my head. Funny thing though...While he may have the fastest legs for running, he certainly can't hold a candle to you when you start running your mouth. Why don't you enlighten me with your knowledge instead of calling me an idiot, and then from there, unless you'd prefer I call you Bitch from now on, you can start calling me Brokendoll like everyone else.

This is where I take over as the residential sprinter and olympic hopeful (even though my pre-2016 plans got fucked up on account of going to Japan for 2 years or so).

That man is Usain Bolt from Jamaica. He is a fucking freak. He has broken the 100m WR an astonishingly 3 times in 3 years by margins scientists thought were either unheard of or, at the very least, not to happen for another century or so.

Since he started taking the 100m seriously, here has been the progression of the WR


This video sucks, but it gets the job done


Won't let me embed, but this was in Berlin this past August at the World Championships and is entertaining as shit to watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuf5QAXkZKs

So for as long as I've been cognizant of it, the 100m WR progression is as follows
9.79 Maurice Greene (USA), 9.76 Asafa Powell (JAM), 9.74 Asafa Powell, 9.72 Usain Bolt (JAM), 9.69 Usain Bolt, 9.58 Usain Bolt. I believe Carl Lewis (USA) had it before Greene did with 9.84, but can't be bothered to look right now.

You may think a couple hundreths of a second isn't shit, but when you're running at about 27 mph, the difference between a 9.6 and a 9.5 is huge.

OF COURSE, let's not forget the fact that he was namely a 200m runner beforehand.

Once again, from Berlin this past August:


200m WR progression is
19.32 Michael Johnson (USA), 19.30 Usain Bolt (2008), 19.19 Usain Bolt (2009)

Keep in mind that Michael Johnson set this record in 1996 and it was thought to be another decade before anyone came close, let alone drop a 19.19. Dude has been breaking records almost since his years as a junior, and while he's taken a bit of the backseat pre-2007 in his professional career, no one can say shit, now. It's almost unfair how ridiculous this guy is.