Remixing and reinventing

Now that we've been hitting the gym hard once again [have I not mentioned the 3-month slow down and 3-week sabbatical I took?] I find myself searching for ways to step it up. Don't get me wrong, I love all the reading I get done on the treadmill, but I can only go so fast while reading. Really, I blame this minor burst of motivation on a combination of the U.S. swimming trials playing on the gym TVs and a podcast episode on running mixes that I happened to catch yesterday.

The sad fact is that only 15% of the gym's music gets you hyped (and that's if you can even hear it). Enter my new workout playlist! No more will I rely on stale Lifetime videos and the rhythmic beat of people who actually manage to run in order to entertain myself.

1. Church by T-Pain
2. Wrestlers (sticky, dirty) by Hot Chip
3. Candy Shop by 50 Cent
4. Odyssey by Woolfy
5. Bounce by Timbaland Ft. Dr. Dre, Justin Timberlake and Missy Elliott
6. Drop It Like It's Hot by Snoop
7. The Garden by Mirah
8. Golddigger by Kanye West/Jamie Foxx
9. Tightrope by Janelle Monae
10. Dog Days are Over by Florence and the Machines

Do you know what I discovered? The damn playlist worked. It provided a near perfect narrative arc and (varied) tempo for the treadmill. T-Pain and the scenes from Step Up 2 running through my head immediately got me high. By the time I got to Bounce, I was disgustingly sweaty [which is the point, right?] and, indeed, bouncing. Have you ever listened to the lyrics to Bounce? I guess I hadn't. I've always been more of a beat girl myself and was a little surprised. Luckily, Missy enters near the end, schooling the boys with her filthy mouth and giving me a little boost.

Ending with Florence singing Dog Days was nothing short of inspired. I was winding down my time on that bloody machine, and I just wanted to clap and shout it out just like her. The dog days really were just about over. In fact, I really want someone to invent treadmill dancing classes (Ok Go was on to something). I wanted to bust some moves during my walk, and if I wasn't certain I would fall, I totally would have drop-drop-dropped it like it's hot with Snoop.

Karaoke treadmill dancing?! Brilliant!