The Powerlifting Playlist

I am relatively new to the music downloading thing. I'm kind of a traditionalist when it comes to my media. I like to watch TV and listen to the radio. I still buy newspapers. Hell, I didn't even warm to CDs until the early 2000s! So it was hardly a surprise that I resisted MP3s and downloads for so long. Surely I rationalized my technophobia by asserting that music loses its "warmth" when it's compressed and digitalized. But I've now owned an iPod for about a year, and I have to admit I really dig it. It's cool to be able to buy new music instantly. And considering that my entire CD collection was recently, uh, taken without my permission, downloading has been a good way to start re-building my tune stockpile.

I play my iPod in the car, and sometimes I play it at work when I'm eating lunch. But mostly I play it at the gym. It's become a necessity. The music they actually play at the gym is hardly conducive to heavy lifting. Half the time it's the local Top 40 station, and half the time it's one of those "light hits of the '70s and '80s" formats. That will not do. A man needs to get himself fired up for a set of deadlifts or heavy bench presses. This cannot be accomplished with Jimmy Buffet or the Black Eyed Peas coming through the house speakers. I will not set a personal record on the clean and press while The Script is moping into my eardrums. If I am to pull 400 pounds off the floor within the next nine months, Jackson Browne will be no help. To lift heavy iron, a man needs heavy music. So I've been forced to take matters into my own hands. I downloaded a bunch of songs that would get me fired up, and I put them together to make a lifting playlist. The list is essentially comprised of aggressive, powerful tunes that stir the inner beast. I originally thought it would be mostly metal tunes, but the "harder" side of punk seems to have the edge at the moment. Through trial and error, I've made additions, deletions, and re-arrangements. Here's what works for right now:

Black Flag- "Rise Above"

Agent Orange - "Bloodstains"

Danzig- "Mother"

Motorhead- "Ace of Spades"

Zero Boys- "Civilization’s Dying"

Anti-Nowhere League- "Animal"

Turbonegro- "Good Head"

Pantera- "Fucking Hostile"

Fear- "Let’s Have a War"

Guns N’ Roses- "My Michelle"

The Dils- "I Hate the Rich"

Adolescents - "Creatures"

Motorhead- "Bomber"

Anti-Nowhere League- "I Hate People"

Dead Boys- "Sonic Reducer"

Iggy and the Stooges- "Search and Destroy"

The Clash- "1977"

I have found that for medium rep deadlifting, nothing gets me dialed in like "Bloodstains". For max pulls I turn to "Rise Above" or "Fucking Hostile". "Mother" and "Ace of Spades" are my favorites for the bench press – unless I’m doing high reps in which case I go with "Civilization’s Dying". "Search and Destroy" is not the balls-out rage inducer I expected it to be – I'll blame David Bowie for that. Some of these songs, like "I Hate the Rich", were "borrowed" from my California Punk playlist and ended up staying on. "1977" was pulled from my '77 Punk playlist.

This list is very much a work in progress, and all suggestions for further additions will be highly appreciated. Stay hungry!

- L.R.