Exercise Music
ID: 050412.1150
The 11 April 2005 International Herald Tribune included an article by Elizabeth Bumiller, 'Boomer rock' keeps Bush's heart in tune. In it, I learned President Bush was given an Apple iPod as a birthday gift from his daughters last July. In addition to discovering Mr. Bush only uses about 3% of his available iPod storage space, and gets his exercise heart rate up to about 170 bpm — I only get about 130 — I also learned his playlist includes such titles as (You're So Square) Baby, I Don't Care by Joni Mitchell, and Alive 'n' Kickin' by Kenny Loggins.
This is pretty courageous! In a 06 April 2005 article titled Got playlist anxiety? You're not alone, CNET News staff writer John Borland reported that sharing playlists "turns out to be something like a peacock spreading his feathers for display." People start to wonder what sort of image their playlist will give them. As Borland notes, "public embarrassment may now be the routine lot of the unhappy freshman who gets caught with a collection too heavily weighted toward the collected works of 'Weird Al' Yankovic." People do judge other people's playlist.
I also exercise to an iPod, a 512MB iPod Shuffle randomly playing the same 48 songs I loaded onto it two months ago. Someone looked at my playlist and laughed: "You listen to Pat Benatar?" That's bad?
But, if the President of the United States has the courage to make his playlist public, so do I! Click Show Playlist below:
| Artist | Song |
|---|---|
| Annie Lennox | Pavement Cracks |
| Bryan Adams | (I Wanna Be) Your Underwear |
| Bryan Adams | 18 'Til I Die |
| Bryan Adams | The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You |
| Bryan Adams | We're Gonna Win |
| Enigma | Modern Crusaders |
| Enigma | The Eyes Of Truth |
| Evanescence | Bring Me To Life |
| Evanescence | Going Under |
| Evanescence | My Last Breath |
| Evanescence | Taking Over Me |
| Evanescence | Tourniquet |
| Evanescence | Whisper |
| Fleetwood Mac | Go Your Own Way |
| Fleetwood Mac | Rhiannon |
| Pat Benatar | Heartbreaker |
| Pat Benatar | Helter Skelter |
| Pat Benatar | Hit Me With Your Best Shot |
| Pat Benatar | I Need a Lover |
| Pat Benatar | Love Is a Battlefield |
| Pat Benatar | We Belong |
| Pat Benatar | We Live for Love |
| Roxette | Hotblooded |
| Simon Stinger | 24-7 |
| Simon Stinger | French Connection |
| Simon Stinger | Girl U Want |
| Simon Stinger | Go Sugar |
| Simon Stinger | Madame X |
| Simon Stinger | Swimmin |
| Spymob | German Test Drive |
| The Bangles | Bell Jar |
| The Bangles | In Your Room |
| The Bangles | Walk Like An Egyptian |
| The Rasmus | In the Shadows |
| ZZ Top | Apologies to Pearly |
| ZZ Top | Arrested for Driving While Blind |
| ZZ Top | Burger Man |
| ZZ Top | Concrete and Steel |
| ZZ Top | Decision or Collision |
| ZZ Top | Delirious |
| ZZ Top | Dipping Low (In the Lap of Luxury) |
| ZZ Top | Doubleback |
| ZZ Top | Francine |
| ZZ Top | Gimme All Your Lovin' |
| ZZ Top | Give It Up |
| ZZ Top | If I Could Only Flag Her Down |
| ZZ Top | Legs |
| ZZ Top | Sharp Dressed Man |
For the record, ZZ Top's the best for exercising, especially on treadmills. The beat's perfect for 4 mph walking. I refer to Legs and Sharp Dressed Man as "one-thirty" songs because on a stationary bicycle, 130 rpm seems to be the natural pedaling rate when listening to them; no faster, or slower. For some reason, I feel apologetic about having Fleetwood Mac and The Bangels, and I know there're a lot of people who wouldn't put Bryan Adams at the top of their list. But 18 'Til I Die is my favorite song. As Bryan says, "Some day I'm gonna be 18 going on 55."
Once again a reporter has been taken in by unverified claims from the Bush White House. The story on the music to which President Bush listens while riding his mountain bike included the claim that he gets his "heart rate up to a chest-pounding 170 beats per minute."
This would be an extraordinary feat for a much younger athlete and is nearly impossible for a 59 year old man — regardless of his cardiac conditioning (in fact, sustained cardiac conditioning lowers both resting heart rate and maximum heart rate, making a goal of 170 bpm even more unlikely). No matter what formula one uses to calculate it, a 59 year old man will have a maximum heart rate somewhere in the range of 160 to 167 bpm. Even if it was 170 bpm, training at that level would be anaerobic and could not be sustained for more than a few minutes without an intolerable buildup of lactic acid and sharp pain. Most experts recommend training at 80% of maximum heart rate (128 to 134 bpm), with bursts to 90% (144 to 150 bpm).
Riding 18 miles in 1.5 hours means an average speed of 12 mph, a brisk but not exceptionally fast pace. Unless the Crawford ranch has suddenly grown some 1,000 foot hills, it would not be possible for a good 59 year old male athlete to ride that distance in that time and keep his heart rate at or even near 170 bpm.
There was chest-pounding going on, but not the sort of which the reporter was thinking.
— James Timmins
Pat Benatar is nothing to be embarrassed about! I listen to her on my Yahoo launchcast station.
— Anonymous