Wednesday, December 16, 2015

The Gear You Need: MP3 Player

                 As Wednesdays are dedicated to ways to improve your gym experience, I could have led off with a dozen different things that you need – the right shoes, the right clothes, etc. But most of that is going to be common sense. (And they will probably also be articles later on. I gotta find some way to bring you back week after week!) But if there is one item that dramatically improves my performance, it is my MP3 Player.
                 As of this writing, I am on my third one. My original was an older, oversized model from Opal that served me great for years. I put it inside one of those plastic sports sleeves that you can Velcro to your arm and eventually the screen crapped out. My second choice was a cheap Walmart “fit player” that was very small and clipped onto your sleeve. The thing had plenty of space but the battery never lasted more than a week and it was just poor quality.
                I am currently using a SanDisk model which is small enough to clip to my sleeve. I tuck the cord up into my sleeve and out the top collar of my shirt to manage the headphone cord. The battery lasts a long time and it has a boatload of storage space so it is more than enough for my current needs. SanDisk seems to make pretty quality stuff so I would use that in your search parameters when you go shopping if you need to pick one up.
                Good music gets me pumped. Unfortunately, the ladies at the Wellness Center in Vinita like to listen to The Twister, which is the local country music station. I am going to lose some followers here but country music is just not my thing. I cannot help but think of Howard Stern’s line in Private Parts where he comments about how people love it but he’s never driven a pickup truck or slept with his sister so he quits the station. I know country music is not all that. It’s not that KKK country but it is just not for me. And if I am clanging and banging, I don’t want to hear songs about tractors and lost loves and beer.
                Now, I will admit to you that if you looked at the playlist on my MP3 player, you would think you have found the electronic storage of a schizophrenic. My play can go from Breaking Benjamin to Eminem to Volbeat to Katy Perry to music from Man of Steel to Linkin Park to Rachel Platten. Seriously, my tastes are all over the board. This is where that “shuffle” setting comes in fantastically.
                Now, I will admit that I know very little about the whole iTunes and Pandora and Spotify but it feels like all that has to be online in order to be accessed. Referencing yesterday’s article, I do not track my reps with a smart phone. I do not even keep a phone with me when I work out. So to me, if you can have a stand-alone offline tech device that will allow you to listen to music uninterrupted, that is really the way to go.
                I will be using Wednesdays to list my music that gets me pumped. My suggestion is – as always – to achieve these through standard means. Back in my day, if I couldn’t afford an album, I used to use tape decks to record songs off the radio. I have heard tale of certain sites that allow you to record Anything 2 MP3. Wait, I misspelled that. It is anything to an MP3. I cannot confirm nor deny that this service allows you to record the audio from places like YouTube or Soundcloud which I guess you could drag and drop into your MP3 player and take it with you. If one were so inclined.
                In a completely unrelated subject, holy cow. Otherwise. Coming for the Throne. Great song. Great for a few more reps. Great lyrics. If this isn’t good for another rep, I don’t know what is.

 

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