Friday, January 16, 2009

To Pump You Up

Anyone who lived through the glorious 80's is sure to remember Saturday Night Live's Hanz and Franz, offering to "pump... YOU up".    Dana Carvey and Dennis Nealey were an Austrian pair of body builders who often poked fun of others for lacking shape and fitness.  Pretty hysterical.

Nine years into this 21st century with the SNL spoof long gone and America continuing to drift into shapelessness, who are we to look to for physical fitness motivation?  Who can inspire and pump up the next generation of fitness gurus?  

Is it The Biggest Loser and its fitness fanatics, Jillian and Bob?  No.
Is it celebrities Christie Brinkley and Chuck Norris for the Total Gym?  Definitely not.

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you B-MAMA, here to PUMP YOU UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
Can you tell I'm running high on endorphins?? :)  My treadmill blast this morning was just the ticket to getting me on here and pumping up the Building Cathedrals audience!  Woohoo!!  

On tap for today is my iPod playlist.  Turn on some music and get pumping!!!  I just downloaded a bunch of new songs (thanks to an iTunes Christmas gift card!) and felt a whole new surge of motivation...  Come with me!  My first recommendation is One Step At A Time by Jordin Sparks.  Some may mock this selection as a bit cheesy (common for my taste), but I find it to be incredibly positive and motivating, especially at mile 8 with 2 to go!  Another goodie is Shut Up and Let Me Go by the British band, The Ting Tings.  It has a great beat to carry you through mid-workout and leave you feeling strong.   And you better believe this guy is on my playlist--nothing like a good 80's tune for the warm-up or cool down.

So there are a few of my recent faves to get you through a chilly afternoon and get you movin'!!
Go ahead and pass along your favorite workout tunes in the comments section!  What songs get you motivated?
  
And just remember the rule about good, old inertia--that which is at rest will remain at rest, UNTIL YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!  Fight sedentary inertia and PUMP UP, Building Cathedrals!!  This is Coach B-mama signing off and heading to go ice my quads!!  

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although she may not create the most pure songs out there these days, I've been loving working out to anything by Rihanna lately. Her Please Don't Stop the Music is awesome.

Mary Alice said...

Okay, B-Mama, right back at you -- the dad in our house has started us on a push up regimine. For anyone out there who groans at the thought, I am doing them on my knees (ladies style) and I could only do one when I started, but now I can do ten at time. They take NO TIME to do, so there are no excuses. We try to do at least three sets a day, dad is doing sets of 20, and the change in his muscles is visible after just two weeks.

In case you don't know the back story, on her fitness goals, after running the Philly 8 K just a few months post-partum, B-Mama is now training for a half-marathon to benefit the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society in honor of her grandpa, who, praise God, has beaten his cancer into remission. My brother had lymphoma, too, and has run with this great program, Team in Training. Way to go, B!

Jessica said...

One of my favorite workout songs is "Eye of the Tiger." Gets me pumped up every time!

Alex said...

Oh goodness, how to decide on just a few?! So many good songs keep me running: The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love," Dexy's Midnight Runners' "Come On Eileen," Dar Williams' "Traveling Again," Nelly "Ride wit me," most songs by Shakira and Juanes, excluding ballads, Juan Luis Guerra's "Ojala Que Llueva Café" makes me literally dance off the elliptical, Dixie Chick's "There's Your Trouble" and on and on.

I am waiting for JM to weigh in. I know that "Hotstepper" is just the beginning...

Juris Mater said...

B-mama, fun post!

Here Comes the Hotstepper is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. Program it on "repeat", lace up your shoes, and hit the road. Thanks for the nod on that one, Alex : )

In other quarter-life crisis news, I've gotten really into Kelly Clarkson these days. I'm not kidding, and I'm not embarrassed about it. My baby Angelina has hazel eyes so that song is near and dear, and "Since You've Been Gone" is just cool.

Rocking out...

Right Said Red said...

Love this post B-Mama! I am pumped up, too bad it is 11:45 pm!

And you can do better on the RickRoll attempt, I totally saw it coming. Come on! You gotta work on that setup girl ;-)

B-Mama said...

I wasn't officially trying to RickRoll, Red, FYI. You'll note I did not try to feign any other reason for clicking on the link OTHER than pure musical enjoyment. :) Just giving a shout out to my main man. :) lol.

Right Said Red said...

lol ;-)

Unknown said...

I have a few workout playlists right now. One is packed with Christian artists, and my favorite songs are Welcome Home by Brian Littrell, Come Together and Come On Back To Me by Third Day, and Dare You To Move by Switchfoot. In my secular playlist I will give a nod to Journey with Don't Stop Believin' and Be Good to Yourself as well as Rascal Flatts with Life is a Highway. Oh, and honestly my favorite workout song is A Little Less Conversation by Elvis.