"I spring train in the winter..."

"...Round early December. Run suicide drill over and over; With the weight of the world on my shoulders"

- Jay-Z

Vibram Five Fingers

With winter looming(it has to get here eventually right?) there comes a whole new slew of obstacles to getting your energy up and working out.  Bad weather, shorter days, and aching joints make it so much easier just to stay  inside and sit on the couch.  In fact I was perfectly content doing this today after having some pain in my knee from last night through this morning.  I iced the knee again today and still wasn't feeling great so not wanting to push it I gave up on the idea of the gym for the day.  A couple hours later I sat down at the computer to listen to some music and do some reading and I suddenly realized I couldn't stop moving.  My knee really didn't feel to bad anymore and I definitely had some great energy so I decided to capitalize on the moment immediately.  I threw on my Vibram Five Fingers(best workout shoe ever!) and braved the elements and headed out for the gym.

Lat Pull Down

40 Degree Leg Press

Once at the gym I was instantly elated with my decision and felt another great burst of energy as I hit the floor.  I made sure to stretch my whole body really good before and after working out today, holding the stretches just a little bit longer than I normally do.  This is always key to keeping your body in good working order and I can sometimes slack a little in this area and not hold the stretches as long as I should.  After stretching it was off to the trusty elliptical.  Instead of setting it on my usual level 9 I decided to take the resistance down to level 6 to reduce wear and tear on some already tender joints.  This worked marvelously and I ended up staying on the machine for 20 minutes and going almost 2 miles.  Next I did some lat pull downs @ 42.5 lbs on the same machine I used yesterday for the tricep rope pull.  The difference with this station is it has a seat for you to sit in while you do the exercise.  I was able to crank out 3 sets here before getting tired and moving on.  Next I got back on the 40 Degree Leg Press to keep building up strength in the ankles by doing some calf presses.  I had two 45lb weights on each side and pushed myself through another 3 sets.  The hope is as I continue to do this I will eventual get rid of all ankle pain and discomfort completely.   Everyday feels like a step in the right direction towards this goal.  Finally I decided to do some planking to finish out the workout.  No this is not what you have seen all over Facebook and the rest of the interwebs.  When planking what you do is get into a push up position and hold yourself flat above the ground using your forearms.  It is a killer ab workout and the longer you can stay up the better.  First time was about 45 seconds and then the 2nd and 3rd time each clocked in around 30 seconds for me.  This proved to be quite enough for me today so I did my stretching and bobbed my head out the door of the gym.

Providing today's pure, raw, unadulterated, energy, born from the mean streets of Brooklyn is the lyrics of Jay-Z.  I'm sure you hardly need me to tell you who Jay-Z is so instead I will talk about the mastermind behind the mix I listened to today, D.O.J. When Jay-Z Was Good, DJ Ayres.  Based out of Brooklyn and part of the soul, hip-hop, funk DJ collective known as The Rub, DJ Ayres is one of New York's(and the world's) premiere DJs.  The Rub is also the name of the monthly party held by these fine gentleman over at Southpaw in Brooklyn.  The Rub is usually the first Saturday of every month and is always a fantastic time as genres blend together to form an impeccably selected dance party.  This mix is no exception to the skills that these guys display live as DJ Ayres chops, slices, and dices some of Jay-Z's greatest tracks like he was a contestant on Top Chef.  A note about the mix from the man himself who says it so much better than I ever could:

"Here are a bunch of my favorite Jay-Z songs, mostly album cuts with a few freestyles and secret joints thrown in for good measure.  Since Jay "retired" and came back, his music hasn't sounded as urgent or hungry to me.  He sounds like he's coasting along, so I wanted to go back and pull out a bunch of his music that made you bob your head, marvel at his flow, puff out your chest, or even raise the little hairs of the back of your neck.  The feelings you gor from songs like "Where I'm From," "D'Evils," "1-900-Hustler" and "You Don't Know."  Not included: #1 singles you've heard a million times, lazy one-take flows, lyrics about inventing the button-down shirt, songs dissing rappers who would later be signed to Jay-Z's label, and songs produced by Eminem." 

- DJ Ayres

Right click HERE and choose Save As...   to download the mix.   Unfortunately you can't just stream this one on SoundCloud so you'll actually need to download it and then put it on the media player of your choice to listen to this at the gym but trust me it is worth the little bit of extra effort to gain a whole lot of extra energy.

"I'm just tryin' to live it to the limit and love it a lot."
- Jay-Z

Me too Jay, me too...

- Ian