Punk Rock Aerobics: 75 Killer Moves, 50 Punk Classics, and 25 Reasons to Get Off Your Ass and Exercise Book

Would you flee in terror if confronted with a room full of sweaty people in spandex thongs? Are you not immune to the occasional Joe Strummer-style air guitar jump? If you answered "yes" to either of these questions, here at last is your workout book. As simple as throwing on that old Ramones (or even White Stripes) record, punk meets fitness in an exercise craze that is spreading like wildfire amongst teens and aging rockers alike: Punk Rock Aerobics. Though punk and aerobics may seem to be unlikely bedfellows -the love child of Richard Hell and Richard Simmons?-here are two "formerly decrepit, lazy, cigarette-smoking, beer drinking" rockers-turned-certified-aerobics-instructors as enthusiastic about X and Iggy Pop as they are about getting into shape. Full of easy-to-follow moves in a home-exercise-friendly format, Punk Rock Aerobics is a calorie-burning, DIY workout. Back in the "good old days" cigarettes might have sufficed to keep rockers slim, posit these authors, but to really be able to rock out all night, you need to drop those chips and get off the couch. Peppered throughout to help you stay inspired are Q&A's and photos of rockers on their own workout routines: J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. perfecting the "Face Down Butt Lift." Mary Timony doing the "Jumping Jacked Ups." K Records' Calvin Johnson on the philosophical implications of Ultimate Frisbee. Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore declaring "it's not the poundage so much as the roundage that I have a problem with." Hugo Burnham on the percentage of Jack Daniels (60) that comprised his sweat back in his glory days drumming for Gang of Four. Also included to help you get rid of the Schlitz gut is a sure-to-be-controversial discography for picking your favorite MP3's, CD's, and LP's. As Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth declares, "Just put on yr favorite punker and "kick out the jams, motherf***er."Read More