Paddy's Pod- How My iPod Became My Best Workout Bud

My name is Padmini and I’m a recent addition to the Tech 2 block party. In between adding news and giving some gyan to the guys on how women function, I sink my pseudo-intellectualism into taekwondo, comedy and Apple Inc. On that front, I’ve been through 3 iPods since 2004, 2 laptops (Powerbook and then Macbook) and 1 iPhone, 1 iMac and 1 Mac mini. 5 of those objects still work. But enough of my fan-girlery.

When it comes to working out, I have the attention span of a gnat. One minute I’m pumped that I’ve run a solid ten seconds, the next minute I’m wishing I’d taken a hallucinogen before my first step so at least I’m entertained by something funky. And yeah, clearly music is the way to go and obviously my iPod’s been of help, but just as it is, it’s not the perfect companion. These are some additions I bought to make my iPod the perfect workout buddy.

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First off, I tried using the iPod Touch to work out with and simply put, it didn’t work out. Too bulky and delicate and humidity on the touch screen is really pissing off when you need to come down from your sprint to a jog quickly and switch the songs you sprint and jog to. I’m a fan of the light iPod nano because face it, you’re not going to really work out to 30 GB worth of music and after the fifth km of running, the lightness of the nano really goes from a feature to a blessing.

Panasonic RP-HV280E-S Earphones

My biggest problem with my iPod (actually, all 3 of them) are the earphones. For one, they don’t stay in my ears. Every few footsteps they’re popping out like they’re abandoning ship. Secondly, after a year of use, faithfully and conveniently (Apple care-wise), they begin crackling. After going through many replacement earphones, I settled on these beautiful Panasonic babies. They sit comfortably in my ear and the only reason their quality went down after two years of use was because I accidentally smashed them with the gear of my car (that’s a story for a different time). They were easy on my wallet and came in a variety of colors (enough to fulfill every hipster’s irony quota) (if you don’t know what a hipster is, read here).
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Nano Duo from iSkin- Silicone Cover

I’m not a very clumsy person when it comes to my phones/iPods (thankfully!) so I didn’t think I needed a hard case for my iPod. But it does need to be protected from sweat (working out in the tropics also works out your sweat glands!), and the occasional bump or thud, and somewhat more convenient than just holding the iPod in your hand and straining one shoulder more than the other; I have actually mildly damaged my right shoulder muscle from carrying the old school heavy iPod (and once in a while my piddly nano too) in my right hand while running 10k. I liked this iSkin product because the silicone really helped protect the iPod without adding to the weight, looked non-pretentious and came with a waist clip at the back so I could strap it on to my waistband while running. I’m not a huge fan of the arm band because if in the middle of a stride I want to change a song, I have to do some petty intensely yogic stretches while keeping my heart rate up to get to the song I want.

Music with the Music Videos
After a while, even the music gets boring, however, I’ve found that if you’re on a treadmill and seriously lacking some visual stimulation, watch the music videos to the songs you’re running to. Now this becomes a slightly expensive process yes, but hey, buy one less beer a week- double win because it’s more work out time for less beer calories. Especially a music video like Robbie Williams’ ‘Angel’ (not the song in particular, not really a fan, but the video itself) which has long landscape shots for some reason really motivates me to run run run. A video like Dave Mathews Band’s ‘Ants Marching’ (again, just talking about the video) with its quick cuts is an amazing distraction from the lazy calf muscles telling my conscience to grab a carton of ice cream and sit on the couch watching whatever the Movie of the Week is.

Now these three devices haven’t been the one time amazing buy that worked out well for the rest of my life. Here are some issue-products I’ve invested in that, really, these companies should just stop.
Amphibx Waterproof Armband for iPod nano- H20 Audio

Rip off. Big big rip off. I wanted to be able to swim and listen to music at the same time so I invested in this product. At the time I bought it, there were pictures on the website of people swimming with the armband on, totally grooving to music as they swam. When I tried it out, for one, the headphones wouldn’t stay in my ears because the water pressure kept driving them out, two, the headphone chord awkwardly stretches out as you stretch your arm, totally ruining your stroke and thirdly, my arm felt like it was pregnant. A while ago, I tried Speedo’s radio that was made for swimmers and that was a fabulously convenient strap on and the only thing that stank about it was the fact that Indian radio plays nothing I can swim to. Speedo also now has mp3 players that I’m tempted to try out.
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Retractable Sony Earphones MDR-Q38LW

I like the concept of retractable earphones. They save time but not having to de-knot wired up earphones, and energy for the same reason. However, as you’re running, the container that the earphones retract into keep hitting you. And hitting you more. And more for good measure. It was just very unchivalrous behavior. Plus the sound sucked, the earphone itself was uncomfortable and really, after a while, the convenience of retracting is lost because if the wire twists a bit, it will refuse to retract. Definitely made me unhappy Paddy.

One thing I haven’t tried out is the Nike-iPod running to the beat chip thing. It seems a little counter-logical to me though please feel free to tell me otherwise. When I run, I need a beat to run to and to pick music that will motivate me to keep my beat up. Now if my music is selected based on how I run, I’ll have songs like the Spice Girls’ 2 Become 1 playing. And then I’ll be fat. Forever.

That’s it from me this week. I’ll be back next week, assuming that none of the guys have a chick problem they need to discuss.