. . .
Last fall, I came across a Washington Post profile of endurance athlete Frank Fumich. The piece followed Fumich as he completed an impossible physical feat: the Virginia Triple Iron Triathlon.
Yes, you read that correctly. Fumich and 16 others subjected themselves to three consecutive Ironman triathlons. That’s 7.2 miles swimming, 78.6 miles running, and 336 miles biking, all told. Most normal humans can’t manage even one of these feats, much less all three. The notion of completing them consecutively sets the mind to reeling.
Most of the Post article is devoted to an account of Fumich’s considerable suffering (the part about his chafing wang is particularly horrifying), though the man does take a few spare breaths to reflect on his bizarre hobby. One quote in particular jumped out at me:
“Fumich firmly believes that many people can accomplish the physical side of what he does. It’s the mental discipline that sets him apart. ‘Much more physically capable people than me drop out of these all the time,’ he says. ‘They just can’t stay in the game. When they feel that bad for that long, they just give up.’”
Has there ever been such an obvious parallel for the life of the extreme metal musician?
. . .
By my lights, metal musicianship is in the same class of activities as endurance sports. In both cases, practitioners endure hours of unpleasantness in pursuit of some longer-term catharsis. (Fumich says “The actual running of it, I don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy the training either.”) It’s not about strength of muscle; it’s about strength of will.
When writers—myself included—describe metal bands, they tend to use metaphors of strength: “brutal”, “crushing”, “pummeling”, “massive”, and such. Even playing really fast invokes power-related descriptors: virtuosos “rip” and “shred”.
But the actual practice of playing metal requires as much fortitude as it does strength or talent. You spend hour upon hour with a metronome. You drop thousands of hard-earned dollars on gear. You search ceaselessly for new techniques, new tricks. You endure the stigma that comes from explaining what ‘deathgrind’ is to non-metal acquaintances and family members. If you’re a touring underground musician, you survive in cramped, uncomfortable quarters for much of the year.
These things are hard to do, and they offer few rewards beyond a deep sense of satisfaction. Nonetheless, anyone who is sufficiently determined to play metal can do them. Not everyone will turn into an Akerfeldt-style virtuoso, of course, but most can become competent with time and diligence.
Certain kinds of metal even rely on physical endurance for their performance. Think of Darkthrone’s classic-era albums. Fenriz’s blastbeats aren’t complex at all, but he can keep them up for a long, long time. As any drummer can tell you, even slow blasts are tough to maintain for seven straight minutes. His stamina as a drummer reflects Darkthrone’s stamina as a band.
. . .
Endurance sports aren’t just neatly analogous to metal musicianship; they also offer rich opportunities for metal fans. Physical exertion can be deeply reflective, and it leaves your consciousness mostly unoccupied. Conveniently, many metal albums are best consumed whole and with few distractions.
I spend close to an hour most days running, biking, using an elliptical machine (NOT METAL), or performing some other cardio-training exercise. I do it because I find it satisfying, and because it provides a vital contrast to my lifting regime. I also do it because I find that the cardio experience and the listening experience mutually enhance each other.
One of my favorite albums to run to is Meshuggah’s Nothing. It’s perfect for a number of reasons. Nothing is driving but detail-oriented; you can get lost in its weirdness. It’s also 58 minutes long—just enough for me to bang out eight miles. Meshuggah sounds like machines, and machines don’t get tired.
Another favorite is Cobalt’s Eater of Birds. It doesn’t relentlessly assault your ears like Nothing, but it’s just as intense. Its crescendos fill me with a barbaric urge to survive—vocalist Phil McSorley, a hard man if ever there was one, could stand in for Conan running a self-improvement seminar. I could loop the tom breakdown from “Blood Eagle Sacrifice” for an entire run and never tire of it, or of the run.
But which album works best for you depends entirely on your preferences as a fan. Flip through your collection and figure out which albums give you that sense of unbreakable endurance. The rhythms of the workout will draw attention to the rhythms of the music, and the rhythms of the music will drive you forward. Unless it’s funeral doom, in which case you’re in for a very long run indeed.
. . .
The last sentence reminded me of when I went running and for some reason decided to listen to “El Mundo Frio”. I usually run for an hour, that day I didn’t last 20 minutes.
True Widow’s latest was my preferred choice for running last year.
It’s for the love of it. Musicians want to make something sound good and if it brings the limits in someone, that’s some dedicated shit. You can lose it and can be devastating but it’s very hard to ruin.
Looking at the introduction portion, I remind myself of fighting games. Yeah you can probably do a Shoryuken to Focus Attack Dash Cancel to Ultra Combo 1 with Ryu in Street Fighter IV in a multiple succession, hell you can probably do something like in training mode with ease. When it comes to playing against someone, everyone should be aware of game mechanics, character-specific things (FRAMES AND STUFF), fundamentals, and most importantly having a good mental game. Tournament players are not careless scrubs or the computer, they are like everyone else who compete. People will still lose even if they have all the qualities but might lack a hardened mental state. Players who love the game will do their best to reach the next level and be recognized or else they are just fucking free. /stupidrandomparallelexample
If there was metal music that would provide some sort of energy (music and workout seems dumb to me), it would be anything by Nasum.
I know it sound’s werid, but last summer it really worked for me running to Sleep’s “Dopesmoker”. It’s an hour of music without any gap, so you really can get lost in it, plus it’s on the groovy side of tempo, so not more impelling than it would have to be.
Another thing that works pretty fine is Bolt Thrower.
Bolt Thrower’s “Those Once Loyal” is one of my go-to workout albums. The last two God Dethroned albums seemed to hit a similarly hungry groove, too.
I’d also recommend Vomitory
Immortal -Sons of Northern Darkness
Darkest Hour- Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation
Carcass – Heartwork
It’s been a long time since I ran…
I actually don’t listen to music when I work out. I watch stuff on the DVR while doing my lifting and some other things, or I play the Wii Fit (a surprisingly good workout, at least for someone who doesn’t do much cardio). I listen for ten hours a day while at work, which can be a marathon itself.
That’s a brilliant article.Especially the last line about Funeral Doom was pretty good and made me laugh(In fact as one of the previous commenters noted Sleep’s Dopesmoker is a very endurance testing listen).
When i work out in the gym, they play some regional tracks and songs from movies that are upbeat there.Though i haven’t listened to metal while workout,I might prefer listening to some Electronica,Drum n bass or instrumental rock/metal.
Some metal albums that i think are upbeat and endurance oriented:
Revocation – Existence is Futile
Strapping Young Lad – Strapping Young Lad
Kronos _ Titan’s Awakening
Mastodon – Blood Mountain
Immortal – All Shall Fall
Primordial – Redemption From The Puritan’s Hand
Jeff Loomis – Zero Order Phase
John Petrucci – Suspended Animation
My idea would be that it is better to listen to some upbeat,motivating record or music(Both metal and non-metal) while workout than gloomy,melodic or introverted sorts.
Great article, I was just thinking about this the other day after reading the review of Sunn 0))). When I am on the totally not metal elliptical machine, I like to listen to faster stuff like thrash or black metal; Under a Funeral Moon has always been a go to. When it comes to weights, I try for something heavier like Danzig or stoner metal that you can do your reps in rhythm with and feel like a badass. Then I like to listen to Sunn 0))), Asva, or Lustmord when I sweat it out in the sauna, but I usually dont last too long with that type of thing blasting in the oppressive heat…
I run nearly every day, most often on the winding trails that snake through the local San Gabriel mountains. Getting lost in the drone of WITTR while running with incredible natural imagery is one of the easiest ways for me to get completely outside my head and ignore the screaming in my legs. Good stuff.
Fuck exercise.
What I didn’t mention above is that, yes, this is a great article.
When I did have a gym membership, I would try to take over the stereo in the weight room / basketball court (a silly combo, because you don’t want a basketball coming at you when you’re lifting 200 pounds over your head). I tried to work my schedule so I was in there when nobody else was. If that didn’t work out, I’d play an iPod “Genius” playlist starting with something like Mastodon (although the eventual Neurosis garnered a complaint). If it did work out, I’d play whatever.
Once, while playing Pig Destroyer in there by myself, a middle-aged black woman walked in and got a strange look on her face. She asked, “Is that music?” Of course I immediately thought she was going to say something insulting, but instead she asked insightful questions like “Who is it?” and “Where are they from?” It turns out, she’s a professor of popular culture (at the time she was teaching a course on Western movies).
Anyway, the biggest reason I bought my own weights and left the gym was that they kept adding more and more aerobics/whatever classes to the point that I couldn’t avoid them. They would play ridiculous and obnoxious electronic music at volumes so loud I couldn’t comfortably drown them out with ear buds. Fuck that. So, now my workouts are even longer and more intense, and they’re pretty much my only time to watch any TV (aside from nightly Adventure Time with my 4-year-old).
How did you end up at a gym with such a zany set-up? “Booming technotronic tunes” and “basketballs flying at my head while I’m doing squats” are usually dealbreakers for me when I’m checking out a new gym.
I had a similar scenario to your Pig Destroyer story during my senior year of college. I had a professor who was examining the intersection of Islam and Arab culture with Western popular culture; I ended up telling her all about Melechesh, Ayat, Orphaned Land, and so on. She gave me an A.
@ FMA
Not to ride on your behind, but did it really matter that the middle aged woman you encountered in the gym was black?
@ Carm: I thought someone would say something about that, and I fought with myself over whether I should include that detail. In the end I went with it because it adds to the sense that she is not included in the stereotypical metal demographic.
@ Doug: The gym was otherwise of very high quality (read: expensive, but nice). At the time I toured it before signing up, and even for the first few months I was a member, I didn’t have to deal with the classes. I have a couple other professor stories. I went to a small, private Christian college that trains a lot of church workers, so they had a fantastic music program.
1. I once spoke to the head of the music department, and he had extremely intelligent things to say about Metallica and their evolution over the years.
2. I took a piano course once, which was taught by an eastern European woman. We each gave a presentation on a musician/composer we personally liked, so naturally I chose Glenn Danzig and talked about all the different things he’s done over the years. She said she liked the stuff from Blackacidevil.
3. On the negative side, I took a voice class, and on the first day she asked us what kind of music we like. I told her metal, and she said we weren’t here for that, we were “here to make *music*” (the word “music” was sung). That turned me off right from the start, and it ended up being the only class I’ve ever failed, due to my not turning in an assignment. This was ten years ago, but it has always bothered me. I recently tried to find her contact information (like, two months ago) to tell her about it, but I can’t find it. Presumably she has retired.
This is tangential, but I’ve just started voice therapy for a vocal injury and my voice therapist just ordered the Zen of Screaming. She’s a classically trained singer, but I guess has an academic curiosity for how people make those noises without totally blowing out their voices.
That said, voice teachers are much more interested in the purity of vocal sound and not making the voice do horrifying things.
I think I need that album. Is Akerfeldt on it?
Its an Instructional DVD set (there’s two out).
oh no you didn’t
Pump more iron, listen to Blood Bros.
http://cosmichearse.blogspot.com/2011/07/first-blood.html
When you said “Blood Bros.,” I thought you meant The Blood Brothers. Proof of how untr00 I am, as though anybody needed more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGovcXvmbU0
It’ll help you montage the day away. Love those mixes.
Keepin’ it brutal on the elliptical!
Marathon death metal shows require intact knees. Distance running fucking wrecks my knees, meaning marathon death metal shows are much less pleasant. Ergo, the low-impact elliptical is metal as fuck.
Working out on the elliptical while wearing leather and spikes ala Rob Halford will increase metalness to your elliptical workout.
Hmmm. I see “endurance”. I see “strength”. I see “power”. But “low-impact” is not on my list of Things That Are Metal.
I don’t really blame you, though. My knees suck too. I power through it for dead lifts, lunges, and stair-step whatevers that I do with my weights, but I do not run.
Also, “cute emoticons” are not on my list. So . . . .
Have you checked out Chi Running or POSE? Changing your form will put a lot less impact on your knees. I had a minor knee pain when running before, but after I switched to Chi Running I’ve been pain free.
I don’t think I could reasonably change my running form without spending loads of money on an instructor and way more time than it’s worth.
For me, Reign in blood is absolutely perfect for a short, intense run. Keeps you pumped the whole way through. And near the end, there’s that lull with the thunder and rain, and your legs are burning, your chest is burning. You can hear your labored breath and your feet smacking the pavement. Then, right when a boost is most welcome, Raining Blood kicks in proper with that juggernaut chugging part and all the pain goes away. You’re a fucking battering ram again until the album ends.
There are good riffs to run to all through that sucker.
I hate running as well but I have to train to maintian a certain pace, so i enjoy high energy high tempo melodic death like Dark Tranquility or Scar Symetry. The choruses/clean parts give my mind somehting to latch onto to escape the minutiae of what my body is doing.
I’ve found that the music type will change depending on which routine or body part Im doing. When I do upper body stuff, I like ignorant tuff-guy hardcore or Metalcore type bands (feel the pump bro!). When doing heavy compound lower body stuff is when I go for the more complex progressive, doom or sludge metals. Listening to “Heaviest Matter In The Universe” helps put you in the proper mind set to squat 315.
I’d agree that Bolt Thrower seems to work great for cardio. Mid-tempo stuff in general, as long as it’s fairly consistent in tempo. Arch Enemy and Amon Amarth as well. Given I don’t exercise near as often as I should, but I’m trying to rectify that.
Bah. Real metalheads don’t run–they pound cheap beers till dawn, chain smoke and chase hipsters through the streets. Not to mention they’d never join a fucking gym. Real metalheads hike in the woods, climb snowdrifts and worship pagan idols so their crops will grow. Bowling, working on your 68 Nova, target practice and the smiting of one’s enemies qualify too. Working out so you can lift groceries? Unmetal.
Real metalheads plant crops? That doesn’t sound very brutal. Shouldn’t you be, like, raiding the neighboring tribe’s granary in a furry loincloth or something?
A real metalhead becomes master of his own body, and pounds it into submission. Whether that be by drinking, fighting, or otherwise, you need only push it to the limits.
Real metalheads listen to Bathory, Massacra, Massacre, Bolt Thrower, Messiah, Sadistic Intent, Disastrous Murmur while lifting heavy weights following Chaos n Pain’s theory of multiple reps of heavy 1’s, fucking hell you guys are lost
I listened to Tyr “By The Light Of The Northern Star” on the totally not-metal elliptical machine the other day, and it was perfect, although I tended to break pace and speed up during the solos.
The Red Chord and Suffocation are my go-to lifting and heavybag bands. The new Exhumed works well too.
The only link between extreme metal and extreme sports is the development of an iron will trough an unstoppable drive. Will is what most people lack these days, not mentioning drive. Most metalheads are lazy slobs looking out for quick gratification, hence why they rarely keep going with their “projects” for more than a month or two. They then switch to something “new and fresh” to justify they can’t keep going on something for long. Like some of my friends into extreme sports, they have a low/short attention span, I guess. No wonder why you rarely find stable line-ups in Metal bands…
for cardio my music of choice is either Despise You or Excruciating Terror’s back catalogue of simple, punch life in the face and keep going drive
for anything else i find Razor X’s industrial dancehall works wonders; though for some reason Funeral Mist has been a go to workout of of choice recently
I run a shitload, probably more than I should. For me nothing’s more effective than AC/DC. Not the Bon Scott stuff, there’s too much distracting charm and character in it. Just the most loudly impersonal Brian Johnson era stuff. For months I’ve been fascinated by this quote about the psychological impact of different musical forms, with AC/DC in mind since so many of their riffs are in the Dorian scale:
“…Greek warriors were advised not to listen to certain modes, which stimulate a kind of erotic languor. The Dorian mode was recommended, since it stimulates courage and energy.”
don’t know how I feel about the idea that musical modes have a direct and measurable impact on behavior, but I do want more extreme metal bands to write riffs in Dorian. Make bloodthirstiness more fun.
Fascinating! Where’d you hear that? I’d be interested to find out what the ‘erotic languor’ modes were. Lydian, maybe? I haven’t really checked, but I suspect that Baroness and Kylesa and bands in that vein write a ton of riffs in Dorian.
Personally, Dorian is a little too mild to really set my blood to boiling. A lot of metal bands write in Phrygian, which conveys intensity and evilness pretty effectively.
The quote is from Alain Danielou. He was a French musicologist who became a preeminent scholar of Indian mythology/philosphy/Tradition in general. I’m curious what the erotic languor modes are too! Phrygian is great of course. I love ‘em all. But I laugh and gesticulate a lot when I exercise, and I imagine I’d feel pretty jolly about ripping the enemy’s faces off with a flail, too.
Ooh yayuh!
It’s not strictly Dorian, but “Evil Has No Boundaries” by Slayer has a strong Dorian feel and it gets my blood up every time. Also the super-brutal intro riff to Abigail’s “Strength of Another world”, just a rippin’ song in general. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV1N7pb6fa0
Great piece, Doug.
Running has never done anything for me. Maybe it’s too much of a flashback to bad gym classes or cross country running in junior high school. It also hurts my knees. I’d much rather train kettlebells, hit the TRX, box or something that incorporates strength, aerobic and endurance and can be finished in 45 to 60. But I’ve always been sort of fascinated by the people that can just go out and run for two straight hours. I think it’s a mental game as much as physical.
Music of choice: Priest; Asphyx; Cannibal Corpse; Napalm Death; Cirith Ungol; Angelcorpse; AC-DC…
Thanks, man!
The chief drawback of the cardio emphasis is how much time it eats up. Between running and lifting, I can spend up to 90 minutes on a regular (read: non-race-training) workout some days. My schedule currently allows me the luxury to do so, but I suspect that when my time is less flexible, I’ll shift towards your model.
And Napalm Death is amazing workout music. I’m really partial towards their later stuff for br00tal sets.
I’ve read that any intense exercise longer than 60 minutes could be counterproductive, especially as you get older. For the first 40-45 minutes when you work out you release testosterone but if you go longer than an hour you instead release cortisol (from the stress and intensity). Cortisol can impede muscle growth, cause injury, leave you run down and also make you plateau. I’m not sure if running operates differently but everything I’ve heard suggests to hit it hard as hell for 45 to 60 with minimal rest, stretch, then take a shower.
I usually never do a solid Napalm album for a workout but instead integrate into playlists.
Interesting; I didn’t know that about the testosterone/cortisol barrier. I’m young enough (24) that I can still get away with doing whatever the hell I want to my body, but I have suffered some repetitive-motion injuries. For instance, I’ve got a nagging case of plantar fasciitis, which is associated with running.
The main reason I do so much cardio is the emotional/psychological release I associate with it; it’s not necessarily a fitness thing for me. Still, I’ve been considering switching to a shorter, more intense circuit workout for a while——maybe the Angel of Death workout that Cosmo recommended in a past Pure Testosterone? Not sure I’m ever gonna be able to crank out 100 pull-ups in a single session, though.
Wow haven’t been on this site for a while…
@doug M
im curious do you mean you can bang out a 8 km run in 58 min, or 8 miles?
the reason im asking is it seems you will be running at a very fast pace, for my self im able to run 5miles in 56 min.
its not a pissing contest (lol) im just curious
as for myself i run one day the next day is lifting, for those who are talking about the 45 min rule i think you gotta match the energy your putting out, to the intake of food thats going in.
as for the elliptical, i read its low impact due to your feet not coming down onto a suface. those that run long distances, their body will adjust to the activity by increasing in bone mass and mmuscle mass.
running to me seems more traditional to me, i mean its an effective thing to have if you had to live off the land you know, in these modern times ppl are being disconected to that.
also i just work out at home for now but might have to join a gym soon cuz i wanna increase my wieghts. (or dole out more money for equipment)
as for music, yes i do listen to alot while running or lifting, i just have a playlist with all the stand out tracks from albums. recently have been just listening to crosses(chino moreno), for groove its been down (nola). when im running i ussually listen to some instrumental stuff from cult of luna, isis, and mogwai, perfect moody music
also been listening to alot of trent reznors dragon tattoo soundtrack.
I can run 8 miles in a bit under an hour. It’s basically a 7.5-minute mile pace the entire time, though I usually pick up the pace near the end.
Interesting that you should say that about the connection between running and pre-civilization survival; I’ve heard that one of the physical advantages that early humans had over their rivals on the plains of Africa was their ability to maintain a relatively quick pace over incredibly long distances.
excuse my ignorance lol
i researched it and found out that it is possible for 8miles in an hr, i think its something i might aim for in the coming months.
ive been doing some research on HIIT running, where one runs really hard then jogs then runs hard again, they say you can cut down the time in half and burn as much calories as one does when running large distances.
about the whole precivilization, there where those (ie native americans)who didnt have horses (but did have domesticated dogs)to hunt with so all they had were scare tactics to divert buffalo off a cliffs, running was as fundamental as bows and arrows. mind you this was the only way that ensured survival for these peoples.
its good to see pure testosterone back up here, keep it up.