2-Pack: Snap Activity Trackers
- You get a pair of fitness bands so you and a friend can start a fitness band
- You’re already taking a bunch of steps every day, you might as well get credit for them
- Also tracks sleep and calories burned, which, again, are things you already do that you get no recognition for
- Use with your Android or iOS phone, just make sure it’s securely in your pocket when you’re doing all this zooming around
- Model: 3PLUS-S01K (PLUS? why not spell out HYPHEN too?)
Take Steps to Take Steps: A Walking Playlist
Hey, Meh writer @JasonToon here with a weekend playlist, and two words of advice for your New Year’s resolutions: aim low.
The ideal resolution is to do a little more of something you’re doing already. That way, you’re not starting from a baseline of zero, like you would if you suddenly set yourself a quota of push-ups or jumping jacks. Who the hell ever does an inadvertent jumping jack in the course of daily living? When do you ever find yourself in the middle of an unexpected push-up?
Never. But you’re probably walking all over the place. You don’t have to learn any new techniques or attend any classes to meet a daily-steps goal. Literally all you have to do is to put one foot in front of the other. Repeat as necessary.
So when you start counting steps with a Snap Activity Tracker, BONUS! You were already a big chunk of the way to your goal without even knowing it. You’ll start to feel stupid for not getting a fitness tracker sooner, so you could’ve gotten credit for all that accidental exercise you were doing.
Which brings us to this weekend’s playlist. There are all kinds of running playlists out there, pumping up the BPMs for peak performance. But what about the walkers among us? Here’s a playlist of songs to help you maintain a steady stroll, between 100 and 120 beats per minute (also compiled on YouTube). Just keep to one side of the path so those overachieving runners don’t run you down.
Elvis Costello - “Watch Your Step” (1981)
OK, I couldn’t resist starting the list with a walking pun. Pete Thomas lays down a steady-as-she-goes beat for one of Elvis Costello’s most underrated songs.
Tuxedo - “I Got U” (2015)
Funk duo Tuxedo aren’t from the '80s, they just sound like it.
Sly & the Family Stone - “Family Affair” (1971)
44 years earlier, Sly Stone anticipated the stripped-down post-disco funk sound with this minimal groove classic.
Colleen Green - “Whatever I Want” (2015)
“Got a mind of my own and I know it’s a good one, so I don’t take advice from fools,” says California’s coolest one-woman band in this anthem of quiet determination. Walk it and walk it proud.
The Melodians - “Rivers of Babylon” (1970)
Sweet-voiced preaching from a classic Jamaican vocal group, backed by the crack Beverley’s All Stars house band. One of those songs that makes me thankful that humans discovered music.
Michael Jackson - “Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough” (1979)
Don’t think I need to say much here except “thank you for giving me an excuse to listen to this song” and “you’re welcome for giving you an excuse to listen to this song.”
Alphabeat - “Fantastic Six” (2007)
How’s this for hygge: a bunch of carefree, fresh-faced Danes singing about some kind of superhero group over the kind of hyper-catchy new wave disco that was all the rage in 2007 and still sounds pretty great today.
JJ Grey & Mofro - “Everything is a Song” (2015)
Well-written and heartfelt enough to overcome my instinctive recoil from Southern-fried Dad-rock.
The Kinks - “Afternoon Tea” (1967)
The sunny, sad music-hall bounce of klassik Kinks has propelled me down many a rainy Seattle street.
Fischer-Z - “So Long” (1980)
In British English, these art-punks band name is a joke (“Fischer zed” sounds like “fish’s head”, get it?). In any language, their biggest hit is a satisfying soundtrack to any stroll, no joke.
Mr. Master - “Dog in the Night (Instrumental)” (1983)
You’re getting close to the end of your walk now… kick hard to the finish line with this Italo-disco mover.
The New Pornographers - “Marching Orders” (2014)
OK, I couldn’t resist ending the list with a walking pun. This is the song where I finally “got” the New Pornographers, and still my favorite of theirs by a mile.
These Snap Activity Trackers do a few other things, if you want them to. But let’s not get into those complications right now. Complication is the mother of excuses, of equivocation, of waffling. Keep it simple: steps. You’re already doing a lot of them. Don’t you deserve to feel a little smug about it?
More weekend playlists to get your heart very mildly pumping:
