India, April 26 -- I know this will sound sanctimonious, but the gym is my temple (there, I said it). It's a sacred space where sweat and steel forge resilience. For 28 years, I've leaned on the barbell. I'm a 65-year-old devotee still hitting the iron three to four days a week.

This journey began in my late-30s, as a tentative flirtation with weights. It was, in part, a response to an early health warning, but the weights soon became a full-blown obsession.

From the raw grit of 1970s classic rock to the cerebral pulse of modern jazz, I've scoured genres for the perfect sonic fuel to power my lifts. Here's how I went from punk rock deadlifts to squatting with Miles Davis - and why jazz became the ultimate soundtrack to strength-training...