Your Workout Playlist Should Be All Rise, Baby!
I loved reading this article about workout playlists. I’ve worked very hard on my playlist, which is incredibly cheesy and includes things like “Pop Goes My Heart” (Hugh Grant) and “I Think I Love You” as performed by American Idol’s Constantine. (I can’t help it; my response to that one is now Pavlovian.)
I need songs that I know, with a nice workoutable beat, that haven’t yet gone stale from me having heard it ten billion times. Most of the songs on the list, I don’t even allow myself to listen to unless I’m working out.
Generally speaking there is a science to choosing an effective exercise soundtrack… One of the most important elements, Dr. [Costas] Karageorghis found, is a song’s tempo, which should be between 120 and 140 beats-per-minute, or B.P.M. That pace coincides with the range of most commercial dance music, and many rock songs are near that range, which leads people to develop “an aesthetic appreciation for that tempo,” he said. It also roughly corresponds to the average person’s heart rate during a routine workout — say, 20 minutes on an elliptical trainer by a person who is more casual exerciser than fitness warrior.
Dr. Karageorghis said “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa and “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop Dogg are around that range, as is the dance remix of “Umbrella” by Rihanna… For a high-intensity workout like a hard run, he suggested Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On.”
The song on my playlist that always gives me a little burst of energy is “Accidentally In Love” by Counting Crows (I try to time that one so it hits at about the 25-minute mark). The newest addition is “Five Fathoms” by Everything But The Girl, which I got on a mix CD and is now my warmup song. According to the article linked above, the perfect workout song is the theme from Rocky. If you work out to music, feel free to share your playlist gems in the comments! Thanks for the link, Kari!
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Creatures by 311
Any thing by System of A Down
And Birdhouse in your soul by They Might Be Giants is hilarious and upbeat.
Not sure I’ve commented here before. So hi —
Pretty sure The Heat is ON would make me wish I were deaf .. (ewwww!) But I will plead guilty to an unnatuaral love for the B52s (Rock Lobster and Love Shack) and DeeLight while on long runs.
Thanks for sharing.
The one song on my Creative Zen (my mp3 player) that never fails to give me that burst of energy is a christmas carol. Sounds weird, but its not just any carol. It’s “Joy to the World” done in a gospel choir arrangement. It was on “Lifted- Songs of the Spirit” which is a CD I bought at Starbucks a while back. Its strange, as I’m not even a Christian, but this song never fails to throw me up to a higher level of energy.
Another song that I always love to hear when exercising is “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton. It’s a total energy booster.
I don’t have an exercise play list, per se. I’ve tried that and I’m always sick of all the songs on the play list after about a week or two. I just run my Creative Zen on random play all. There’s always something appropriate pops up and because my Creative Zen is large enough to hold my complete CD collection, I don’t really get bored with the music. If I run across a song that doesn’t seem right for what I’m doing at the momemt, I skip to the next one.
I love Common People by Pulp-there’s a part in the middle with some fast beats that totally get me running faster without even thinking about it. I also love some of the fast songs by Great Big Sea (a group from Newfoundland who do some awesome folk songs that can get crazy fast-and a great cover of It’s the End of the World As We Know It (REM)) . Lust for Life by Iggy Pop, Elevation by U2, Shopping by Barenaked Ladies, Only Happy When It Rains by Garbage, American Psycho by Treblecharger, and Nowhere With You by Joel Plaskett are some other faves that get me moving.
I love hearing others suggestions so I can add to my favourites!
Push It used to be right at the point in my playlist when I would be thinking “I hate this and this sucks and I want to stop and I am tired and SWEATING and no one said there would be sweating whyyyyy” in my workout, and always got my right back on track. I love that there is SCIENCE behind it! :D
I love to buy pre-mixed CDs from djajax.com. They’re just for working out so they’re in the right bpm range and are stuff from the radio. Rocky is on my playlist, “Hung up on you” by Madonna is a favorite, and “Omnibus” by Laut Sprecher is always good when I’m getting tired. :-)
I’m a runner, so I need some pretty upbeat jams to pick me up. And yes, some of the tunes are a tad embarrassing…so here it is: my favorite playlist of all time.
1. “Dance Inside” — All-American Rejects
2. “Dismantle. Repair.” — Anberlin
3. “Treat Me Right” — Backstreet Boys
4. “XO” — Fall Out Boy
5. “Oil and Water” — Incubus
6. “Too Little, Too Late” — JoJo
7. “Crazy 8s” — Mae
8. “Wake Up Call” — Maroon 5
9. “Misery Business” — Paramore
10. “21” — The Starting Line
Other favorites are “Best of Me” by the Foo Fighters, “Going the Distance” by Cake, most songs by Kelly Clarkson, throw in some Janet Jackson and The Hush Sound…you got yourself a good three-miler!
Runaround by Blues Traveller, and way too much Orbital…
I think I have “Birdhouse in your Soul” on my playlist, Yellowhammer. And, psychsarah, I know “When You’re Up” by Great Big Sea and it’s great! I will check out their other stuff.
I’ve started hooping, and pretty much the entire album Standing in the Way of Control by the Gossip is perfect for it. Plus, that way I’m not a fat girl getting my hoop on while some skinny chick sings. Makes me feel good.
I must confess to being digitally impaired–I do not own any form of portable music player more recent than the mid-nineties. But I’ll second Nat on the B-52s, since I always have “Time Capsule” on the stereo when I’m on the treadmill.
My absolute faves for any kind of workout action (or dancing like a spaz in my living room) are “She’s a Rebel” by Green Day, “Everything is All Right” by Motion City Soundtrack, and “Tub Thumping” by Chumbawumba. I don’t know how people can stand still to any of these tunes.
I have several workout playlists on my IPod, almost all seriously uncool, but they keep me moving to the beat on the elliptical. One of my favorites is Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary”. I’ve also got stuff like “All Star”, “Another One Bites the Dust”, “Sympathy for the Devil”, and “Everybody Wants You.”
It’s great to read everybody’s lists — I’m going to check some of these out on ITunes!
Well – I keep meaning to get an Ipod or a Zune and get a playlist going…And one of these days I might even get off my a** and exercise (shudder)…
Those rare life moments when I have done some workouts – the Doobie Brothers have the perfect mix of beats for running or walking.
Jen
What I always found funny was that the songs that would get me running at the gym weren’t always the ones I liked in non-gym situations. I do not own a single track by Gwen Stefani, for example, but I definitely sped up when some of her songs came on the music channel.
I agree about They Might Be Giants, though (in any situation) and Franz Ferdinand are terrific for getting me moving.
Hip-hop always seemed to have beats that were too slow… but then I don’t much like it anyway.
These days I get most of my exercise on my bike, so I need my ears free to listen out for traffic coming up behind me…
Definitely Gwen Stefani. Any fast songs by the Gipsy Kings. Eye of the Tiger of course! Since You’ve Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson, Danger Zone from Top Gun. Bootylicious. All really cheesy dancy songs with strong beats work well.
Although my Number One running song of all time is the remixed version of A Little Less Conversation (Elvis). BEST RUNNING SONG EVER.
Am I really going to be the only one here lame enough to admit that her favorite exercise playlist is full of Nsync, Britney, Christina, Shakira, and the like? Because it is. So very much.
Robot- by Tatu. It’s one of their russian songs that never got translated and it always gets me going.
Also love DDR songs for working out.
dj BC’s first album of Beastie Boys/Beatles mashups, ‘The Beastles.’ Taken down from his site, presumably due to copyright hoo-ha, but poke around for a torrent. It’s the best running music ever.
Oh man, psychsarah, Great Big Sea is great! Jolly Beggarman is one of my favorite tracks.
Rebellion (Lies) by The Arcade Fire always makes me walk faster whenever I’m walking and listening to music (which is all the time, now) and anything by Fatboy Slim is perfect for picking up the pace. (Weapon of Choice = awesome.)
Dude! And it just came to me, Who Needs Sleep by the Barenaked Ladies was my absolute *favorite* song to have pop up when I was on the ellipticals (when I actually had access to a gym!) Something about the rhythm was just perfect for me.
Man, just thinking about the music is getting me energized ! …Which isn’t good, considering it’s 4 in the bloody morning.
i tend to play ‘harder better faster stronger’ by daft punk whenever im starting to collapse on the elliptical machine thingie..it really helps
“I’m a Bomb” – Natasha Beddingfield
“Army of Me” – Bjork
“Jealous Girls” – The Gossip
“Glass Danse” – The Faint
“Mas” – Kinky
“The Oracle” – Dolphina
“Canned Heat” – Jamiraquai
“Dirty” – Chamillionaire
These are usually what I listen to, I know I’m a freak I like Bjork.
My “On the Go” Playlist consists of lots of dance songs, many of them non-commercial dance trance songs by DJs that are faster than 140 bpm, some lasting anywhere from 6-8 minutes. I have one that’s almost 11 minutes long, which is a trance version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” that Stevie Nicks redid the vocals for. You talk about working up a sweat! I also have them burned on CD, so when I dance in my room, I get a decent workout too.
My new favorite track to groove to is “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse. If I were a stripper, this would be my bump & grind song.
When I was trying to get into working out again I found that I would get really frustrated even by variations in BPM within the “good” range – it annoyed me and threw me off to go from a 120 BPM song to a 140 BPM song in the same workout. So, I surfed around and found this program called BeaTunes which scans songs for their BPM. Now I have smart playlists on my iPod that automatically update with songs in the right range. I’m gonna be honest, it’s not super easy and it gets confused sometimes (for instance, it can’t tell the difference between a song that has 70 BPM and one with 140) but overall it’s been really helpful.
I love any of Prince’s upbeat stuff.
~Let’s Work
~Baby, I’m a Star
~My Name is Prince
And some of my other favorites:
~Hush Boy – Basement Jaxx
~Yr Mangled Heart – The Gossip
~1969 – The Stooges
~Maneater – Nelly Furtado
I have to change ’em up all the time. A current fave is Jill Scott’s “Hate on Me.” Great beat plus angry positive lyrics. A total butt kicker.
Everybody else on the face of the earth hates it by now, but “Hey Ya!” by Outkast is still one of my favorite workout songs.
“Here Comes the Hammer” — MC Hammer
“Bring Me Some Water” — Melissa Etheridge
“Hat 2 the Back” — TLC
“It’s Gonna Be Me” — N’Sync
Bree, I dance in my room too!
You Give Love a Bad name – Bon Jovi
Suddenly – K. T. Tunstall
Imitosis – Andrew Bird
UB Jesus – David Byrne
Are ones I’ve been playing a lot during my workouts lately.
Sexy back makes me work much harder
Most Jamiroquai
Getr up off that thing (and dance till you feel better)
All Panic at the Disco (THE BEST!!!)
Most Black Eyed peas- Shut up, Hey Mama, Lets Get Retarded
I wanna be sedated- the romones
I see you baby shakin that ass
Workout Plan- Kanye West (Another BEST)
Pon De Replay!!
Hope these help they’re the only thing that keeps me going back to the gym
Thanks for all the song suggestions for a playlist. I love all types of music, but get overwhelmed when putting together a workout list.