My running music has become painfully boring. I haven’t updated my iPod since Christmas 2006, and for those long jogs in the park, I need a fast tempo and catchy lyrics to keep me going.
Exercising with music can prolong your workout, speed weight loss, and even boost brainpower.
My meager collection includes some classic motivators—“Eye of the Tiger,” “I Will Survive,” “Born to Run”—and some lesser-knowns like the ones below.
“Prozak,” by ‘90s one-hit-wonder band Dexter Freebish. This überhyper pop song helped my boyfriend stay awake on his eight-hour drives home from college. It can be a bit obnoxious, but it helps me power through a tough run.
A cover of Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” by one of my favorite bands, Carbon Leaf. It is loud, fast, and has a great beat.
Any punk rock. I don’t have a huge collection, but I’ve found that what I do have—The Clash, Bad Religion, The Alarm—really gets me pumped up.
But I need some help. Many songs in my iPod simply aren’t doing it for me: Jack Johnson and Matchbox 20 (I did say 2006) are great, but I skip these laid-back tracks on my runs.
There are some online resources. Run2R.com suggests the right number of beats per minute for your music, based on your running speed; it also sells corresponding playlists for $15. Or you can download free hourlong podcasts from DJ Steve Boy, mixed at a consistent tempo.
I’d love your suggestions for great running songs: Rap, rock, old or new, I’ll try them all and let you know the results!
Comments (14)
Amanda, look for a program called “BeaTunes”. It analyzes the music in your collection for both BPM and for “color,” so you can make cool playlists at a specific tempo with all your favorite music instead of trying to force yourself to like someone’s predefined lists. Hope that helps!
Amanda, saw your post on the TRB board…Here’s some of my faves for running! These aren’t in any particular order – they’re all great and you can order them for your workout (if you start slow, go hard all up front and then lull mid-run, whatever)…
Good luck, please share your new playlist when you get one finalized…I’m always looking for new stuff to run to!
Long Island – Gasoline Heart
Trees – Marty Casey & Lovehammers
Narcolepsy – Third Eye Blind
Brother Down – Sam Roberts
Black Betty – Ram Jam
Makin’ Sunshine – The Trews
Kings & Queens – Luna Halo
Breaking My Back – Sons of William
Knock Down Walls – Tonic
Fire Away – Kill the Alarm
Shipping Up to Boston – The Dropkick Murphys
Where the Streets Have No Name – U2
Sun and Shadow – Wideawake
Stronger – Kanye West
Better Now – Collective Soul
I suggest the following:
Joe Strummer- Cowboy Mouth
Leaving Town- Dexter Freebish
Mandolin Moon- Sister Hazel
All Night Long- Will Hoge
Home- Marc Broussard
Awful Beautiful Life- Darryl Worley
Happy running!
I agree that the right music is essential to a fun workout. I returned to campus this week after spring break and discovered I left my iPod at home. I just had to borrow a friend’s before I could go to the gym.
Personally, I find myself hitting the elliptical to Panic at the Disco’s album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out a lot – it’s appropriately up tempo and fun. When I’m really dragging at the gym, I sometimes turn to Eminem’s Greatest Hits. His anger is oddly energy-boosting!
hi amanda! i’m not a runner, not sure what tunes would help, but used to be power-walker (before disability took over, now i’m a casual-walker!).. anyway, found most music from early collective soul had just right tempo for power walking. and hey, just can’t beat cowboy mouth for fun, energetic tunes to get the heart pumping!! can’t wait to see your list, always looking for new music for my work-outs!
Almost anything by Talking Heads: Girlfriend is Better, Slippery People, This Must Be the Place.
David Byrne (either solo or with Thievery Corporation): Dance on Vaseline, The Heart’s a Lonely Hunter.
Lots of disco: Get Down Tonight, A Fifth of Beethoven, You Should Be Dancing, Disco Inferno.
The song from that Geico commercial: Remind Me.
The song from the SNL skits with Jim Carrey, Chris Kattan, and Will Ferrel: What Is Love.
I’m sure I have more, but I’ll have to check my playlists.
Music really does motivate me to run faster, it also keeps me running
no matter what!
Whats on my playlist? ALOT of dance music!!!
Here are two of my new ones:
- 4 Mintues – Madonna (Ft. Timberlake/Timberland)
- Run the Show – Kat Deluna (Ft. Busta Rhymes)
reggae,reggae, helps get me reved up!
Hi Amanda,
I notice you make mention of my run2rhythm website run2r.com
We now have a number of running mixes of our different 15minute run sessions and this gives people a good idea about different run sessions, distances and the time they should run.
http://www.run2r.com/runningmusicmixes.aspx
Regards
Gary Blake
Founder
“Give Love” by Tristan Gardner is da bomb! It’s hot hot hot! I haven’t heard anything that touches it in a long time. Also check out Sardust “the music sounds better with you.”
Have you checked out AudioFuel? It’s kicking music with a beat to run to which includes voice over coaching. The compilations come in two different intensity levels so there’s something for everyone. http://www.audiofuel.co.uk
My best suggestion is to listen to slipknot type songs as this bands music gets your adrenaline pumping and that gets you running faster for longer. Trust me, it works.
What are slipknot type songs? Can you give me an example please. If you are into pumping adrenaline you should check out Adrenaline Junkie http://www.audiofuel.co.uk/shop/compilation_6/adrenaline_junkie.html
I think listen to music during jogging is very good because it can help ourselves tried less and focus on the lyrics of music and then help we do jog more than often :)