2019 has arrived and I am going to spend a lot of time out here in cyberspace imparting what I think I know. It is my hope that you will look forward to explorations of health and fitness with me and that we both will learn and experience a few things along the way.
Before we get to all of that lets first just have a little bit of fun. One of the things that I do for myself is to create interesting play lists for my workout times. In particular, for cardio sessions, having a strong cadence to run to, or some powerful lyrics to energize me can make all the difference.
For a strength session I sometimes go with a book or interesting podcast. I prefer a podcast usually since I don’t want my concentration on a lift to be distracted by an interesting plot point. Regardless, there’s always the skip back function.
That being said, I really get into a good music list. The preparation of searching and downloading often get me jazzed up for a run the following day. I can’t wait to ‘try out’ the mix and see what needs to be added or dropped. While I like Pandora for a consistent mix relative to a genre or artist, I generally don’t rely on them for a quality workout mix. Apple music has pre-done mixes in all kinds of genres for all types of needs not just workouts. However, as good a job they do, sometimes I find myself hitting, skip too many times.
A full album might be good, however, it’s rare to find one which all the songs are great run jams. Personally, I like to shoot for a solid hour’s mix at least. Then I shuffle them each time. Since I don’t always go that long I wont get as burnt out on them.
2018 saw the creation of a bunch of lists, as I really ramped up my cardio last year. By the time I was ready for the Tough Mudder distance of 10+ miles I was doing sometimes 25 miles per week. That requires a lot of music!
In the interests of sharing I will be putting together new lists this year. I’ll make them available to see and if you’re on Apple music I can share them with you. Full disclosure, most of this will be more modern high energy dance and electronic music. That’s just what I like. You should put some effort into creating your own lists. Share back with me, what gets you out on the roads?
Not all of these are from 2018, and are much older in some cases. They are just what I put together last year and are the best songs from that year for me.
Best workout songs of 2018
Classic – Baba O’Riley – The Who
– Only The Young – Journey
– Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen
– More Than a Feeling – Boston
– Barracuda – Heart
– Dance the Night Away – Van Halen
Electronic/Pop – Fembot – Robyn
– Carry Me – Kygo
– Burnin – Calvin Harris
– Hey Now – London Grammar
– Therapy – Armin Van Burren
– Sun Comes up – Rudimental
Hard Rock/Metal – The Pretender – Foo Fighters
– Robot Stop – King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
– Girlfriend – Mathew Sweet
– Maiden, Mother, and Crone – The Sword
– You’ve Got Another Thing Coming – Judas Priest
Rap/Hip Hop – He Got Game – Public Enemy
– Run the Jewels (E) – Run the Jewels
– Shut ‘Em up – The Prodigy/Public Enemy
– Judgement Day – Method Man
Well that’s my best bunch from last year. Your assignment: Take some time and see what kind of a list you can put together for yourself. Have fun with it, then run with it.