Exercise: Workout Music Playlists

We have all felt the positive effects of hearing that perfect piece of music at just the right time. Music can motivate you to put in that little bit of extra effort that can make a big difference over time. Workout music is a key component to the fitness routines that we establish to help us maintain our healthy weight.

In todays post, we will look deeper into using music to enhance our workouts. First, let’s start off with this little comparison. How does this music and scene from Rocky make you feel?

Now what about the music in this identical workout scene?

The Theme from Rocky (Gonna Fly Now) encourages you to overcome anything that might get in your way. You are a winner! But when I hear the Rocky & Bullwinkle theme music, I can only imagine myself tripping up those same steps and falling on my a$$.

I made my first exercise music playlist nearly 40 years ago using a cassette recorder – really it was a mixtape. Let me tell you, it was much more difficult than using today’s apps. It was a compilation of Weird Al songs that were all about food and being fat. Yes, I was fat shaming myself before it became a topic that people commonly discussed. (It didn’t work then, just like it doesn’t work now.) And why would I even expect songs about rocky road ice cream, lasagna, bologna, or a potato addiction to help with weight loss?

Take a look at my earlier post Self-Care: Music to read more about the importance of music in your weight loss and maintenance journey: https://lindawbrowning.com/2023/01/13/self-care-music/ (It’s about much more than exercise music.)

The power of music has been studied extensively and the results generally conclude that it is an excellent tool to promote better health. In a 2019 meta-analysis of 139 studies on the use of music in gym and sports domains, it was found that

…music has the capacity to provide significant positive effects for exercisers and athletes, particularly in the areas of enhanced affective responses and improved physical performance, but also in terms of reduced perceived exertion and more efficient oxygen utilization (1).

Music can

• Divert your mind from boredom and fatigue (2).
• Synchronize your movement and prolong performance of difficult tasks (2).
• Improve your mood during a workout (3).
• Help with your muscle memory, especially if you are working on more complex skills (4).

So how can we best utilize these positive effects in our workout playlists? Start by choosing an app that makes playlist creation easy – or that makes playlists customized to you prior music selections automatically. Many apps also have playlists that others have created that can work well for you.

I am most familiar with Spotify, and as you may know, I love spin/cycling classes. A spinning studio that I sometimes visit uploads their class playlists to Spotify (seemingly daily), so you can listen to your favorites, albeit without the coaching motivation. Once I visited CYCLEBAR’s playlists, I found a near endless supply of great cycle music and workout playlists. Later I found that Spotify had created even more cycling playlists for me. These can’t totally replace spin classes, but they’re perfect for that home workout when circumstances keep you from the gym. My new favorite is called Cycling Upbeat Mix: Cycling Upbeat music picked just for you. Spotify has tapped into my love of cycling plus my penchant for playing happy music on road-trips.

Spotify is not your only option, although CNET does rate it as the overall best streaming service for 2023 (5). Apple Music is a great alternative, especially if you are using Apple devices. Qobuz is highly rated for its sound quality and Tidal is tops for compensating artists: “The [Tidal HiFi Plus] service will now pay your top streamed artist each month a 10% cut of your subscription fee. Even if you only stream one song all month the full $2 will go to them. Forget fractions of a cent for a play; with enough spins from enough people, this could mean serious money for your favorite band” (5). Amazon Music Unlimited can be purchased on its own or as an upgrade to an Amazon Prime membership. SoundCloud and YouTube are two more options to consider. Most of us are familiar with YouTube playlists, and you can create an unlimited number of them yourself. SoundCloud is especially popular for indie and user generated music (6).

What songs are best? It depends on the type of exercise and the pace that suits you. If you are doing any form of interval training, your playlist would have songs at different rhythms, or beats per minute. If you simply want to walk or run faster, you may wish to choose pieces that are slightly faster than your current steps per minute. And don’t forget the slower songs for warm ups and cool downs! By trial and error, you will find what works best for you. This will also change over time as your fitness level improves or your choice of exercise evolves.

Regardless of how you choose to listen to your workout motivation music, I hope you’ll see the benefits in finding the right songs for you! This is one more tool to help us maintain our healthy weight.

(1). https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2019-75018-001.html

(2). https://thehealthsciencesacademy.org/health-tips/music-can-enhance-athletic-performance/

(3). https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/can-a-playlist-boost-your-performance-yes-with-the-right-songs/

(4). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/science/can-music-make-you-a-better-athlete

(5). https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/best-music-streaming-service/

(6). https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/streaming/free-music-apps?amp