They both make great workout mixes! For both fitness junkies and the casual treadmill jogger, music can be a powerful motivator, taking your mind off the negative aspects of your exercise—such as fatigue—and helping you focus on the actual workout. In fact, most fitness websites and magazines today, such as SELF, have fitness sections dedicated to finding the perfect workout playlist. SELF in particular often uses star power to motivate readers to work out by branding their playlists with a specific celebrity’s name. Websites like this are a great place to start browsing for your special mix.
Creating a workout playlist is a science. Depending on your workout pace, the type of music that works best for you may be different than that of your friends. Although genre does play an important role in music library selection, the category to focus on is the BPM, or beats per minute. According to the New York Times, music with a BPM rate that corresponds to your heart rate is most effective in helping you to get the most out of your workout session.
One way you can find the perfect music for you is to look at the BPM column of your iTunes, or other media player. Find music that’s in the 130-160 BPM range, which would include most rock and dance music. You can also get a little creative and find music that’s half the BPM that you would normally search for, and then jog at twice the beat of the music (fun math!). I find that songs like Adele’s ‘One and Only’, or Peter Gabriel’s ‘My Body Is a Cage’ work very well for both jogging and walking. A helpful tool is jog.fmWhen you enter your mile time, the website selects songs from its extensive database that match your ideal BPM. It even includes songs that are half your target BPM so you can make a jog-and-walk playlist if you chose to.
Have a happy workout!