High-Energy Music for Working Out
For today’s Recommendation from Me to You, I thought I’d list out some of the music I’ve been listening to during my workouts. I know I’m always looking for the right sort of tunes for motivating me through that last 10 minutes on the elliptical or whatever, so if you want to share your own exercise-friendly playlists, I’d love to hear them.
Warmup:
Bitter: Sweet, Dirty Laundry. Slinky!
The Bird and the Bee, Polite Dance Song. This song is mesmerizing in its perfection. Truly.
Timbaland, The Way I Are. A butt-shaking hot beat.
Garbage, Cherry Lips. Groovy, with a great backbeat perfect for when you first start running and your legs are all, wah, but the song keeps you going.
Nine Inch Nails, Closer. This is my favorite song to play while I’m slowly increasing intensity.
Balls-out:
Lo Fidelity Allstars, Battleflag. Obnoxious and pounding and smoking-hot.
Benassi Bros, I Love My Sex. I play this so loud my eardrums actually itch afterwards: it’s THAT good.
The Fratellis, Flathead. Makes me want to go crazy on a dancefloor somewhere.
Bishop Allen, Things are What You Make of Them. Uplifting and happy and just all-around awesome.
Bloodhound Gang, Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo. Immature, yet strangely motivating — I play this when I don’t think I can run for two more minutes, then I run for two more minutes because PUT THE YOU KNOW WHAT IN THE YOU KNOW WHERE.
AudioBody, In the Now. Can’t find it on YouTube, but trust me: you need this song.
Kate Nash, Pumpkin Soup. Hip-hoppishly punky Brit dance goodness.
will.i.am, I Got It From My Mama. Yes, it’s silly, but can you sit still while listening to it? NO.
Kanye West, Stronger. I dig this almost more than the Daft Punk song he’s borrowing.
Rage Against the Machine, People of the Sun. Rar! This makes me do a dorky fist pump while I’m on the elliptical.
Hot Hot Heat, Goodnight Goodnight. Poppy and sort of fluffy but fun.
Pixies, Broken Face. I love when Frank Black sings the line about “My father speaks no English” and bam, the guitar jumps in and kicks the whole world’s ass.
Ministry, Stigmata. This is for when you want to crank everything up to full speed and give yourself a damn heart attack. Oh yeah.
Cooldown:
Feist, My Moon My Man. Spooky beat, great for transitioning back down while not going completely mellow.
Leonard Cohen, Everybody Knows. A nice long song that will totally suck you in.
Nada Surf, Blonde on Blonde. Remember this one? Ah, nostalgia.
Posted: June 10th, 2008 under Music, Personally recommended by Linda, Diet/Fitness.
Comments: 19
Comments
Comment from Traci
Time: June 11, 2008, 4:31 am
Awesome list! I’ve had that Ministry song in my workout rotation since it came out and I was rotating the same workout cassette in my walkman. There’s something so not right about it that it makes me want to run harder!
Comment from ladyloo
Time: June 11, 2008, 5:48 am
Man, I feel old or something. I’d never heard most of these songs. But every time I watch another, I’m bopping along. Awesome list!
Comment from pseudostoops
Time: June 11, 2008, 8:06 am
Is it weird that I am using this list to power through an unpleasant but due-today assignment at work? Because I totally am.
Comment from Frannie
Time: June 11, 2008, 9:29 am
I was just at a Nada Surf show and it was AWESOME, they didn’t even sing “Popular”…I’m coming up with my own Gym Jamz. Goldfrapp, Daft Punk, Hot Chip, Alexisonfire, etc. assist me in my work outs. I also love Kanye’s “I Wonder”.
Comment from Frannie
Time: June 11, 2008, 9:44 am
Oh yeah, by the way I don’t EVER listen to anything that makes me want to join the military. Nothing against the military at all, I just don’t like Disturbed, Staind, anyone who sounds like Eddie Vedder, or Godsmack. Is that the music snob in me? Why yes, it probably is!
Comment from Jennifer
Time: June 12, 2008, 2:27 pm
Oooh, good call on the Rage Against the Machine. I’ll check out some of your other suggestions as well as I’m always getting stung at the gym when I really need something fast-paced and wind up with some slow ass power ballad (yes, I realize I should make a gym playlist…)
Comment from Cami
Time: June 12, 2008, 3:15 pm
You have great taste in music!!!
Comment from ERH
Time: June 13, 2008, 6:18 am
Such great timing–I was just thinking that I needed some new workout songs. Here are some of my favorites (warning: my taste in music is both cheesy and random). Most of this is pretty uptempo:
Janet Jackson, Together Again (starts a little slow but then has great beat)
Mase feat. P. Diddy, Breathe Stretch Shake
Oukast, Rosa Parks
Wyclef Jean, Perfect Gentleman (worth it for this line alone: Just cause she dances for dough, that don’t make her a ho no)
Shakira, Estoy Aqui
Guster, Amsterdam
Rolling Stones, Paint it Black
Ashlee Simpson, Boyfriend
T.I., Why You Wanna (this is a little more mellow–would be good for warmup)
Lil’ Kim, The Jump Off
Depeche Mode, Just Can’t Get Enough
Postal Service, Such Great Heights (the intro is in those annoying UPS commercials, but the rest of the song is great)
Stevie Wonder, For Once in My Life (such a happy song!)
Destiny’s Child, Survivor
Comment from Amy
Time: June 13, 2008, 1:11 pm
Thanks for sharing this! I’m always looking for new workout songs. Right now I’m partial to “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne (great beat for running), “Whipping” by Pearl Jam, “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys, “Knock You Out” by LL Kool J, “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, “Busta Move” by Young MC (yes, I go old-school at times), “Breed” by Nirvana, and “Yellow” by Coldplay.
Comment from Pickles & Dimes
Time: June 13, 2008, 1:27 pm
Thanks so much for the Benassi Bros recommendation - they are awesome and just what I need for my workout mix.
Right now, I’m liking:
- Cobrastyle by Robyn
- Paralyzer by Finger Eleven
- Masters of the Universe by Juno Reactor
- Heaven’s a Lie by Lacuna Coil
Comment from Robin
Time: June 13, 2008, 1:32 pm
Dear Sundry,
Though it’s been less than five minutes since my introduction me to The Bird and The Bee, I can tell that my life will never be the same, and I thank you.
Comment from kristin c.
Time: June 13, 2008, 2:35 pm
oooh. breakin’ it down right now.
Uh. Uh. breakn’itdown.
Picture bumping and grooving at the desk….
Comment from Lesley
Time: June 13, 2008, 7:49 pm
Just a heads up for those who watched So You Think You Can Dance this week and enjoyed the song “Boom Boom” by Big Head Todd and the Monsters used in the performance of Comfort and Chris; their latest album “All the Love You Need” is available for free by the band on their web site. There are some exercise-worthy tunes on it. I’m partial to Silvery Moon. http://bigheadtodd.com/music/
Comment from Lesley
Time: June 13, 2008, 10:39 pm
One more to add to the list.
heavenly guitar solo on this
Echo and the Bunnymen’s My Kingdom
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yk2UTyuj9p8
Comment from erin
Time: June 14, 2008, 7:34 am
This is an awesome list. I am headed over to my iTunes to check these out. Thanks! Also, holy crap, this list will keep you working out for like TWO FREAKING HOURS.
Comment from jessica fantastica
Time: June 16, 2008, 5:58 pm
My newest favorite workout song is Acid8000 by Fatboy Slim. It is an old song, but how can you deny the lyrics: If this don’t make your booty move, your booty must be dead. PS-Hi! I don’t think I’ve ever commented before 
Comment from regan
Time: June 17, 2008, 1:52 pm
I love the Arctic Monkeys’ “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor”. So good for running!
Comment from Jess
Time: June 26, 2008, 2:44 pm
This is really late but hopefully it helps somebody. I just found the PodRunner workout mixes and they rock. I just started week 1 of “First Day to 5K” of the Podrunner Intervals workouts. I’m totally not a runner and the DJ does a great job of making a good mix and indicating when to walk and when to run so there’s no need to watch the clock. Plus it starts out easy enough for me, and I’m not a fan of exercising in general. I love it!
He also has regular podcast workout mixes. Once I get to be a regular runner I’ll probably look into the new stuff that he puts out.
Comment from My Stomach Exercises
Time: January 9, 2009, 2:26 am
Music is a great way to get more out of your workouts. I listen to a lot of uplifting and melodic electronic music when working out.
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