dreamshark (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dreamshark) wrote2008-01-31 01:55 pm
dreamshark) wrote2008-01-31 01:55 pm
Fun in the corporate workout room
What's your favorite music to exercise to?
Of the music I have loaded on my iPod, my favorite skating music is the various Drinking Songs compilations that a group of us were trading around last year. It seems a little odd, since figure skating is both healthy and kind of spiritually uplifting with all that swooping and gliding, and drinking songs are neither. It must be the high proportion of Country Western and Irish. I particularly like my compilation (of course) which tends more toward the rowdy drinker and less towards the morose. But I picked up some really wonderful songs from other people's compilations - I'm thinking of doing a meta-playlist with my favorites of the whole collection.
But for more rhythmic activities like biking or elliptical runners, you just can't beat the Grateful Dead. I think the best workout album ever is American Beauty. You're really moving right from the beginning with "Friend of the Devil" and "Sugar Magnolia." Okay, "Brokedown Palace" slows the pace a little, but it DOES remind you of how you'll end up if you don't get some exercise (miss ya', Jerry!). Then back into gear with "Truckin." "Box of Rain" is kind of slow and dreary and I sometimes skip over that one, but "Operator" moves right along. Then "Candy Man" to start the cooldown and "Ripple" to take you right out.
Of the music I have loaded on my iPod, my favorite skating music is the various Drinking Songs compilations that a group of us were trading around last year. It seems a little odd, since figure skating is both healthy and kind of spiritually uplifting with all that swooping and gliding, and drinking songs are neither. It must be the high proportion of Country Western and Irish. I particularly like my compilation (of course) which tends more toward the rowdy drinker and less towards the morose. But I picked up some really wonderful songs from other people's compilations - I'm thinking of doing a meta-playlist with my favorites of the whole collection.
But for more rhythmic activities like biking or elliptical runners, you just can't beat the Grateful Dead. I think the best workout album ever is American Beauty. You're really moving right from the beginning with "Friend of the Devil" and "Sugar Magnolia." Okay, "Brokedown Palace" slows the pace a little, but it DOES remind you of how you'll end up if you don't get some exercise (miss ya', Jerry!). Then back into gear with "Truckin." "Box of Rain" is kind of slow and dreary and I sometimes skip over that one, but "Operator" moves right along. Then "Candy Man" to start the cooldown and "Ripple" to take you right out.
no subject
I'm not a big Deadhead so I'd get tired of them after a song or two, but when they're on they're on. I can wallow in Weird Al/Luke Ski's weirdness as well, taking my mind out of the physical act while limbs move.
no subject
Weirdly, I find Dylan to be excellent for walking and to a lesser extent for biking, with "Desolation Row" at the top of my playlist. Weird because I think of that song as having quite a slow beat.
Hmmm. Well, maybe my preference isn't that peculiar. I just did a little timing experiment. "Truckin'" is 120-125 beats per minute, which is pretty much my usual pulse rate when I use aerobic machines (stationary bike, elliptical). Desolation Row comes in at a sleepy 56 bpm, but if you count the strong backbeat it's only a little slower than "Truckin'". Perfect for walking, a little relaxing for biking, which was pretty much my perception.
Some people seem to like exercise music that seems absolutely frenetic to me, stuff that just makes me feel tired to listen to. Perhaps they're going for music with a beat that is twice their heart rate.
I also love waltz time (or 6/8, which is really just a waltz speeded up into a jig). I don't know what that's about - maybe it matches my syncopated heartbeat.