CD Exchange? Workout Mix

[dreamshark]

I have a brand-new CD-length Classic Rock exercise mix available for trade. It has been extensively researched with BPM calculations and lots of play testing in a real live gym. I put this particular collection together for my sister-in-law Marlene after chatting with her at the annual Christmas gathering. I didn't have much to go on other than: 1) Her usual workout is slow jogging, at about 4mph 2) She likes classic rock, which she defines as "50's, 60's and 70's music - you know, like Simon and Garfunkel." Now, you might think that Simon & Garfunkel did not write good exercise music, but you'd be wrong. See playlist behind cut for examples.

The difficulty in making a playlist for someone else is not knowing what speeds will work for them. After much fieldwork (okay, in the gym, not a field), I have determined that 140 BPM is perfect for getting me to WALK at 4.0 mph, but I don't know if jogging at the same speed would be the same number of footfalls even for me, much less for somebody else. Online guidelines that I found for running music suggest 140-190 bpm for running music, so maybe 140 is about right for jogging.

In the end I put together a playlist that works for me at the gym. I start by warming up on the treadmill for 5 minutes at a comfortable walking pace (3.2-3.4 mph). Historically, I am so bored by the end of 5 minutes that I hop off the treadmill and start roaming around looking for something more interesting to do. But once I started focusing on matching my footsteps to the music it became so much more interesting that the treadmill is often the majority of my workout time these days. Once I'm warmed up I sometimes get into interval training by alternating fast songs (130-150bpm) with slower ones (120-125). That's pretty much what happens in the middle of this playlist. Since I was supposedly making this mix for a jogger, I pushed it up to 160 bpm at the peak. This is too fast for me to walk, but perfect for other activities like the exercycle and, counterintuitively, the rowing machine.

The last 3 are cooldown songs at successively slower speeds. The idea is not to go through all of them, but to pick the one that feels right.


Stealin' - Jerry Garcia & David Grisman (125)
Light My Fire - The Doors (128)
Jackson Johnny Cash - (130)
Brownsville-Mockingbird - Joy Of Cooking (131)
Bringing in the Georgia Mail - Norman Blake (130)
Witch Doctor - David Seville (138)
Diamonds On the Soles of Her Shoes - Paul Simon (140)
Back In The U.S.S.R. - The Beatles (150)
Johnny B. Goode - Grateful Dead ((156)
Great Balls Of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis (162)
Six Days On The Road - Taj Mahal (156)
Help Me Rhonda - The Beach Boys (140)
Fun, Fun, Fun - The Beach Boys (158)
Sugar, Sugar - The Archies (123)
Baby Driver - Simon & Garfunkel (160)
Why Don't You Write Me - Simon & Garfunkel (117)
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' - Nancy Sinatra (160)
Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Manfred Mann (127)
Till The Morning Comes - Grateful Dead (134)
It's So Easy - Buddy Holly & The Crickets (136)
Keep the Customer Satisfied - Simon & Garfunkel (138)
April Come She Will - Simon & Garfunkel (124)
The Sound Of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel (106)

Comments

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Yeow! You walk faster than me. On the treadmill, I rarely go higher than 3.2 mph/1.5 incline. But I can keep that up for a quarter or even a half mile.

Also, if I'm listening to music (which is about half the time), I can walk in harmonics, eg 3 steps for two beats. Or just get energized from a quick beat even if I don't match strides.

While the idea of a "Step Lively" mix wouldn't be bad, I don't have any BPM metrics in the system and would just pick songs with a driving beat, eg Born To Be Wild , Sweet Caroline and Living On A Prayer. It would also be a Car mix, of which I already have several for my car.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I started out walking 3 - 3.2 mph (my actual real-life walking speed in the real world) but discovered that it wasn't that hard to push my treadmill walking speed up a few notches. 3.4 is my basic treadmill walking speed now. Anything above that requires a special effort and I eventually fall back to 3.4. But I'll tell ya', after walking for just one song at 3.8 mph, 3.4 feels like a stroll in the park. And when you hit the point where your footfalls are exactly in sync with the beat it feels kind of transcendental.

It's true that you can sync up your footsteps with beats other than the main beats, but it kind of subverts the whole idea of using a song with a driving rhythm. It does work well on the kind of song that has a lot of notes in the accompaniment, like all the rhythm stuff going on in Paul Simon's world beat albums, or honky-tonk piano, or manic lead guitar work. I have some Joy of Cooking songs that seem to fit the beat of every possible type of exercise, the same way Pink Floyd matches the rhythm of any light show. Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" and "The Myth of Fingerprints" are good that way too.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

"I don't have any BPM metrics in the system"

It's a snap to get those metrics "into the system" if you already have your iTunes library in MP3 form. Just download Mixmeister, point it at your top level music folder, and let 'er rip. Mixmeister calculates the BPM of every mp3 song in every subfolder and creates a tag on the mp3 file that is readable by iTunes.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

"It's true that you can sync up your footsteps with beats other than the main beats, but it kind of subverts the whole idea of using a song with a driving rhythm."

Yes and no. Mostly, listening to music while exercising is to pass the time. For me, anyway, the speed is less important than an uptempo, perhaps uplifting, song to keep my spirits high enough to keep going.

A small percentage of my iTunes library are mp3s (3259/13297), many cuts of which aren't music. My iPod library is roughly the same, (829/2382). Though, I suppose, that could be changed easily.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

I would lurve this. Trade for the mayhem playlist? Which I am still working on. The last things I want to find are appropriate versions of Franke & Johnny and Bonnie & Clyde.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Totally! I'd love a good version of Frankie and Johnny. Not to mention the rest of the playlist.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Done! It's been posted, if you haven't seen it, though sadly I was not able to find a version of Frankie & Johnny that fit.

Step Lively: The Jack LaLanne Memorial CD Exchange

[pingback-bot.livejournal.com]

User barondave referenced to your post from Step Lively: The Jack LaLanne Memorial CD Exchange (http://barondave.livejournal.com/278168.html) saying: [...] Meanwhile, is having fun with iTunes BPM (Beats Per Minute) metric to build her own Exercise Mix [...]