However cheesy, gay or embarrassing the music on your iPod is, it doesn't matter as long as it makes you move. After all, they make earbuds for a reason: So no one else has to hear what's coming out of them. What does, though, is one of the best ways to maintain the motivation to slaughter the calories, says Kevin Griffin, a personal trainer at Life Time Fitness in Canton.
"Exercise is a distraction from the stresses you have in your life, so music is going to enhance the exercise experience by taking away the stress you're feeling in your everyday life," he insists.
Be it Lady Gaga, techno or that disco song you secretly keep to yourself, as long as its tempo is within the 126-135 beats-per-minute range, Griffin says you'll fight fatigue. In Griffin's intermediate step class, that tempo's in the intensity of the songs he chooses: The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow," Pitbull's "Move, Shake, Drop" and lots of Britney Spears. Anything over 140-bpm would be more suitable for a master-step class because the hyper-beat makes it tough to keep up with the exercise. And that's no fun.
Runners, though – even cyclers and the members in his total conditioning class – would benefit from that high of a tempo. And though Beethoven won't likely get you up and moving (well, maybe into bed), Griffin actually uses classical music in his cycle class. But the kind that doesn't make you drift off.
"I actually use instrumental songs that basically can be considered classical, but it's high pace and it pushes you through," Griffin says. Among his selections: "Duel of the Fates," an intense symphonic theme recurring in the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy.
Just as nerdy is Carrie Copeland's playlist. Give her some B52s, Salt-n-Pepa or Spice Girls, and the Royal Oak resident's good to go. "Call me a dork, but I love any song from the '90s," she shamelessly admits. "The cheesier the song, the more it gets me moving."
George Borg goes with anything that's upbeat – usually interchangeable dance tunes, like ones from Tiesto, that are played on five podcasts he subscribes to. Music, for him, helps him regulate his speed on cardio equipment, like the treadmill. He switches to calming music during the cool-down period, when he stretches and lowers his heart rate. His gym, L.A. Fitness, plays music, but the 41-year-old from Warren still uses his iPod. Despite the pop songs played at Life Time, most people do, Griffin says. But Lady Gaga can't do all the work.
Different exercises sometimes benefit from different music. For weight lifting, anything that gets you pumped – maybe some "Rocky" music or rap. "It could be high tempo or low tempo as long as it gets you through every move," Griffin says.
For runners, it's always the tempo. "If you're running your foot stroke is going to be guided by the music. I know mine is. When I switch from a higher to lower tempo, my cadence changes. I either speed up or slow down, and when I slow down I actually widen my running stance."
Griffin's own preference when he hits the gym is house music or Nelly Furtado. Sometimes it's the special fitness music he buys from the Internet that he plays for his classes. If it motivates him, he knows it'll motivate them, he says.
Copeland is trying to motivate herself, too. But not just with music. "I'm trying to trick myself into thinking I'm just playing a game instead of exercising," Copeland says. "As a fat woman who considers herself size-positive, I have a lot of baggage around weight loss and exercise. My goal is to move my body more to increase energy, not lose weight."
And music's one of the best ways to reach it. Right now, Copeland's gradually incorporated exercise into her daily life by taking the stairs at Affirmations in Ferndale, where she works, or playing active games on her Nintendo Wii – like Just Dance!, which boasts cool songs like "Cotton-Eyed Joe."
"I have fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that causes joint pain and fatigue, and music really helps lift my spirits and makes me feel playful, something that's really important for me to get my body moving," Copeland says. "The last thing you want to do when you have a chronic pain condition is move your body, but when a fun song starts up, it's hard to ignore the beat."
Or the lyrics.
Steppers in Griffin's class seem to dig his selection. They sing along. "You have to think of exercise as not only keeping yourself healthy, but as having fun. That's where the music comes into play."
However embarrassing it might be.
