The Best Workout Music – Readers’ Choice

In a recent article, I showed you some of the best workout music, and the albums you might want to get ahold of to help boost your performance in the gym.

I then asked for your input (as well as a forum I frequent) on the workout music you most enjoyed. I got a LOT of responses, and went through them looking for specific songs and unique ideas to share with you all.

First off, as I expected, the music people like to listen to when they work out tends to fall in one of two categories:

1. Aggressive (hard rock, heavy metal, punk, etc.)
2. Dancey (techno, funk, hip hop, etc.)

The biggest surprise I got was from several people who suggested classical music! I remember seeing an episode of Dexter where one of the characters listens to Chopin while running, but never gave this one much thought at all! You might want to try throwing some Vivaldi on your iPod the next time you hit the weights and let me know how it goes!

Rocky Theme

This one’s evergreen, ain’t it? You can’t even tell me that every time you hear the opening notes to the Rocky Theme, you don’t wanna throw on a grey sweatsuit and Chuck Taylors to jog over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Josh Wink – Higher State of Consciousness

This is a great song from the early 90’s, when the techno was down and dirty, not like much of the squeaky clean stuff you’ll find today.

Deadmau5 – FML

Deadmau5 is an electronic band that I hadn’t heard of until recently, when a few people suggested them as great workout music.

Metallica – Harvester of Sorrow

Maybe it’s just me, but I think that aggressive music is more suited for barbell and other heavy weight training than the dancey stuff is. Throw on one of Metallica’s first four albums next time you hit the power rack and tell me that a song like this doesn’t seriously help you get down to business.

Vivaldi – Summer Mvt 3: Presto

Wait, hold on… Several people told me that they really enjoy classical music like Vivaldi when they work out. You’ll either love it or hate it, but make sure you give it a try!

KMFDM – Juke Joint Jezebel

Mortal Kombat + mid-90s techno is always a winning combination.

Rammstein – Du Hast

This one really takes me back. I caught one of Rammstein’s shows in the late 90’s and was blown away by their performance, which included some awesome pyrotechnics. Here’s a live video of one of their most famous songs, Du Hast.

Tagged as: music, readers' choice