Archive: February 2007

Workouts are music to my ears: What’s on your iPod?

By Tim Kissman, Healthy & Fit Publisher

I have a first generation iPod. It’s big, bulky and whirs sometimes when I move through the menu and try to choose my play list for my bike ride. I’ve dropped it at least 100 times and it’s ruthlessly scratched. But it still works and I love it.

With one ear bud in one of my ears and the volume only half way up so I can hear everything on the road (safety, as you know, is important for anyone who goes on the road and I can hear everything) I head out. I’ve learned to ride the longest rides, or through the bumpiest trails, with that iPod. It’s as much a part of my training as my bikes.

MP3 players have become the way of life for a lot of different athletes. With the bulk of them being iPods, it’s no wonder that runners, cyclists and anyone else who needs a little personal music motivation to make it through an hour of training, always want to know what’s on your play list. You never know what songs are out there that might make the difference in getting through a week’s worth of exercise.

My list? I start out with a little old school Jam On It, by Newcleus, shift into Kickstart My Heart, by Motley Crue, get moving to The Distance, by Cake, turn it up a notch or three to Boom by P.O.D., and then my guilty motivational pleasure: St. Elmo’s Fire, by John Parr. By that point I’m miles into my ride and in the zone.

I love getting into that zone.

Good friend and fellow mountain bike rider Nick Shong said he rides to Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty, Rollin by Big & Rich, Jack and Diane, by John Mellencamp and Live Those Songs Again, Kenny Chesney.

He shares one song on his iPod with our mutual friend, Cameron Kohn, Back in Black, by AC/DC. “That song is our anthem and gets us really fired up,” Shong said.

Joanna Poynter, who loves to run, said she likes Defying Gravity, from the Broadway musical Wicked, Suddenly I See and Old Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, by KT Tunstall, Here Comes the Sun, by the Beatles, and Mr. Bojangles, by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

“I have a tendency to like songs for their message,” she said.

Bob Fish, founder and CEO of Beaners, who is also an avid runner, said he listens to Queen. “We are the Champions is absolute motivation,” he said.

Kelly Reynolds, another runner, said she likes Speed of Sound by Coldplay, It’s My Life by Bon Jovi, Pump It! by Black Eyed Peas, Vertigo by U2 and Lose Yourself by Eminem (I like that one, too).

Kate Williams said she likes Eminem’s song, too, as well as Walk Away by Kelly Clarkson, When Love Comes to Town by U2 and BB King, Island in the Sun by Weezer and Hey Ya! by Outkast.

Shannon McLaughlin is the Oak Park YMCA membership director and a spinning coach. She likes It’s Raining Men by The Weather Girls.

“It’s a fun song from the 1970s,” she said. “The pace picks up and slows down a lot so it is good for sprints.” She also has Every Time We Touch by Cascada, I Want to Break Free by Queen, Gone Daddy Gone by Gnarls Barkley and By Your Side by Sade.

Seems like the tunes chosen for the iPod are as unique as the individual. So keep on listening and keep on moving.

Happy reading!