The thing that I really love about a cycling class over a class like kickboxing is the music. At my gym the instructors usually play real music, straight from their iPods, rather than trance pop mixes mass produced for gyms across America. And Techno remixes of I Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon? No bueno. And so against God's plan. That doesn't make me want to kickbox, that just makes me want to kick. You.
That's why it was so disappointing to attend class with Lisa last week. Lisa. Who played a techno trance mix of...wait for it...Call On Me, by none other than Steve Winwood. That's right- Steve "Higher Love" Winwood, the man who featured heavily on the score of Bette Midler/Lily Tomlin movies in the mid 80's. I'm not sure where he belongs but in a techno trance mix in my Spin class definitely isn't the right answer. Then she kicked it down a notch with Tom Jones' She's A Lady, which, in terms of making me want to kick people, is one of the most successful songs ever recorded. But it was Oh What A Night by Franki Valli that actually made me stop cycling and say out loud, "Wow, the music in here is terrible." I couldn't help myself. I had to let it out.
Normally the music is what keeps me going, makes me pedal harder or faster, makes me want it, lets me enjoy that good, hard sweat. Emily, who plays Depeche Mode and Cypress Hill, is a total ass kicker but I love her class. Cool guy with the padded pants has similarly awesome taste and runs a totally fun class. Great music makes me work harder. That's why I'm constantly updating my iPod and why I don't workout without it. Play I Love Rock and Roll midway through class and I guarantee I'll take it up a level because Joan Jett hates wusses. And while I know that musical tastes differ, I find it hard to believe that pop-mance ballads get anyone up and moving. Ahem. Lisa.
My friend Myndi told me about a television show where a friend of the instructor tries to get her to play Steve Winwood during her Spin class, and Myn suggested to me that maybe Lisa just has a great sense of humor. It would have been awesome if I (okay, Myndi) had caught some funny inside joke like that, but as Lisa lectured us all twice about not talking during class I'm going to guess that all Lisa actually has is terrible taste in music. On the plus side, the class did seem to go by quickly, mostly because I was so busy being incredulous and mentally criticizing every one of her choices that I didn't notice I was exercising. But it wasn't fun either.
What about you guys- is it music that gets you going at the gym? What track always revs you up? No matter how tired I am, La Grange by ZZ Top is always going to get another mile out of me. My iPod is my escape. I play Mr. Jones by Amy Winehouse and imagine myself in finger waves and red lipstick singing onstage with a martini in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I hear Setting Sun by the Chemical Brothers and suddenly I'm so much cooler than I was one track ago. Apple Bottom jeans has me thinking I'm in the club and Shimmy Shimmy Ya is just so much fun that I don't care where I am.
So how about you? What's on your playlist? What's the worst music you've ever heard in the gym?
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