Music Motivation
Everyone knows that no matter the occasion, location, or setting, it is all about the music. Music plays a crucial role in peaking our emotions. This essentially increases the amount of dopamine released, which is a major player in the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. For us fitness lovers, music can be a driving force in our mood while working out. Nothing is more empowering than waiting for the beat to drop and just exploding into burpees (well maybe a few other things but burpees can be pretty neat too).
As a full-time fitness instructor, I spend hours each week finding great music to move to. I have experienced first hand how big of a difference an amazing playlist can make. I have to find ridiculously upbeat songs that never come down for any of my circuit and strength training classes. For yoga, it needs to remain calm yet constantly entertaining. When making playlists for spin, I have the freedom to create a playlist with a wide range of beats per minute, and genres as I change the pace and resistance throughout class. In efforts to make this type of motivation accessible for all, I have saved each playlist in my Spotify. The playlists are listed by the format of the class it was used for, then the date I played it on. Follow my Spotify account to stay up to date with my latest jams!
Music is a vital part of my career. For every hour in the day I get paid for, I am listening to the playlists I create. It is so important I am listening to music I enjoy, and more importantly, that my students enjoy as well. It might sound crazy… but not everyone loves working out. My point here is that a great way to distract my class from the physical challenges they’re enduring, is controlling the environment with awesome music they can get lost in.
If it has been awhile since you've vamped up your music, listen to your “discover weekly playlists” on Spotify. I find so many good tracks that lead to new artist discoveries through this playlist. Everyone has a "discover" playlist that recommends 30 new tracks each week. It takes data from the type of music you generally listen to and generates songs you've not saved to your own playlists yet. There’s no better feeling than being the very first person to find the next new hit on the radio… “I listened to this song before it was popular and over-played” ;) Can anyone relate?
I use a few methods to find new music. One method is connecting with friends on Spotify, checking out their playlists and grabbing the songs that resonate the most with you. Another method is to find an artist you really enjoy, and sift through all their songs. Once you finish that, click on the related artist link in order to find more music that is a similar style to the current artist you’re listening to. Before you know it, you’ll be trapped into a deep, dark world of music discovery and you check the clock to see it is 3am! But you can’t stop. You then start looking through pre-mede playlists by Spotify. You notice they already have a series of workout playlists, music organized according to the mood you’re in, and you can start a radio station based off of an artist, or song… this is how it is for me at least. I’m happy to save you the time of scrolling, listening, fast forwarding, pausing, and counting beats… Just go to my Spotify for the treasures.
Make your workouts fun and energetic through the music that moves you most. It's a simple way to keep your fit life fun. Follow all my playlists on Spotify here!