training music

The music being played in the box is a constant topic of discussion, catalyst for fights, and source of amusement when MJ comes on and Chauncey flips his lid. I have heard just about every damn thing possible at the gym. I have heard more Black Eyed Peas than I would care to admit, but I've also heard some funky circus music, country, metal, rock, reggae, hip hop, whatever Barry Manilow is (adult contemporary?), and everything in between. I think there are as many opinions about "good" training music as there are genres of music. I am going to present you suckas with what kind of music I like, and why. Buckle in and and get ready to disagree.

(actual picture of Chauncey the last time The Jackson 5's "ABC" came on)

Training music is not as simple as "blast AC/DC bitches!"...at least for me. I want different things playing when I'm lifting heavy than I do when I'm fumbling through a metcon. I like certain songs when I'm warming up, when I'm cooling down, whatever. I'm weird. At the same time, I should note I rarely hear the music during an actual workout. Once the clock starts or the lift begins, anything in the world could be playing and I wouldn't care. I just prefer the music to get me in a proper state of mind. Sometimes it does help bail me out of a meltdown, but I try to avoid those times.

First, for metcons, I like relatively calm music. WHAT?! Heresy!! As much as I like Disturbed, it makes me feel like crashing through walls and punching children. If I am going to have a good metcon, I am already pumped up and ready to go, so I want music that will help calm me down if I start to freak out because I can't breath and there's a hundred pounds crashing on me. Sometimes I like Rage Against the Machine or something to get me ready for a metcon, but usually that means I don't want to do the metcon in the first place, so that's a whole other problem. My current favorite metcon song is kind of embarrassing. It came on Pandora one day during one of my metcons and I totally dug it. Later I found out it was by Limp Bizkit. Sigh.... anyway, here is that song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEGI9NbH-mk . Don't ask me to explain it, it just works for me. I don't even listen to the lyrics. Here is another favorite metcon song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS4OAK-v6Zg . I'm less embarrassed about that song, but most people wouldn't dig it for Fran.

For heavy lifting, I like things like U2's "Numb" . For some reason I also like STP's "Loungfly". Why? It played one time when I PR'd my snatch, so now I like it. I think Reggae is legit lifting music too. If you disagree, you're wrong. A decent amount of good hip-hop belongs in there too.

As you can tell, I like pretty random music for training. I want anyone and everyone to post some favorite songs in the comments and I'll start collecting them onto a playlist that we can have at the gym. I doubt everyone will like every song, but I also doubt that I care. Nominate songs and we'll play them! Probably.