When I was in high school, I loved making mixed tapes. My dad turned me onto the practice, which became something of an obsession during the High Fidelity era–as did all other things associated with John Cusack. {Swoon.}
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| Back in my mixed tape days. I’m on the left. |
Somewhere around the time of digital music, grad school, and the making of my family, the mixed-tape pastime faded into the background. Now of course it’s known as making a “playlist” (I plan to continue using air-quotes around this word for the remainder of my life, just to torture my children). I like to think I revived my tradition with last year’s spinning workout series. You can find the four spinning workouts via these links (which I updated with Spotify playlists…yay technology!):
- #1: ’80’s love
- #2: here and now
- #3: steady state
- #4: upbeat
Now that the girls are feeling better, and Charlotte is a bit less clingy, I’m going to the gym about three or four times a week. I let Vivi be my barometer for whether to go; if she says she wants to stay in her jammies in the morning–which has happened quite a bit this week–I take that as a sign that we’ve added too much to the schedule and need to slow down. Even if I only go for 45 minutes, I enjoy the time to myself. Sometimes I bring a pen for the moments my brain wants to dump blog ideas while I’m Precoring (do you know of the Precor machine? It’s like if an elliptical had babies with that Gazelle thing from TV).
My workout schedule is still somewhat unpredictable when you factor in the kid-induced breaks, but you can rely on me being there on Saturday mornings at 10am to catch Pioneer Woman’s cooking cable show on the Food Network. Why buy the milk when I can get it for free and exercise to boot? Win win!
I’m dusting off the old series with a new edition this week. My aunt injured herself while cycling, so I was thinking of ways to inspire her for the weeks of indoor recovery-spinning that lie ahead, and then I had an “Aha! Playlist!” moment. Now that I can play with Spotify, you can bet this will be a more oft-recurring post theme. And hey, even if you don’t want to use the music for exercise, it can be great to listen to while cleaning the kitchen.
Today’s playlist, which I’m calling “club hits” because it contains many songs I would never ever listen to outside of exercising or a club (you know, all that clubbing I do in my spare time), is located here on Spotify. (A word of warning: Spotify is free, which means it plays commercials. A mildly aggravating mid-workout pause, it must be said. You’ve been warned). Somehow, some of these songs work for spinning in a way that would annoy me in any other environment (hello, Selena Gomez and Flo Rida).
Hope you enjoy! If you have music on your exercise playlist, please pass it along! I’m always in search of new tunes.
1) “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye, Kimbra. 4:05. Warm-up and stretch.
2) “Love is Gone” by David Guetta & Chris Willis. 3:23. Running.
Stand in the seat in hand position 2, like hovering but without as much bend in the knee. High cadence, low resistance, like a standing half-sprint.
3) “Love You Like a Love Song” by Selena Gomez. 3:08. Intervals.
Add resistance and begin with a seated climb, then drop resistance and sprint during the chorus and back again to seated climb during verses.
4) “Midnight City” by M83. 4:05. Spin.
Stay hydrated. Focus on using every part of your legs to propel yourself. Don’t lean on your palms.
5) “Good Feeling” by Flo Rida. 4:07. Jumps, hover and squats.
Begin with a hover, increase resistance. When Flo Rida’s rap comes in at about 0:40, begin jumps every 8 sec. (down to 2 sec. after a while) going from standing and back to hover/squat.
6) “Sweet Dreams” by Beyonce. 3:28. Standing climb.
Recover for the first 15 seconds, then when Beyonce’s voice begins, start climbing. Continue adding resistance every 30 seconds.
7) “You Make Me Feel…feat. Sabi” by Cobra Starship. 3:36. Spin.
Release resistance, recover, and get water. Begin adding resistance and spinning at 0:44 when song begins picking up speed.
8) “Stereo Love” by Edward Maya feat. Vika J. 4:07. Hover.
Increase resistance, hop out of the saddle, and feel the burn.
9) “Club Can’t Handle Me…feat. David G” by Flo Rida. 3:53. Spin & sprints.
Maintain cadence. At 0:45 when Flo Rida begins singing, start sprint and go back to spinning at tempo change at 1:15. Begin sprinting again at 1:45 until 2:15, and again from 3:08 to end of song.
10) “All These Things That I’ve Done” by The Killers. 5:01. Recover & spin.
Release resistance, recover, and get water. At 0:45 tempo change, begin adding resistance and increase cadence and spin for remainder of song.
11) “Punching In a Dream” by The Naked and Famous. 3:58. Spin.
Stay in your groove and keep the pace going.
12) “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” by Coldplay. 4:03. Seated climb.
Go for the strength training on this song, with high resistance, gradual increases, and slower cadence. Think long gradual hills.
13) “What You Know” by Two Door Cinema Club. 3:10. Running.
High cadence, low resistance, like a standing half-sprint.
14) “We Are Young…feat. Janelle Monae” by Fun. 4:11. Climb.
Release resistance, recover, and get water. At 0:50 (“Toniiiiiight…”), begin climbing. Add resistance more frequently than previous climb, every 20-30 sec.
15) “Attaboy” by Goat Rodeo. 5:43. Hover.
Pretend you’re biking in the Blue Ridge. Make it up as you go. This is your last chance for glory, so work it all out of your system.
16) “Samba Da Bencao” by Bebel Gilberto. 4:46. Cool down.
Release resistance and sit up in saddle. Let those Portuguese lyrics roll down your back as you feel your tension release. Stretch arms while you gradually lower your heart rate. Chill out, dude. You’re done.
What do you think? Should this theme recur?