Build a Workout Burnout: Lostprophets – Start Something

I knew I wanted to run full speed for this section so I pulled out the insanely rageful “Start Something”. That guitar riff that leads into the “1 2 3 4!” combined with some pretty heavy rhythm guitars turn this into a great burnout as long as metal and screaming motivate you. And it gives you a bit of respite at the end with some beautiful piano.

Build a Workout Burnout: The Black Mages – Those Who Fight Further

This excellent reworking of the Final Fantasy VII boss battle theme by Nobuo Uematsu’s prog metal band The Black Mages is a great burnout. I think it succeeds for me mostly on the merits of the organ part at 0:24 that repeats throughout the song. My feet land with such conviction when that organ plays.

Build a Workout Burnout: Ima Robot – Dynomite

I chose “Dynomite” for my burnout because I wanted something that only lasted a few minutes. The song has this really wild nature to it and it just gets crazier the longer it goes on. I dont think its a burn out for everyone but it will definitely serve if youre in the right mood.

 

Build a Workout Burnout: Kid Sister – Right Hand Hi

Kid Sister’s “Right Hand Hi” works for one very solid reason. A MONSTER BEAT! One of the most ferocious bass beats I’ve heard in recent memory, the song works great as a burnout because your body just cant think of moving slowly to something this aggressive. One weakness is that I really wanted to break out dancing when I heard it, which unfortunately is not a good idea on a treadmill.

Build a Workout Burnout: Beyonce – Crazy In Love

Just like Ke$ha, I think a love for the artist goes a long way in making her songs work for Burnouts. That being said, the horns that make up the back bone of “Crazy In Love” should propel anyone forward for that extra push. I ran to this a couple times and every single time, the horns shamed be into running that extra mile. How can you slow down with those blaring in your ears?

Build a Workout Stride: Ke$ha – We R Who We R

If you’re building an electronic themed workout, I highly recommend “We R Who We R” for a stride. The song just has this pulsing driving beat that works perfectly. Ke$ha is definitely a hate it or love it kind of pop star so if you dont like Ke$ha, definitely dont add this to a mix. If you love Ke$ha, this song could actually work as both a Warm Up (cause it will get your blood pumping) or as a Burnout (cause Ke$ha love has an huge intensity about it!

Build a Workout Burnout: Apocalyptica – Path Vol. 2

“Path Vol. 2” by Apocalyptica is one of the rare occasions where the band is accompanied by a singer. This song blew my mind the first time I heard it years ago and I knew it would work perfectly as a burnout. Hitting this song is great right when you’re about to reach the end of your supposed energy. The haunting vocals and insane chugging cellos make it impossible for me to slow down and there I go off sprinting all over again!

Build a Workout Burnout: B’z – IT’S SHOWTIME!!

We have a new burnout in the form of B’z’s all caps “IT’S SHOWTIME!!” How can a song with a title in all caps and two exclamation points not be a burnout? This song was used a lot in Japan for national sporting events and even the 2004 Olympics. The song was specifically made to ramp you up and thats exactly what it does!

Build a Workout Burnout: AFI – Totalimmortal

Another amazing burnout! I have no idea what the leader singer of AFI is saying most of the time but this song amps me up like nothing else. Everytime he says “This! Rage I! Cannot! Let! Go OH!” The bass line is mesmerizing and the guitars provide this perfect intensity that forces your body to give its hardest effort. And when he starts yelling at like the 2:05 mark?? I just wish there was anything else in AFI’s catalogue as amazing as this song.

Build a Workout Burnout: The Mooney Suzuki – Alive & Amplified

I cant remember when I first discovered the Mooney Suzuki but this song got stuck in my head almost immediately. Like its name implies, this song will get you amped!! I was feeling extra tired since I was coming off a nine hour work day for my run tonight and when it was time for my burnout I couldnt remember what song I had picked. I just kept thinking, this thing better be BIG or else I’m giving up. Needless to say I did NOT give up!

Build a Workout Burnout: Hanz Zimmer – …To Die For

Anyone who didnt think the stampede song was going to end up here as a burnout really doesnt know me very well. One of Hanz Zimmer’s masterworks, this emotional and powerful song accompanies one of the saddest deaths in all of movie history. I seriously cant hear this song without getting crazy emotional. Thankfully it also works to make me run like theres a herd of wildebeests chasing me! Now there’s two ways to go with this one. The second half of this song is clearly a cool down so you can either skip ahead to the next song once the intense part ends or you can do what I did here and place it near a cool down to give you a bit of extra time to rest your body and mourn the death of Mufasa.

Build a Workout Burnout: Dick Dale – Misirlou

You may recognize “Misirlou” from the amazing movie Pulp Fiction! The Beach Boys surf rock encouraged me to try again and Dick Dale does not disappoint with this fast paced guitar party with horn accompaniment. Crazy that I can no longer think of this song without hearing The Black Eyed Peas “Pump It”

Build a Workout Burnout: Rise Against – Prayer for the Refuge

I first used “Prayer for the Reduge” as a stride but the jump in energy from the verse to the chorus didnt really help my body maintain a consistent pace. The songs hardcore punk sound definitely works well to get my blood pumping for another 4 minutes as a burnout at the end of a 6 minute stride. The song is definitely lighter than some of my other burnouts as the slower verse sections allow a bit of leeway in terms of pacing while still providing the all out fire necessary for a burnout during the choruses and the excellent guitar solo and final rush!

Build a Workout: Failed Mix 1

If you’re not sure what this is about, start by heading HERE and reading the introduction to this section of my blog.

This next mix is being dubbed a failed mix because it doesnt work for me. It is the first alteration of my Initial Mix. Let’s start by laying out the tracklist:

1. Viva Rock – Orange Range

2. Born This Way – Lady Gaga

3. Liberi Fatali – Nobuo Uematsu

4. Government Hooker – Lady Gaga

5. Americano – Lady Gaga

6. The Decisive Battle – Powerglove

7. Bloody Mary – Lady Gaga

8. We Are the Champions – Queen

First lets quickly go over the changes and then I’ll go into the details. I switched out “Marry the Night” for “Viva Rock” as my warm up. Then I switched out “Judas” for “Liberi Fatali” as my burnout. Lastly, I replaced the not so productive “Scheise” stride for another burnout, ” The Decisive Battle” in the hopes to boost me up for a second wind.

Where did things go wrong? Immediately. Maybe I’m just tired because I worked out yesterday but “Viva Rock” built up way too quickly! I thought the song would work well as a warm up because it slowly builds on itself getting more and more powerful. Unfortunately it goes from zero to 50 in like the first 20 seconds and my body was just not prepared for that level of energy. Having a great warm up is extremely important to your run. If you try to fire up the body too fast, you’re asking for your body to quit on you. That is exactly what mine did. I still think “Viva Rock has potential to motivate me on a run, I’ll just have to shift its position in the next mix.

Thanks to my rough start, I was practically out of breath by the time I got to “Born This Way”. Thankfully, the song served its purpose perfectly as an upbeat stride and kept me going strong for the next 4 minutes despite being very winded.

At this point in my run, I was about ready to collapse. This is where a great burnout can really shine and “Liberi Fatali” is BLINDING! I was about to keel over and yet the second those strings came in, I knew it wasnt time to give up yet.The first minute and a half of the song isn’t exactly burnout material but you can feel the build and that alone kept me at a steady pace. Then at 1:28 things start to go insane! As the choir starts pumping in full power and the drums starst to create this incredible march, the adrenaline just started pumping into me. I pumped the treadmill up to 7mph and was cruising along happily when 1:51 hit! I cranked it up to 8mph and was just running full speed ahead till the end of the song! This is a perfect example of a burnout. One minute I was ready to crash, the next I’m running faster than ever. Add this one to permanent list!

While the burnout served its purpose, I could never been more thankful for “Government Hooker”. I slowed way down to a walk, my body ready to keel over thanks to it being pushed too hard during the warm up. Here I will again mention that a stride serves its purpose by getting you to keep a specific pace and keep going. The speed isnt what matters. I definitely rested through most of this one.

Americano did a good job of warming me back up and I was feeling good again but halfway through the song my body started giving me the give up signals. I powered through it because I knew what was coming next.

Oh Powerglove! Powerglove combines metal with various videogame soundtracks and tv show themes. “The Decisive Battle” is the boss battle theme from Final Fantasy VI and just the little midi version of the song gets me going. Hearing electric guitars power through the main melody gets my body moving like nothing else. There’s a reason termites work faster to metal. Speed and power metal are great for burnouts and “The Decisive Battle” was no exception. I was very thankful I added a second burnout to this mix since it allowed me to push myself a little harder than I would have with another stride here.

This lead into my second stride, “Bloody Mary”. At this point my mind and body were pretty much gone so I dont have much to say about it.

When “We Are the Champions” finally began to blair into my ears, I definitely felt like one, thought a tired one for sure.

Overall this mix wasnt a bad one. It mostly worked and would be listed as my next official mix with a playlist for it if not for the abrupt warm up. Lesson learned. I’ll try again and keep adding songs to my permanent lists. If you havent already noticed, I’ve been adding each successful song to permanent lists where you can go to find music to build your own mixes. Thanks for reading! Come back for more! Comment and share cause I would love some feedback.

Build a Workout Burnout: Powerglove – The Decisive Battle

Oh Powerglove! Powerglove combines metal with various videogame soundtracks and tv show themes. “The Decisive Battle” is the boss battle theme from Final Fantasy VI and just the little midi version of the song gets me going. Hearing electric guitars power through the main melody gets my body moving like nothing else. There’s a reason termites work faster to metal. Speed and power metal are great for burnouts and “The Decisive Battle” was no exception.

Build a Workout Burnout: Nobuo Uematsu – Liberi Fatali

At this point in my run, I was about ready to collapse. This is where a great burnout can really shine and “Liberi Fatali” is BLINDING! I was about to keel over and yet the second those strings came in, I knew it wasnt time to give up yet.The first minute and a half of the song isn’t exactly burnout material but you can feel the build and that alone kept me at a steady pace. Then at 1:28 things start to go insane! As the choir starts pumping in full power and the drums starst to create this incredible march, the adrenaline just started pumping into me. I pumped the treadmill up to 7mph and was cruising along happily when 1:51 hit! I cranked it up to 8mph and was just running full speed ahead till the end of the song! This is a perfect example of a burnout. One minute I was ready to crash, the next I’m running faster than ever. Add this one to permanent list!

 

Build a Workout Mix: Initial Mix

If you’re not sure what this is about, start by heading HERE and reading the introduction to this section of my blog.

I prepared a mix for my first run while performing this project. This one is actually very simple and also not very open to many musical genres or even artists for that matter. I went with this since it was a mix I used unofficially for about 6 months back when I was still running in New York. I think its a great jumping off point since it outlines the different types of running songs perfectly. In the coming weeks, I’ll be taking songs out of the mix and replacing them with others, commenting on any new additions and why they worked or didnt for me.

So, lets start with just a list of the mix itself, which you can also listen to HERE.

1. Marry the Night – Lady Gaga

2. Born This Way – Lady Gaga

3. Judas – Lady Gaga

4. Government Hooker – Lady Gaga

5. Americano – Lady Gaga

6. Scheise – Lady Gaga

7. Bloody Mary – Lady Gaga

8. We Are The Champions – Queen

So… Obviously if you dont like Lady Gaga you probably wont enjoy this mix very much. This is almost exactly the first 7 tracks off of Born This Way. It actually started out as just me listening to the album while running. The pacing on the album actually works great for a run. Heavy on bass beats if you know what I mean.

Marry the Night is and excellent Warm Up track. The first 30 seconds serves as and excellent walking point as you gear up to start running. My legs always tense up at the 37 second mark when the song starts glitching a bit and then I push off into a jog once the bass hits. The song has a perfect ebb and flow between verse and chorus where it kind of hangs back a bit in the verses and then builds faster and more forceful with each chorus and really gets your legs ready to run faster. Lady Gaga works very well because her music constantly adds little flourishes throughout the songs. This is important for running since the major weakness of a run is not becoming tired but becoming bored. Those extra moments keep you running. I constantly think, I just need to make it to that next little part!! My favorite one on this song happens at 3:37.

Born This Way is next and has a great beat for a Stride. The most important thing about a Stride is that the beat encourages you to keep with it in repeated steps. The underlying bass beat of the song keeps me going every time and a sing-song chorus always helps you in the mood to move. The “OOH there aint no other way, baby I was born this way” has such a happy bouncy feeling to it that I always find myself literally leaping with each step. Once again, Gaga adds little flairs throughout her songs so that you don’t feel like you’re listening to the same exact thing for 4 minutes.

On the album, Government Hooker comes next but I actually switch it with Judas so that I encourage myself to run a little farther without a break. For me, Judas is a Burnout song. Burnouts are always tricky because your emotional attachment to the song plays a big part in how much it gets your blood pumping. The epic feel of the opening already has me in its grasp and once the song reaches the 37 second mark and the beat drops, I couldnt stop my body from sprinting if I wanted to. A Burnout needs to make you FEEL powerful. It doesnt have to do this every moment as long as its sprinkled enough throughout the song to keep you going. For me, its the moment where Gaga sings “Bring em down down, and then sings a wordless ah ah section. Today my body was ready to give out halfway through the song. Then the bridge came on and I was back to sprinting. A good bridge can keep a Burnout going longer and this is very important since these are definitely the most tasking sections of the run. Most of the time, I would say to try to keep a Burnout under 3 minutes. Judas is an acception for me.

Ok now I’m ready for Government Hooker. I actually am not a huge fan of this song but I LOVE the beat for a Stride. It has this constant bouncing beat with these little digital noises that keep you going and going. One thing about Strides is that they arent necessarily songs where you are guaranteed to be running fast. As long as they keep you at a specific pace, whether that be 3mph or 6, then they are doing their job. After Judas I really needed to slow down so I was thankful for this respite.

Americano is another great Warm Up and works very well in the center of a run to bring you back after a moment of rest. It starts off slow enough with some great acoustic guitar. Then you get all these “La-la-la” bits with the hand clapping that start to speed you up and once you here that gun get cocked, you’re ready to burst into a sprint. The song does a great job of slowly building on itself to get your body moving faster and faster.

I used Scheise next as a Stride and while it does its job, I mostly used it because the song was always next on the album. I think I’d really like to replace this first for a better song.

If I haven’t beaten the point home yet (no pun intended), the beat is the most important part of a good Stride. You want it to have the right amount of push in it to keep you going. You also want it to have enough variety that you dont get bored. Too much variety and it looses its ability to keep you going at a steady pace. Bloody Mary is a perfect example of a Stride done right.  The beat that drops at the 19 second mark has just the right amount of depth to put my foot down with conviction on every pace and the chorus keeps the stride steady while also changing things up and pushing you forward to the next time that deep Nine Inch Nails beat comes back in.

Cool downs are where you get to have the most fun. I decided to go with the obvious choice of We Are The Champions. You want something that has lots of lyrics so you can sing-along or at least get your mind engaged in the songs meaning. It also helps if you pick something that feels like a reward for all your hard effort. Obviously this song passes with flying colors!

That’s it for my first workout mix. I haven’t quite figured out exactly how I’m going to introduce new songs into the mix. For the moment, I simply copied over all the songs into their own posts to categorize them. I’m also creating a list HERE with links to playlists that will contain any new songs I add to each type of song and as the lists grow, you will be able to pick through them for your own mixes. This is all new to me so if you read this and have any types of requests, questions or suggestions, please feel free to let me know here in the comments. If you like what I’m doing, please leave words of encouragement or like the posts. It goes a long way towards me continuing to do this.

Build a Workout Burnout: Lady Gaga – Judas

For me, Judas is a Burnout song. Burnouts are always tricky because your emotional attachment to the song plays a big part in how much it gets your blood pumping. The epic feel of the opening already has me in its grasp and once the song reaches the 37 second mark and the beat drops, I couldnt stop my body from sprinting if I wanted to. A Burnout needs to make you FEEL powerful. It doesnt have to do this every moment as long as its sprinkled enough throughout the song to keep you going. For me, its the moment where Gaga sings “Bring em down down, and then sings a wordless ah ah section. Today my body was ready to give out halfway through the song. Then the bridge came on and I was back to sprinting. A good bridge can keep a Burnout going longer and this is very important since these are definitely the most tasking sections of the run. Most of the time, I would say to try to keep a Burnout under 3 minutes. Judas is an acception for me.

Intro to Build a Workout Mix

The idea for the “Build a Workout” concept came from a couple different places and I thought it would be helpful to elaborate on it here first.

One of the requests I get most often from people is to create workout mixes for them. I’m not really a weight lifter and so while I will be calling this a workout mix, what I really mean is a runners mix. My problem with attempting this for others is that motivational music is relative. Yes there are some songs that may be universal but while Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” might be the perfect workout inspiration for one person, Metallica’s “Master of Puppets may be equally inspiring to someone else. This makes it virtually impossible for me to create a mix unless I construct them person by person based on their personality. Even then, it may be a certain instrument that motivates an individual such as the power and beat of the drums or the technical nature of the guitar solo. Further complicating this is running style. One person may do mostly walking interlaced with brief power sprints for thirty minutes while another may go for a 10 miles endurance run.

With that in mind, I decided it would be best if I could find a way to share the tools for people to create their own mixes and include my personal input. Build a Workout Mix is designed around this idea. I will break down inspring songs into one of 4 categories I will describe below and then anyone can pick and choose their own personal styles and time adjustments to create something that works for them!

The other reason I decided to start this project is that my gut growth shows no signs of stopping. Working all the time in Michigan does not provide much opportunity for exercise. The last thing I want to do at the end of a long day is go for a run. My hope is that combining my passion for music (Something I love) with exercise (Something I don’t) will help cultivate an environment that will encourage me to maintain a healthy lifestyle and share my passion at the same time.

So… How will it work? For starters, I will be posting an initial playlist. I’ll start with a half hour run.  I will try to discuss my experience listening to the mix on my run, documenting why it does or doesn’t work for me in a free form fashion. Then, over the coming weeks(months, years?) I will tweak and adjust it, pulling out what works and adding it to a permanent Ranked category for anyone to starting building their own mixes. While I plan to have an ever changing mix, I will also try to upload some permanent mixes that I feel comfortable with for specific situations.

I highly encourage participation in the form of song suggestions and your own mix variations!

The categories will be divided as follows:

The Warm Up – The warm up is exactly what it sounds like. The song is designed to start your run and usually focuses on some type of build starting slow and increasing in intensity to build up your mind for the task ahead. A warm up may also be used in a segmented run in which there are multiple points of origin over an extended period of time. Variety in this category will usually focuses on the speed of the build up and the overall final intensity at the end of the song.

The Stride – The Stride focuses on keeping you going. Think of it as a cruise control. It is simply designed to keep you going at a relatively steady pace. These’s songs tend to have the longest length since you typically want to stay at a healthy pace for most of your workout. Variety will come in the speed of a rhythm. Some songs may keep you comfortably at 4 mph while others may encourage you to stay at 7 mph.

The Burnout – My personal favorite, burnouts are designed to produce adrenaline. You know that moment where you’re about to give up because your body cant take another second of running? A burnout is meant to push you that extra mile! A song so intense you just cant afford to slow down when you hear it! Variety here will usually focus on length. Do you need a last minute burst or 4 minutes of encouragement?

The Cool Down – The cool down gives you the most freedom of choice in song genre. This is meant usually after a burnout and is in place specifically to keep you going just a little bit farther at a relaxed pace. As long as the song keeps you calm and focused, it can really come from anywhere. These can also be placed in the middle of a run that includes sprints and breaks.

The Monster – The monster is a newer category that focuses specifically on songs of a longer length. These songs, with a loose rule being over 6 minutes in length, tend to stretch the bounds of a single definition. They are long enough that they may contain warm ups, strides, burnouts, and cool downs, at various times during the song. These songs are usually used for ultimate motivation.