Workout Jams

I recently joined a gym less than five minutes from our house at the entrance to our subdivision. I am loving having that convenient access, and now I work out more often. I am trying to do an hour long workout three to five days a week. We are going to Hawaii in March, so that's my "big goal" if you will. I figure that's enough time to actually make a difference.

I love the elliptical, and I can crank out 45 minutes no problem with the right music. I was obsessed with Pandora on my iPhone for a while there, but then I got kind of tired of it. I have an iPod shuffle which I LOVE because it is so tiny and light, you can wear it to do ANY kind of workout and never even know it's there. My shuffle playlist has been getting a little stale lately, so I was getting bored at the gym. An hour seemed like an eternity. Today before I went to the gym, I did a little research and spent about $15 on iTunes. The result was a spiced up playlist that I am now obsessed with. I knocked out my entire workout and was kind of sad to leave because I wasn't all the way through my playlist. I found some pretty good sites with workout playlist suggestions:

• http://www.runhundred.com/ (They list songs by beats per minute so you can correlate the music with the intensity of your workout!)
• www.fitnessmag.com/workout/music (They have playlists from trainers and celebrities. I enjoyed Elizabeth Hasselback's playlist.)
• http://www.self.com/ has tons of playlists to browse through.
• I also love the "Genius" feature on iTunes that makes suggestions based on what you buy.

I love that no one can make fun of me for my workout music at the gym. Sometimes I think, "If the person next to me could hear the song I'm jamming to right now, they would laugh so hard!" But they can't!! Y'all are my friends, though, and I know you won't judge me for my song choices. (Right?) Here are my top 25 workout songs right now in no particular order. You will notice a strong tendency towards the 80's. If you know me, this will not be surprising. My list is VERY random. I usually laugh out loud when the shuffle plays David Crowder right after Usher. There is something just wrong about that. Anyway, I hope my list inspires you to download some new (old) songs. I highly suggest them for a great workout!!

1. Stronger (Britney Spears)
2. Toxic (Britney Spears)
3. Just Like Heaven (The Cure)
4. P.Y.T. (Danny Gokey from American Idol)
5. Maneater (Daryl Hall & John Oates)
6. Our Love is Loud (David Crowder Band)
7. September (Earth, Wind, and Fire)
8. Glamorous (Fergie) (clean version... hello)
9. Canned Heat (Jamiroquai)
10. Together Again (Janet Jackson)
11. Empty Me (Jeremy Camp)
12. One Step at a Time (Jordin Sparks)
13. Stronger (Kanye West) (yep... clean one)
14. Fresh (Kool & The Gang)
15. Just Dance (Lady GaGa)
16. Human Nature (Matt Giraud from American Idol)
17. Billie Jean (Michael Jackson)
18. Fame (Naturi Naughton - from the new Fame movie)
19. Together Forever (Rick Astley) (this one's for you, TheLoj)
20. Part Time Lover (Stevie Wonder)
21. Yeah! (Usher)
22. So Emotional (Whitney Houston)
23. Uptown Girl (Billy Joel)
24. All For You (Janet Jackson)
25. Come Clean (Hillary Duff)

Don't judge. :-) Maybe you could comment and tell me your best workout songs! I'm jammin' right now, but I'll need a refresher soon.