Can I tell you a secret? I hate exercise. I go through phases where I do it because I know it’s good for me. Then I stop for a while and start up again months later. I just have a really hard time motivating myself.
You would think as a social marketer, I would have some special insight into what would make me want to exercise. What benefits do I value? What barriers need to be taken away to make it happen? But no, I’m just like every other shlub whom the physical activity social marketing programs are trying to get to budge from their desks. I’m the shoemaker who has no shoes.
This time, the thing that got me moving is what works with just about every mother at some point in her life — worrying about what might happen to my family if, God forbid, I had a catastrophic health event because I didn’t take care of myself well enough. (If all else fails, using maternal guilt for motivation is bringing out the big guns.)
So, I dug out my old Walkman and went for a walk last week for the first time in a couple of months. I always like to listen to the radio while I walk, but I had a hard time finding music with a good beat for walking. It was after trying to walk to 30 Seconds to Mars’ song Bury Me and finding myself feeling like I was limping along to try to keep up with the 6/8 beat (a Souza march it wasn’t) that I decided to get an iPod and some optimized exercise music. My deal with myself was that I could buy a used iPod on eBay if I promised to use it to exercise.
The iPod arrived today, so I loaded it up with my music and downloaded some exercise music podcasts. I found a couple of places where you can choose the workout music based on the number of beats per minute, so you can find exactly the pace that works for your stride and type of exercise (Podrunner is one source, and fitPod is another).
This evening I took the iPod and the selected 1-hour workout mix on their inaugural walk. And wow – what a difference it makes to have a beat that matches my stride. My feet just automatically keep pace with the music. But the downside of using these free downloads is that they are all centered around horrid techno music that sounds basically the same from song to song. One song had a breathy Scandinavian woman singing vapid lyrics like “express your emotions.” Another song featured a deep voice saying the word “cee-crisp” over and over to the beat. Yeah, I was wondering what that meant too. At least it took my mind off of the exercise.
So the opening night of the iPod walking tour was a success. But I need to find some listenable music. Anyone have suggestions for rock-based workout compilations?
I’m not going to start exerblogging (a la fatblogging (LA Times free registration req.)), but if anyone wants to be my virtual exercise partner or share what motivates you to exercise, let me know!
Photo Credit: auntnanny
Nedra helps nonprofits and public agencies create positive change on health and social issues through social marketing and transmedia storytelling strategies at Weinreich Communications since founding the company in 1995. She helps organizations make a difference for the populations they serve by strategically designing programs that draw on state-of-the-art behavior change techniques, digital media approaches and the power of stories. 
As a fellow social marketer who is also finally consistently excercising, i so appreciate the irony. Interestingly enough, the ipod mixes that keep me moving and “distracted” enough are full of songs from college and high school, almost 20 years ago. So being a teenager of the 80’s, I now find myself running happily to WHAM. Who knew? But I had to wonder if visualizing myself at that age and the energy I had and the sense memory experience of it all played into why its keeping me in the game. I do love the music of the 70’s too but unfortunately Steely Dan and James Taylor are really hard to run to…
sending healthy workout vibes your way and yasher koach on the launch of the ipod workout!
Shari
Thanks for the tips and encouragement, Shari!
I can so appreciate the need for musical motivation during my runs. I, too, have tried the “workout mix,” and haven’t really cared for it. So this is what I do: I load up my iPod with musika I like and I run to the pace. I try to avoid slow music, but having a mix is key. I run fast and then slow down, and I call it a tempo run. Maybe I’m just a natural-born personal trainer, or maybe being that lazy is a hard-won skill. I don’t know, but it works for me. I say keep it simple. I let myself buy new music on the promise of meeting my running goal. But then again, the old carrot and stick routine ain’t so new, is it?
Juliette
I’ve actually just been puzzling over this, after receiving an iPod for my birthday. So far, here are a few songs I like for using the elliptical trainer:
Billy Idol: Dancin’ with Myself
The Clash: Should I Stay or Should I Go, London Calling, Train in Vain
The Cure: Just Like Heaven, Friday I’m in Love
-Liz B
I’m sorry you don’t like the music on Podrunner, but blaming a podcast that advertises itself as “electronic dance music” for being electronic dance music is a bit like blaming a demolition derby for having crashes. (Podrunner rarely features techno, by the way; it’s house, progressive house, and funky tech house.) Your expectations if you want rock and got electronic music aren’t the fault of a podcast that doesn’t represent itself as anything else. It’s okay with me if you don’t like this kind of music, but what you dislike and what is bad are different things.
–DJ Steve Boyett
Thanks for your suggestions too, Juliette and Liz!
Steve, I did not intend to denigrate your podcasts. It’s clear that you do a good job with mixing them, and you’re right that they are billed as exactly what they are (though I admittedly have no clue what the differences between techno, house, and all the variations are). I just found that it’s not my kind of music after giving it a try. I do love that you make these available for free to help motivate people to exercise. Friends? 🙂
Nedra,
I follow the lead of Robert Maynard Hutchins, former University of Chicago president, who said that “whenever I feel the urge to exercise, I lie down until it goes away.” However, given an ultimatum, I made a deal with myself: Buy an Ipod, and reward myself by listening to it exclusively when I exercise. My choice happens to be an indoor bike, and the beats don’t matter; I regulate myself using the readouts. But the incentive of enjoying 750 of my favorite songs of all time (in alphabetical order, which adds an element of randomness and surprise) is a great payoff that has kept me at it for more than a year – a new personal best.
What a great quote, Don! Fortunately, I haven’t been following that advice, and have been trying out different songs on my walks.
In case anyone is interested, here are some of the songs I found in my collection that have just the right beat to them:
One Week – Barenaked Ladies
Santa Monica – Everclear
A Million Ways to be Cruel – OK Go
A View to a Kill – Duran Duran
Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet
Just What I Needed – the Cars
Are You Gonna Be My Girl – Jet
Seven Nation Army – White Stripes
Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics
Smooth – Santana
You Got Another Thing Comin’ – Judas Priest
You Dropped a Bomb on Me – the Gap Band
Ray of Light – Madonna
Living on the Ceiling – Blancmange
Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson
Radioactive – The Firm
Vertigo – U2
Yup, Judas Priest and the Gap Band live side-by-side on my iPod. Go figure. 🙂