Rip: Music in the Gym

[Mark Rippetoe]

Music in the Gym | Mark Rippetoe

[Jenni]

Music in the Gym | Mark Rippetoe

I feel called out, lol.

I have had Watchtower and something by Waylon Jennings on every version of music from 8 track to mp3. I'm not actually a fan of Jimi Hendrix but there's something about that one song that just feels so familiar. My playlist has the requisite ACDC and Scorpions but also Royal Deluxe and the Hu. (Wolf Totem is worth the listen if you aren't familiar with the band.) I have 3 playlists for the 3 days I lift. I go from Shoot to Thrill and Rock You Like A Hurricane to a low and intense Lyfjaberg at the heaviest parts. I've always done better with music. Music is a filter against the bullshit. The beeping, the conversations, the TV in the background. I can guide my attention and mood with music. Sometimes too much. Certain songs are so evocative I'm right back to the place and time I associate with them- not fitting for gym use. Animals and children respond well to music, too. The best training sessions with dogs were when I had some Haydn in the background. I even invested in a weird underwater earbud set for when I swim. I don't have to pay attention to that playlist though, it's all fun stuff like Jesse's Girl and All My Exes. You're not wrong though. I sometimes find myself pausing the music on the last set of a squat. I always thought it was funny, "is this like when I have to turn the radio down to find a street when I'm driving? Like, why? You're a whole grown adult how is sound prohibiting you from seeing something?" I've had that whole conversation with myself more than once!

[Jason Donaldson]

I feel called out, lol.

I have had Watchtower and something by Waylon Jennings on every version of music from 8 track to mp3. I'm not actually a fan of Jimi Hendrix but there's something about that one song that just feels so familiar. My playlist has the requisite ACDC and Scorpions but also Royal Deluxe and the Hu. (Wolf Totem is worth the listen if you aren't familiar with the band.) I have 3 playlists for the 3 days I lift. I go from Shoot to Thrill and Rock You Like A Hurricane to a low and intense Lyfjaberg at the heaviest parts. I've always done better with music. Music is a filter against the bullshit. The beeping, the conversations, the TV in the background. I can guide my attention and mood with music. Sometimes too much. Certain songs are so evocative I'm right back to the place and time I associate with them- not fitting for gym use. Animals and children respond well to music, too. The best training sessions with dogs were when I had some Haydn in the background. I even invested in a weird underwater earbud set for when I swim. I don't have to pay attention to that playlist though, it's all fun stuff like Jesse's Girl and All My Exes. You're not wrong though. I sometimes find myself pausing the music on the last set of a squat. I always thought it was funny, "is this like when I have to turn the radio down to find a street when I'm driving? Like, why? You're a whole grown adult how is sound prohibiting you from seeing something?" I've had that whole conversation with myself more than once!

You feel called out, I feel almost creeped out - someone else listens to the Scorpions, Royal Deluxe, AND The Hu??

Seriously, though, Jenni, I had a similar thought to you on that article, namely that, for some of us, the music cuts distractions, and aids the focus on the workout. Sometimes music quiets the internal dialogue, sometimes it distracts, hence the turning down the radio in the car thing. I tend toward various types of mentally/emotionally intense music for my workouts, in fitting with the overall "the barbell is my therapist" effect. I get a lot of mileage out of a variety of groups (Unveil the Strength, Sabaton, Amon Amarth, Calva Louise, Peyton Parish, League of Distortion, Exit Eden, Judas Priest, Demon Hunter, et al.) - but I think the intensity is the unifying theme.

This definitely varies from person to person. In Rollins's essay on the iron, he talks about lifting to ballads. Apparently, Greg Nuckols lifts to Taylor Swift, of all things. I've heard of some big lifter listening to pop music precisely because it pisses him off...

I'm also a Waylon fan from long back, but (unlike Major Broggi in his training clips) it's not good workout music for me. I can listen to him pretty much any other time, though.

For Hendrix, I'll add Voodoo Child. Back in the 90's, when I went through a misguided period of trying to lift, I remember an article (maybe on Hardgainer?) that described an old man who came into the gym, put that song on the stereo, and banged out a set of 20-rep squats to it. Of course, back then, 20-rep squats were the pinnacle of intensity and devotion, so this article made an association for me with that song.

For cardio, though, the distraction is the point. Like Rip's said about hip-rep lifting, and the article alludes to for pump-chasing gym exercise, boredom management is a huge part of it, and I've never done well for LSD work without listening to something with a steady enough beat. There's a reason we called cadence in formation runs in the service, after all. As such, I've found more success with techno-industrial or prog rock for conditioning.

For heavy sets, I don't generally pause or turn down my music, but I also don't generally hear it as much. My hearing gets fuzzy under heavy load anyway.