Pedal faster!

August 28, 2007 3:23 PM

Please suggest good high-BPM music for the gym!

It seems that if I keep up roughly 160 strides per minute, I get myself a damn fine workout. Can you recommend some interesting (e.g., not merely the same electronic riffs endlessly repeated) music to keep me dancing on the Elliptical Machine? Free music is preferable to expensive music, and music on iTunes would be easier for me than music available only on forty-year-old vinyl.

Some examples of what I'm looking for are:
Psychobilly and Pussycat
or
Sudenpolkka.

Mad shout outz to Wolfdogg and Methyl Violet, who have given me an awful lot of cool music already!

posted by Squid Voltaire to media & arts (15 answers total)

Guitar-y stuff, I'm really into The Pigeon Detectives at the moment, and the whole album's pretty up-tempo.

For workouts in general, I tend to whack on a dance compilation album of some sort - The Annual, or Cream Anthems. These may fail the electronic riffs test though - they're varied enough for me, but obviously it's a matter of taste.

And finally, in my opinion no workout album is complete without something off either the Rocky or Top Gun soundtracks. Of course, that's just me.

Winning coveted international trophy of some sort in last-gasp heroic effort daydream not included
posted by djgh at 3:38 PM on August 28, 2007

See my earlier post.
posted by charmston at 3:55 PM on August 28, 2007

I have a playlist full of stuff around the tempo that you're looking for that I use when I'm cycling on the trainer. Here's a quick text dump. You'll be unsurprised to see it's mostly heavy stuff. If you want a couple particular picks that always make me bury myself:

Children of Bodom - Warheart (You can pretty much pick any Bodom song and it'll get you chugging along right quick)
Ensiferum - Iron
Gamma Ray - Send Me a Sign, Dethrone Tyrrany, lots of others
Helloween - I Want Out (I will absolutely kill my legs to that song)
In Flames - Embody the Invisible, Only for the Weak
Iron Maiden - The Wickerman
Nightwish - Wish I Had an Angel (just about 160 on the nose!)
Sentenced - May Today Become the Day

These are all pretty easy to come by. Especially if you drop me an email. Thanks for the shoutout!
posted by Wolfdog at 4:18 PM on August 28, 2007

I've been listening to the Podrunner podcast (found easily in the iTunes store) while jogging for a while. I probably wouldn't listen to it by itself, but it's a consistent beat for a good straight hour, so it's fine for exercise. One of the neat things about it is that they even title each podcast with how many BPM it has.
posted by alidarbac at 4:51 PM on August 28, 2007

Lab 4
posted by pompomtom at 5:52 PM on August 28, 2007

omg. lab4. they kicked my ass the times I've seen them live.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 5:56 PM on August 28, 2007

Infected Mushroom
posted by phrontist at 6:53 PM on August 28, 2007

most Psytrance is up around that BPM. Infected Mushroom is a good one, also look for the Distance to Goa compilations.

Be forewarned: there is a LOT of REALLY BAD psytrance out there. This should not discourage you from seeking out the good stuff.
posted by softlord at 7:24 PM on August 28, 2007

You might find some good advice in these previous threads that asked for bpm-specific music, both music recommendations and links to find other music by bpm:

workout music in general

workout music for somebody who seems to want the same tempo as you asked for

links to some bpm databases

I find that a Rhapsody-To-Go subscription (or the equivalent from Napster, etc.) and a cheap mp3 player make these kinds of threads much more useful - I can load up the player with whatever specific songs anyone suggests, without having to pay for an entire album or even the tracks themselves. And I can completely redo my workout playlist whenever I need new motivation, with nothing invested besides some time at the computer.
posted by vytae at 7:36 PM on August 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Mindless Self Indulgence. It's basically trash that faux goth 14-year-olds listen to, but it rocks the house for doing the elliptical.

I also rely heavily on Head Automatica's "Beating Hearts Baby".
posted by tatiana wishbone at 7:55 PM on August 28, 2007

Check out a Japanese genre known as Super Eurobeat. Fast-paced stuff, often as much as 180BPM. It's remarkably synthy and cheesy, but it's a guilty pleasure of mine, at least.
posted by DoctorFedora at 9:07 PM on August 28, 2007

The Run Lola Run soundtrack will get your heart rate up!
posted by WyoWhy at 5:05 AM on August 29, 2007

The Super Eurobeat suggestion is pretty good.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:08 AM on August 29, 2007

I'm a little late on this answer, but if you're still here you should check out the Podrunner podcast.
posted by OpinioNate at 9:53 AM on August 29, 2007

If you can stomach it, gabber [nsfw or your sensibilities] or anything in the hardcore electronica scene is pretty high BPM. Think of that old All Your Base song as a good* example.

Otherwise, I third the Infected Mushroom suggestion. Also try breakbeats, as it tends to be pretty "pump-you-up" music. I like some of Violet Vision's music (it's psychedelic breakbeats). There's always the more mainstream groups like Crystal Method or The Prodigy.

*Ha.
posted by spiderskull at 1:16 AM on August 30, 2007