What do the physically active Dopers listen to while working out?
I’ve tried dance music compilations, trance and house mixes, punk rock and industrial music and am sick of it all. I’m looking for good suggestions specifically for running or biking. HELP!
Sweet! My favortite sport- preparing to excercise (sometimes, when the moon is full and it is the 3rd Tuesday of the month- I actually exercise, but let’s not get carried away…)
I like to record off cd’s onto tapes (being the only lame-ass on the planet with no discman??) but I try and put a couple Madonna hits from the '80’s- Papa Don’t Preach, Material Girl etc…
Some Pat Benetar to get the wild/fem/rage-filled thing going on- Love is a Battlefield, Lipstick Lies
Then for the body of the workout AC/DC is required- Listen to the $$ Talk, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Guns’n Roses is always appropriate, but you must be careful not to go with soulfull ballads, Novemer Rain will do a workout in like no other…
Generally if I can stick some contemporary stuff in the middle
Carbon Leaf- Mary Mac
Jump Little Children- Magazine
etc
the variety tricks me into thinking I haven’t been running so long.
Hope this helps!!
Since I swim it’s kind of hard to listen to music then, but I tend to listen to the following before swimming:
Accept, Twisted Sister and Judas Priest are my mainstay. Anything that’s hard, fast and has a steady beat usually works well.
Anything hair-band/glam rock. This is totally the time when that music is appropriate again… some Guns and Roses, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella, you get the picture. Rock on.
Definitely AC/DC for the workout…
Sometimes, I’ll throw in some Ramones to mix it up, mebbe some Green Day.
sidenote Honey, if you leave your f*cking Carpenters CD in my machine again, I’m gonna grease the flye dumbbells…
POISON- too true, a glaring oversight on my part!
Strangely enough - show tunes.
I put a cast recording in to the CD player and then listen & sing along as I run(if I can’t sing under my breath, I’m going too fast and need to slow down).
Generally, by the time I’ve listened to all the songs on the CD that I like, it’s time to stop.
That, or I’ll just surf the radio.
I’ve created the following MIX CD’s for my aquacize class – mixed range of ages, skewing to the 50+ range, which influences the choices. YMMV
Beatles - mostly early stuff with a driving beat. Plus most of the songs are only 3 min - so it’s a cue to switch to another exercise!
Beach Boys/Beach Music – includes “Wipeout” and a steel-drum version of “Zenora (Jump in the Line)”.
For my personal choice - I’d go with the hair bands too - most of “Look What the Cat Dragged In” is upbeat - I’ve done a good mix of Def Leppard too. 
Currently on my MP3 player:
OK Go - Get Over It, You’re So Damn Hot
Meredith Brooks - Bitch
The Coral - I think the title is “My Lonely Room”
TMBG - Puttin on the Ritz, Birdhouse in Your Soul, Why Does the Sun Shine
Ominous Seapods - Leaving the Monopole, Blackberry Brandy
Cowboy Mouth - How Do You Tell Someone, Hurricane Party
Garbage - Cherry Lips, Shut Your Mouth
I’ll second the AC/DC and other metal recommendation as well (Queen, Rob Zombie, Metallica). Also Talking Heads, B52’s, Dee-Lite, Green Day, Offspring, Aerosmith, Warren Zevon, BOC, BTO, Deep Purple, etc, etc.
I only work out to the 1961 Gil Evans Orchestra recording Out of the Cool. I get particularly sweaty during the Johnny Coles trumpet solos and Ron Carter bass work.
[sub](Miss you, Saxy!)[/sub]
…measured for you in beats per minute, I recommend workoutmusic.com.
Quasi
I have a mixed CD that I listen to which includes a wide variety of stuff all the way from from John Lennon to Sophie B Hawkins to Celine Dion to POD.
I have another CD that has nothing but Rap (Tupac, Run DMC, etc) and Metal(Marilyn Manson, Iron Maidon) and a third CD that has nothing but soft stuff (more stuff like Celine Dion, Michelle Branch).
The first CD I mentioned (Lennon) gets by far the most airplay.
You guys are AWESOME!! Thanks for all the great suggestions. I will try them all. I will have to go CD shopping this week.
Miss you too, Uke! 
I’ve been listening to Prodigy Fat of the Land three or four times a week for about a year now. I don’t listen to it in any other context, other than running. Great workout album. I really don’t ‘hear’ it anymore, but I miss it when it’s gone. Kind of like running with my keys in my hand.
Maybe I’ll get another CD sometime…