Humour me for a moment, I’m going to brag a bit. It’s Wednesday and usually on Wednesday mornings I do a walking workout on the treadmill followed by a running workout on the treadmill. I do something similar on Mondays and Fridays, with a longer version and maybe some spin bike thrown in on Sundays. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays generally have a longer walking workout, some time on the bike (15 to 20 minutes, all out of the seat), and weights. Monday I wasn’t feeling so hot so I did a long walk instead and pushed my run to yesterday, in addition to doing some weights.
Anyway, this morning I decided to mix things up and walk and bike, but I was feeling pretty energetic so I looked up on my phone to see what my calorie record was for a bike ride since I got my Apple Watch almost two years ago. I’m 47 and am currently probably the most physically fit that I have been in my adult life, and again, I was feeling energetic, so I decided to break that record this morning. I started with about 15 minutes on the treadmill doing a fast walk with a bit of incline and then hopped on our spin bike for a 30 minute ride out of the seat, and I shattered that calorie record. Boom.
While the energy I had this morning, and my tenaciousness once I set my mind to something like that were the biggest factors in me having such a great workout, I think it was my playlist that pushed me through to the end. I recently created this one on my phone and called it Pumped 2019. Frankly, everybody who’s trying to push through working out every day or simply wants to get themselves pumped up for the day or a situation, needs to create their own playlist with songs that help them do that.
Here’s what mine has. Don’t judge. This is my taste. These are songs that work for me.
• Confident – Demi Lovato
• Satisfied – Richard Marx (seriously, listen to the words, you’ll get it)
• Me Too – Meghan Trainor
• High Hopes – Panic! At the Disco
• Sorry Not Sorry – Demi Lovato
• No Roots – Alice Merton
• Thunder – Imagine Dragons
• Believer – Imagine Dragons
• There’s Nothing Holding Me Back – Shawn Mendes
• Roar – Katy Perry
• Just Like Fire – Pink
This playlist as it stands is only about 38 minutes and my workouts are usually 45 minutes or more so songs get played more than once. I always listen to it on shuffle to keep things interesting.
If you don’t have a playlist that lights you up and gets you moving, make one. It can make a real difference in your day.
Featured image by Tech Sgt. Miguel Lara III
