Ready to Start (Life Changes, One Day at a Time): Crafting a good workout playlist

Even though I haven't talked about it on this blog yet, I'm obsessed with music. I loved everything, from country when I was younger, to pop-punk and more indie stuff. When I met Josh, he introduced me to a whole new world of music (hello, Avett Brothers) and we regularly burn mixes for each other to share music we love. We also listen to the radio ALL THE TIME (partly due to the fact that both of our CD players were on the fritz). Since we don't get a lot of variety in Columbus, Indiana, we even listen to country. And Radio Disney. I don't believe in guilty pleasures. If you like something, like it and be proud. I will belt Bieber, Kenny Chesney, and Mumford & Sons in the same sitting. So what do I listen to when I work out?

I lived at home during my second year of college, and since there was never anything to do, I went to the gym quite a bit. I always ran on the treadmill, and my go-to running playlist was a simple shuffle of Panic at the Disco's first album, Paramore, and Fall Out Boy. It was the perfect tempo for a fairly well-paced run. No matter how many times I went to the gym in a week, I never got sick of this playlist. Those were simple times.

A few years ago, my sister gave me an Ipod shuffle for Christmas (best present ever). Around this time, I also started following podcasts and getting a bunch of free playlists of unknown bands. I'm really bad at listening to new music (I get caught up in my old favorites), so I decided to load all new music onto my shuffle and listen to that in the gym. This worked well for a while- I just skipped over songs that weren't my style or weren't the right tempo. Eventually I got tired of this because I didn't know the track titles or band names, and I couldn't keep straight what songs I liked.

Now, I fill my shuffle with a crazy mix of songs- country, pop/radio hits, rap, and old favorites. It works well because I know I like the songs, so I only have to skip over songs that aren't fitting what I'm doing. I throw some slower songs on for strength training so I remember to focus on my movements. So without further ado, here are 2 quick playlists- 1 for cardio and 1 for weight-lifting.