Running in synch with music

You might like exercising with your body synchronized to music; activity matched to musical beats-per-minute.

After doing this for a couple years, I read somewhere that this can tune the mind somehow. My impression is that music coming in both ears, with the body working both sides, has positive effects. There's a reference for that out there somewhere. This works with walking, jogging, running, aerobics and other exercise.

In order to make this work, well, you need the right music for you. It's necessary to determine the turnover rate at which you like to run, or exercise, and the beats-per-minute of various music. There are ways to do that. There's a free program, DJBPM, that allows doing it by hand. There's also a program that uses audio processing to process a music stream and automatically determine average BPM. I prefer using the DJBPM, which shows variations, from minute to minute, through a track, and also allows for the possibility of mentally doubling or halving the actual beat of the music, two for one, or one for two.

Now you get to laugh at the music with which I run! You easily guess this old fart is listening to oldies.

Here's my current BPM sorted track list, starting from a fast walking pace, proceeding to fairly fast running. My understanding is that most people who are accustomed to running find a comfort and efficiency zone near the 170+ BPM rate.

Warmed up, I love running to Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face", and letting my mind wander. It's a nice metaphor, les yeux sans visage. One sees the eyes without seeing the face.

Walk, fast walk

148 You May Be Right, Billy Joel
149 It Came Out of The Sky, Creedence
149 Sultans of Swing, Dire Straights
150 I Got a Line on You, Spirit
151 Saturday Night, Elton John
152 Message in a Bottle, Police
152 Feelin' Groovy, Simon & Garfunkel
153 Bye Bye Love, Simon & Garfunkel
154 Lay Lady Lay, Dylan
154 The Only Living Boy in New York, Simon & Grafunkel
155 Dream On, Aerosmith
156 Teach Your Children, CSNY
157 Doraville, ARS
157 Give Me Love, Harrison

Slow jog

158 Under Pressure, ZZ Top
158 Fun, Fun, Fun, Beach Boys
161 Surfin' Safari, Beach Boys
161 Silvio, Dylan
161 Surfin' USA, Beach Boys
161 Baby Driver, Simon & Garfunkel

Jog/run

162 Dreaming, Blondie
163 La Grange, ZZ Top
164 Every Little Thing, Police
165 Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel
165 Melissa, Allman Bothers

Run

167 Radio Free Europe, REM
167 Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, The Police
167 Anji, Simon & Garfunkel
167 Rebel Yell, Billy Idol
167 Who's Gonna Drive You Home, Cars
169 Highway Star, Deep Purple
169 Autobahn, Kraftwerk (22 minutes long, heh!)
170 Steve McQueen, Sheryl Crowe
171 Eyes Without a Face, Billy Idol

Fast run

174 Dedicated Follower of Fashion, Kinks
180 Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine, Simon & Garfunkel
181 Love is a Battlefield, Pat Benatar
182 The Boxer, Simon & Garfunkel
184 Dangling Conversation, Simon & Garfunkel
185 Mrs Robinson, Simon & Garfunkel

Very fast

189 Jukin', ARS
189 Gotta Serve Somebody, Dylan
189 Flesh for Fantasy, Billy Idol
192 Dark Horse, Harrison

This might serve as a starting point. If it's interesting, grab/rip your own MP3's, measure the BPM's, record them in sequence, and go running!

If you're really interested, try runningmusicmix.