New Music Wednesday: Deep House

Hey, lolo friends! I’m used to telling you how to eat ;) but now I get to write about something I love so much I literally cannot live without it: great workout music! I mean it. If I go to the gym, jump on the treadmill and find I forgot my headphones… I’ll walk right back out. Yep. If I show up to teach a group fitness class and my music won’t play… well, class is over. Music means that much to me. It’s integral for an awesome workout.

I’ve been an instructor for over 20 years and music is the one thing that has kept me engaged and excited about fitness the entire time. That steady, pulsating, driving beat affects every aspect of a workout: heartbeat; respiratory rate; the energy available to put into each muscular contraction; and most importantly, mental stamina.

Good workout music needs two things:

1) Variety: Part of music’s extraordinary power is found in its endless variety. New sounds and rhythms can feel like a superb manifestation of musical caffeine. You don’t need huge variety within a workout (although that’s fine too), but you do need variety day-to-day. Sometimes you feel hardcore, some days light and fun, some days you need to sing your heart out with familiar lyrics, and some days you just need less “noise”. Changing your music up is the secret to staying consistent.

2) Highs and lows: Sometimes we bail on “trying new music” because we expect every second of the album to rock our socks off. That rarely happens. And frankly, it shouldn’t. The truth is that a good workout mix needs natural highs and lows. Lows are cool, constant and “feel good”. They can even get boring for a few minutes. It’s okay… those lows make the highs higher. Highs surge… they instantly connect to your movement and make you think, “Holy crap! This is really good!!” Sometimes it’ll be one new song buried in a 12-song mix that has the power to flood your muscles and brain with new energy. The whole album doesn’t have to rock your soul, but at some point “a” song has to rock your soul. And if that one new song plays during a moment of “I’m ready to quit” - then that’s when music feels magical. That’s the power of music.

So this week, I hope you’ll #keepitfresh and check out a genre that really resonates with great workouts: Deep House.

Deep house music is stylish, hypnotic and melodic. It’s got touches of African beats, jazz, soul, drums and groovy rhythms. It brings out all kinds of great emotions, like:

• Determination

• Persistence

• Steady pace / steady lifting

• Physical stamina

• Mental stamina

Deep house is great fuel for the following workouts:

• Steady state cardio

• Weight training

• Bodyweight training

• Bootcamp

This week’s album, Deep House Sessions, is full of fun new sounds to explore. It’s $7.99 for 12 groovy, drum-filled songs that keep your body saying, “yep, I can do this”. The whole album has great energy, but my “highs” came from tracks 4, “Amelia” and 12, “Maya”… wow! So good! Check it out… you might be surprised how fun and NEW your next workout will feel with different music.

Leave a comment and let me know what kind of music you are interested in - or let me know if you have any music/workout questions! Let’s keep the conversation going ;) #keepingitfresh