Haven`t Had Enough Spin Mix (52 minutes),Find Yourself Spin Mix

Haven't Had Enough Spin Mix
(52 minutes)
Summer 2012 is here! It’s Canada Day weekend and the weather
has come out smokin’ hot.
I was out for a two hour ride
yesterday along the gorgeous Saltmarsh Trail in Dartmouth,
Nova Scotia (pic below).
There’s lots of news. The BIG
news is that Spinning Music will
soon be moving to a new home,
which will allow for many site
improvements, including forums
to replace the Bike Cafe page
and the now-clunky Reader
Playlists page. It has so many
posts that it is very slow to
load and even crashes in some browsers. I am still working on
acquiring the URL – will post as soon as I have it.
In much smaller news, I recently acquired another weekly class
(mostly men – interesting!) and I’ve been really enjoying the
extra time on the bike.
This is one of two playlists I’ve been enjoying of late.
regular riders tell me this is one tough ride.
My
Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen (3:13): Critics are calling
this THE song of summer 2012. This young Canadian artist (and
veteran of Canadian Idol) has taken the pop world by storm
as her tune streaked to number one in Australia, Canada, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, New
Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United
States, and peaked in the top five in Austria, Belgium
(Flanders), Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Poland. There’s
even a Youtube video of Barack Obama singing it (with the
lyrics cleverly spliced from his many public addresses).
We’re going to use the song to warm up, so take that tension
knob and push it up and away from you until you can feel the
road under your feet.
Turn Me On (feat. Nicki Minaj) – David Guetta (3:19): An outof-the-saddle climb with a couple of tension increases.
Jet Lag (feat. Natasha Bedingfield) – Simple Plan (3:24):
These Canadian rockers out of Montreal have almost the same
knack for catchy pop tunes as Jepsen does.
Let’s do some
sprints: 30/30/30 seconds at 0:40 – 1:09, 1:35 – 2:02 and 2:32
– 3:10.
Adrenaline (Original Mix) – Liquid Soul (7:51): I’ve used
this song before, but in this incarnation my riders tell me
it’s the toughest part of the class.
Good thing it comes
early! This is a combo drill alternating between a minute of
standing climb and a minute of surging (seated, 80% of your
max, a not-quite-sprint). You”ll need medium tension here –
about 5/10 or 50% of your max. Sounds easy? Look at the
length of the song – there are four sets.
That’s eight
minutes of work before the next break.
Never Close Our Eyes – Adam Lambert (4:08):
Adam Lambert is
back with that great big voice. Take a swig from your water
bottle and give your shoulders a few rolls while the song gets
going. Crank the tension up medium-high to about 7/10. When
the bass kicks in (around 0:30) we’re going to start with 8
count jumps for the verses. When the bass stops as we head
into the chorus, come up out of the saddle into a standing
climb and when Lambert hits the chorus, we’ll sprint! 30/30/30
at 1:15 – 1:45, 2:30 – 3:00, 3:30 – 4:04 . After the first
chorus, it’s back to 8 count jumps. After the second chorus,
there’s a bridge from 3:00 – 3:30.
Use that for a quick
breather.
The third sprint starts at 3:30 and takes us
through the end of the song.
Part of Me – Katy Perry (3:35):
More sprints – 30/30/30
seconds at 0:30 – 0:60, 1:30 – 2:00 and 2:30 – 3:00. The
breakup lyrics suggest this song might be about Russell Brand
but Perry denies this – she says the song was written in early
2010 but wasn’t included on the Teenage Dream CD because it
didn’t fit with the other songs.
Marry the Night – Lady Gaga (4:25): Still more sprints – hmm,
could this be why my riders found this class so tough? Three
of them again, 30/30/30 seconds. They’re at 0:42 – 1:11, 1:50
– 2:20, and 3:00 – 3:28.
Haven’t Had Enough – Marianas Trench (3:29): Shift gears here
and we’ll do some jumps on a hill. Tension up to 9/10 and
give me 8 counts for the verses and 4 counts for the
choruses. These guys hail from Vancouver, British Columbia
and they’re opening for Jepsen in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia on
July 13.
Wild Ones (feat. Sia) – Flo Rida (3:53:)
It’s almost a relief
to dial the tension back and move into a standing climb. Flo
Rida has another song that’s been getting a lot of airplay
lately – the racy Whistle (which isn’t about whistling) but I
haven’t quite decided how to use it. (Amy, if you read this,
remind me how you used it in your classes. I went back to
your Facebook page after you posted that playlist but I
couldn’t find it.)
Tonight Tonight – Hot Chelle Rae (3:20): It’s back to jumps
on a hill, but at a lower tension – 7/10 for this one. Mix it
up between 8, 4, and 2 counts.
Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) – Kelly Clarkson (3:42): One
teensy weensy sprinting tune to finish us up with that
pleasantly thrashed feeling. 30/30/50 seconds here, at 0:43 –
1:15, 1:40 – 2:14 and 2:39 – 3:29. I always coach riders to
take sprints as they choose: standing, seated, or as surges,
but I also encourage them to push just a little harder.
Sometimes I ask for a show of hands, who has chosen to do the
next sprint interval standing?
(the better to get the
competitive juices flowing).
I remind them that they can
start standing and sit down if they don’t have the juice to
finish, but you know what?
If I can get them out of the
saddle, that’s where they stay.
One Life – Hedley (3:33): Ahhh…. cool down with some inspiring
lyrics. Like Carly Jepsen, the lead singer for this British
Columbia band is an ex-Canadian Idol contestant.
Young Homie – Chris Rene (3:29): Rene finished third on the
first season of The X Factor (USA) and I was rooting for him
all the way, as he left garbage collection and drug addiction
to find his musical roots as a singer-songwriter. Some extra
cool down and goodbye music.
After a long drought, you’re going to
start hearing from me more often.
I
have another playlist in the hopper
(will post in the coming week) and have
resolved to start giving this blog a
little more love. It’s tough when you
have a toddler at home – parenting a
wee one is kind of like having a hobby
that takes up 80% of your waking hours
outside of work, and as I write this,
she is heading up to bed crying “I want
the mama come too!” I keep reminding
myself of Oprah’s wise words: “You can have it all. Just not
all at once.”
Happy (and safe) riding, everyone.
Find Yourself Spin Mix (59
Minutes)
Just had two weeks off the bike
on sunny Isla Mujeres, Mexico,
so was excited to ride tonight.
This is my latest playlist, a
melange of some of the songs I’m
enjoying at the moment.
All
have appeared
before.
on
the
blog
Without You (feat. Usher) – David Guetta and Usher (3:28):
Warmup.
Brand New Chick – Anjulie (3:32):
8 count jumps for the
verses and 4 count for the choruses; medium tension (5/10).
We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris) – Rihanna (3:36): Rolling
hills, out of the saddle. Start with tension at about 50% of
your max (5/10) and do two or three small increases every
15-30 seconds, then ramp it down the same way. There should
be time for two small hills.
Niton (The Reason) (Radio Edit) – Eric Prydz (2:45): Five
minutes (two songs) of tempo ride, no break between them.
Find Yourself (Radio Edit) – John O’ Callaghan (2:32): Second
half of the tempo drill.
U and Ur Hand – P!nk (3:34): Let’s veer into rock and do some
sprints: 30/30/60 seconds, at the choruses.
What a Night (DJ Kontrol Journey Mash) (feat. Claude Kelly) –
Kontrol & L’il Jon (3:34): One of my favourite mashups from
Dirty Mexican Lemonade. Let’s do some jumps: 8/4/2 counts,
one minute each.
Summer Rain (Alex K Klubbed Up Mix) – Slinkee Minx (6:08): A
combo climb: seated, aggressive, regular, standing jog (30
seconds of each). You’ll have time for three sets.
Barbra Streisand (Original Mix) – Duck Sauce (4:57): Recover
for the first minute, then move into some high tension (7/10)
jumps: 8 counts (90 seconds), 4 counts (90 seconds), 2 counts
(to the end of the song)
Cobrastyle (feat. Mad Cobra) – Teddybears (3:00): A seated
climb, adding tension at 0:35, 1:15, and 2:00.
Are You Gonna Be My Girl? – Jet (3:37):
Grueling seated
sprints, 30 seconds on, 15 off.
Did I mention it’s the
beginning of a three-song sprint fiesta?
Professional Killer – KMFDM (4:34):
More sprints:
15/15/30/30.
They’re at 1:04 – 1:20, 1:52 – 2:08, 2:40 –
3:12, 4:00 – 4:30.
This is How a Heart Breaks – Rob Thomas (3:51):
We’re almost
done. Three more sprint intervals 15/20/1:15 at 0:44 – 1:00,
1:32 – 1:52, and 2:20 – 3:35.
One of my favourite go-to
sprinting songs, this one never fails to get me going.
Hard Sun – Eddy Vedder (5:22): Cool down.
I could listen to
this song every day and never tire of it.
If I Were a Boy – Beyonce (4:09):
goodbye music. Another favourite.
Additional cool down and
A recent article in Canada’s Globe and Mail explains why music
energizes us and helps us with endurance during exercise. It
also points out that music’s effects aren’t just in your head:
there’s a reason music is banned from many marathons.
It
works. (My husband runs without music, and even though I ride
outdoors without music, I would sooner go to the dentist than
go for a run without my iPhone.)
Gaga
for
minutes)
Spin
Mix
(52
I normally shy away from single
artist playlists – there is too
much chance of a total miss. If
someone made me spin to The
Eagles for an hour, I’d be
homicidal by the end of the
class.
But I’ve been playing
with this idea for a while and
while her catalog is not large
(only three albums), if there’s
an artist out there who can
support a full spin class of tunes, it’s Her Ladyship.
I tried it with my class this week and asked for feedback.
The four riders who took the time to comment told me they
really enjoyed it and I enjoyed the class, too. What saves it
from being too plain-old-FM-radio (I hope) are the remixes.
Hair – Lady GaGa (5:08): An upbeat warm up and one of GaGa’s
lesser-known offerings.
(Yes, that’s Clarence Clemons on
saxophone.) Pick up the pace for each chorus and fall back
for the verses.
Marry the Night – Lady GaGa (4:25):
Where has this song
been? It came out in May 2011 with GaGa’s latest record but I
didn’t really pay much attention to it until it became a
single in November 2011.
My mistake.
It’s a kick-ass
sprinting tune. Three intervals: 30/30/30 seconds at 0:42 –
1:11, 1:50 – 2:20 and 3:00 – 3:28.
I usually coach riders to take sprints in one of three ways:
standing (hardest), seated, or as surges (seated, 80% maximum
effort), depending on what they have to give. They can choose
which way to proceed for each interval. Sometimes I will ask
them to commit publicly: “Okay, hands up – who is going to
take the next interval standing?”
Telephone (Kaskade Extended Remix) – Lady GaGa & Beyonce
(5:24): A combo drill here. For the first minute we are
going to do 4 count jumps on a hill with resistance at 8/10.
From 1:30 to 4:00 we’ll come out of the saddle to climb,
reducing the tension a bit for those who need to. When we get
to the last minute and a half, it’s 4 count jumps again. No
cheating and bailing early – we get a full minute to recover
before the next working interval.
Born This Way – Lady GaGa (4:20):
More sprinting – 30/30/30.
These ones are at 0:58 – 1:28, 2:08 – 2:38 and 3:18 – 3:48.
Paparazzi (Demolition Crew Remix) – Lady GaGa (3:54):
Initially I had this one pegged as a seated climb with
multiple tension increases but when I got to class I decided
to do it as a single leg training drill: 60 seconds for each
leg with a tension increase for the second set. I think I
liked that better than what I initially had planned.
With single-leg training, one leg does all the work and the
other comes along for the ride. I coach riders to consciously
push down on the downstroke and pull up on the upstroke and to
make their cadence as smooth as possible. As for tension, I
advise to choose a tension that makes riders mighty happy to
see the end of the interval so they can switch legs. It’s
important with single-leg drills to ask riders not to remove
the non-working foot from the pedal cage (some will do this
and rest the foot on the crossbar). With a weighted flywheel,
this could result in a calf injury if the empty pedal swung
around and hit the rider in the leg.
Just Dance (RedOne Remix) – Lady GaGa (4:19): This was the
first GaGa song that captivated me, and when I realized that
she’d done a remix with Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall, I
was, well, gaga. The original version was released in April
2008 and by June 2008 I was using Just Dance in my classes.
Lady GaGa played in my home town of Halifax in July 2008 as
one of the acts at the Summer Rush concert and I desperately
wanted to go but had booked a week’s vacation in Prince Edward
Island, a three hour drive away. I could just tell that this
New Yorker was going to be huge. You know what? I should
have driven back to Halifax to see her. I’d certainly drive
three hours now. This one is a standing climb, medium tension
(say, 5/10), just you and the bike. Close your eyes and let
yourself go with the music. (For an additional challenge,
don’t take a break between this song and the next to make a 10
minute hill.)
LoveGame (Chew Fu Ghettohouse Fix) – Lady GaGa [feat. Marilyn
Manson] (5:21): The second half of this hill. Increase the
tension to 7/10 or 70% of your maximum effort. Alternate a
regular climbing stance with a more aggressive stance – hips
back and up, shoulders down. You can do 30 seconds of each,
or try 15/30/45/60 of each.
Poker Face – Lady GaGa (3:57): Take the tension back down to
6/10 and get ready for some jumps. 8 counts for 1:30, 4 counts
for 1:30, then 2 counts to the end (about 1:00).
The Edge of Glory – Lady GaGa (5:21): I know, I am getting
far too predictable here.
How could any all-GaGa spin
playlist not finish with this one? A combo-drill: standing
climb for the verses, sprints (standing if you still have the
juice) for the choruses. The sprints are 30/30/60 seconds and
you’ll find them at 1:04 – 1:34, 2:28 – 2:58 and 4:02 – 5:02.
This song always leaves riders sucking wind in a very
satisfying way.
Bad Romance – Lady GaGa (4:54):
At last.
Cool down music.
I
confess, Bad Romance is not my favourite GaGa tune.
She
sounds as if she’s singing with a mouth full of marbles. So
if you want to run Alejandro first and finish up with You and
I (5:07), I wouldn’t blame you a bit.
Alejandro – Lady GaGa (4:34): Perfect cool down energy for
some stretching and goodbye music.
Have you ever done a single artist playlist?
And how did it go?
Spinning
Music's
Playlists of 2011
Which artist?
Top
5
Each year, I list the playlists from the
previous year that garnered the most
page views. But you know what? By far
the most popular playlists on the blog
are the ones that readers post.
The
Reader Playlist page saw 25,784 views in
2011, more than any other playlist.
1. Gonna Make You Sweat Spin Mix (43 minutes) – 25,524 views
(the #1 playlist every year. Could it have something to do
with the title? Last year it got even more views.)
2. Best of 2010 Spin Mix Version 2 (45 minutes) – 7,682 views
(new!)
3. Give Me Everything Spin Mix (75 minutes) – 7,658 views
(new!)
4.
Best of 2010 Spin Mix (47 minutes) – 5,730 views (new!)
5. Rock ‘n Roll Spin Mix (43 minutes) – 4,711 views (the #2
playlist in 2009 and #3 in 2010)
Spinning
Music's
Top
Spinning Tunes of 2011
25
Happy New Year!
Here is Spinning Music’s fourth
annual list of the top 25 spinning tunes of the year.
It was a great year for music with lots to choose
from.
Lady GaGa cleaned up this year with three entries,
while Rihanna, David Guetta, and Flo Rida all scored two.
Adam Levine of Maroon 5 was close behind with one song of his
own and featured in another. Regular readers know that I have
a huge soft spot for Canadian artists, and five of the artists
on this year’s list hail (as I do) from Canada. You can find
all 25 songs in one playlist on iTunes Ping – my handle there
is Spinning Music.
It was a great year here at Spinning Music, too.
Traffic
mushroomed to 640,000 views this year (about 1,750 per day)
and surpassed 1,000,000 all-time views over Labour Day weekend
in September 2011. The blog accumulated another 250,000 views
in the last four months of 2011 – more traffic than it
attracted in 2008 and 2009 put together.
344 people now
follow the blog, plus more than 1,000 who follow on Ping.
A huge thank you to everyone who visited or took the time to
comment or ask a question or post a ride in 2011. You’ve
helped me create a welcoming community of individuals from
every continent except Antarctica, bonded by our passion for
indoor cycling. I love hearing what you’re spinning to. I
especially
want
to
thank
J.R.
Atwood
over
at
www.spinningmixes.wordpress.com and David McQuillen over at
The Sufferfest for being the top two referring sites for this
blog. I also want to give a big shout out to Judy, Dana,
Ellis Rutherford, Carsten, and Lisa, the top five contributors
to the blog for 2011. Thank you!
Big changes are afoot for Spinning Music in 2012.
I am
planning a move to a dedicated domain and have enlisted
someone far more tech-savvy than me to spiff up the blog and
really make it shine.
will become forums
The reader playlist page and Bike Cafe
(no more crashes due to too many
comments!), there will be more searchability, and (one of my
2012 resolutions) more posts. I’d like to hear from you. Is
there anything else you’d like to see?
Here we go, the top 25 spinning tunes of 2011…
1. The Edge of Glory – Lady GaGa (was there ever any doubt
that this is the best spinning song of the year? A gorgeous
combo of climbing for the versus and sprinting for the
choruses.
Even when I think I’m utterly spent, I find a
little more juice when I hear this song. GaGa wrote it about
the death of her grandfather in 2010 and the late Clarence
Clemons contributed a wonderful sax solo).
2. We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris) – Rihanna (another
great climbing song, this one had to grow on me but it
deserves the #2 spot. I never tire of it).
3. Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 (more climbing. A great year
for Levine. He had a huge hit with this song, a regular TV
gig as a judge on The Voice, and featured on Stereo Hearts,
another great tune).
4. Sweat (Snoop Dogg vs. David Guetta) – Snoop Dogg and David
Guetta (still more climbing).
5. Sexy and I Know It – LMFAO (nobody had more fun in 2011
than the dudes in LMFAO and this is a perfect, light-hearted
start for a spin class that also works for jumps).
6. Rolling in the Deep – Adele (2011 was Adele’s year, no
question. Her album 21 went to #1 in 18 countries and created
all sorts of records, including a match for one previously
held by the Beatles. She’s uber-talented, but most of her
music isn’t really suited for spinning. Rolling in the Deep
works as an energetic warmup, thanks to the drumbeat.
A
confession: her other huge hit, Someone Like You, is gorgeous,
but the lyrics veer too close to pathetic stalkery selfabsorbtion for me to be able to enjoy it.
the minority on this one).
I recogize I am in
7. S&M – Rihanna (more climbing, with jumps at the chorus.
This one also gets the prize for being the FM radio hit you
least want your kids to sing along to).
8.
Jet Lag (feat. Natasha Bedingfield) – Simple Plan (a
sprinting song with sweet pop deliciousness, plus they hail
from Montreal, Canada.).
9.
Tonight Tonight – Hot Chelle Rae (jumps.
perfection).
Pure pop
10. Niton (The Reason) [Radio Edit] – Eric Prydz (I couldn’t
get enough of this tempo drill; extended mixes take it as long
as 8 minutes).
11.
Every Teardrop is a Waterfall – Coldplay (another
gorgeous climbing song from Coldplay, but it can’t top 2008’s
Viva La Vida, which is one of my favourite spinning songs of
all-time).
12.
Marry the Night – Lady GaGa (despite being a huge GaGa
fan, I only discovered this song recently.
tune).
13.
A great sprinting
Born this Way – Lady GaGa (more sprints).
14. Give Me Everything (feat. Ne-Yo) – Pitbull (gorgeous cool
down energy).
15. Brand New Chick – Anjulie (a versatile tune that works
for climbing or jumps, and the artist even hails from my home
town of Oakville, Ontario).
16.
Mr. Saxobeat (Radio Edit) – Alexandra Stan (another
versatile tune that works as a warm up, climb or tempo drill
from Romanian artist Stan. The song has done well in Europe,
Australia and North America).
17.
Good Feeling – Flo Rida (great for climbing or jumps).
18. Where Them Girls At (feat. Nicki Minaj) – David Guetta,
Flo Rida & Nicki Minaj (another climb).
19. Pumped Up Kicks – Foster the People (the underdog of the
year. Dark, dark lyrics disguised in a catchy pop riff – like
finding a razor blade in your cotton candy).
20.
Beautiful People – Chris Brown (fantastic warm up
energy).
21. Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You) [feat. Ludacris] – Enrique
Iglesias (the original version is cocky… and filthy. A great
song for jumps).
22. When We Stand Together – Nickelback (double-time jumps
make this one of the toughest jumping songs I’ve ever used,
plus the band hails from Alberta, Canada).
23. Haven’t Had Enough – Marianas Trench (a jumping song from
this Vancouver, Canada band).
24.
Invincible – Hedley (inspiring lyrics for this seated
grind of a climb by British Columbia rockers, Hedley. Trivia:
the lead singer was a contestant on Canadian Idol in 2004-05
but dropped out near the end).
25. Stereo Hearts (feat. Adam Levine) – Gym Class Heroes (a
perfect cool down song).
Well, did I get it right? You might quibble with the order (I
quibble with it myself – every time I pulled up this draft
post, I moved something around). Did I leave out any of your
favourites?
If you follow the charts there probably weren’t many surprises
on this list – all of these songs did very well in 2011. For
a more eclectic list of great spinning songs (not limited to
songs that came out in 2011), check out ICI Pro Indoor Cycling
2.0‘s blog post here.