Music While You Lift

[quote]Big Kahuna wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]Big Kahuna wrote:

[quote]SSC wrote:

[quote]Big Kahuna wrote:

[quote]SSC wrote:
One of the legit biggest guys I’ve ever known IRL told me his best song ever for lifting was “Part of Your World” from the Little Mermaid.[/quote]

I know one guy that works as a real estate agent that competes in bodybuilding nationally, one of his favourite training songs is “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar.[/quote]

I don’t doubt it. I still like my hardcore rap and death metal every once in a while (because I just enjoy the genres more than anything else,) but I have in the recent 1.5-2 years become much more akin to listening to songs that may not necessarily be as “fueled.” Less aggressive and downtempo stuff has done wonders for helping me ‘get into a zone’ when lifting, to be honest.[/quote]

I have an intense passion for classical music and 80’s synth pop. I do my Deadlift maxes to the 1812 overture and I squat listening to Lionel Richie and Hall & Oates, I shit you not.

I’m more of the quiet, relaxed olympic lifter stereotype when I prep for a top set than the loud, energetic powerlifter stereotype. I guess the music choices mostly mirror that natural personality type when it comes to what people listen to in the gym. I’ve never seen said real estate bodybuilder shake the bars or scream to himself when he does drop sets or something, but he gets his boogie on between sets sometimes listening to pop music. Little strange, but he’s got his results.[/quote]

You should try lifting to Gyorgy Ligeti.

I prefer “Requiem” and “Musica Ricercata” (all eleven movements/pieces), and to a lesser extent, “Movimento Precisso e Mechanico”, “Continuum”, “Lontano”, “Magany”, “Melodien”, “String Quartet” (No. 1-9), and of course, Lux Aeterna and Atmospheres, both of which feature prominently in 2001: A Space Odyssey, as does parts of Requiem (the part called Requiem for Soprano y Mezzo Soprano, although i recommend the full piece, which I believe is about 30 minutes long). You’ll probably recognize Piece 2 from “Musica Ricercata” if you’ve seen Eyes Wide Shut, too.[/quote]

Taken me a while to go through a reasonable amount of his work before I could justify a response, I think as they relate to me, I find most of these to be a tad too experimental (continuum in particular is a very unorthodox one). Maybe it’s an acquired taste so I will by all means give them a chance, to see if my opinion changes once they mesh with a gym setting.
I think I’m more taken in by the soothing, ominous works than his more rapid, “wilder” compositions. In particular I found a mesmerising version of Lux Aeterna done A Capella I will post below.

I like the story behind the Musica Ricercata’s Second Movement choice for Eyes Wide Shut, as it relates to Hungary and the authoritarian rule of Stalin, also works incredibly well in relation to the film.

I’ve yet to listen to Requiem in it’s entirety, so I shall do that in the gym today and report back, I expect continuous exposure and gradual fatigue onset will make the piece progressively more “powerful”.

(Here is the A Capella).

I also recommend anything by Wagner.

[quote]Big Kahuna wrote:
On a side note, I find it hilarious that all of your choices play on a kind of motivational “method acting”, please post a video of you going to the gym playing all the best hits from Rocky, with a grey hoodie and black beanie.[/quote]

Good choice of MGS tracks my favourite is Father and Son from MGS4, but I get too choked up listening to it to train with it haha

You are totally right about the motivation method acting hahaha, I’m probably the worst with Wolverine related stuff as Hugh Jackman’s build was always want I wanted to attain

Listening to this during my workout just makes me get furious

The Star Wars soundtracks can be really good to lift to. Sometimes they make me feel like I’m lifting in zero gravity.

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:

[quote]Big Kahuna wrote:
On a side note, I find it hilarious that all of your choices play on a kind of motivational “method acting”, please post a video of you going to the gym playing all the best hits from Rocky, with a grey hoodie and black beanie.[/quote]

Good choice of MGS tracks my favourite is Father and Son from MGS4, but I get too choked up listening to it to train with it haha

You are totally right about the motivation method acting hahaha, I’m probably the worst with Wolverine related stuff as Hugh Jackman’s build was always want I wanted to attain

Listening to this during my workout just makes me get furious [/quote]

I love Father And Son. This is good, isn’t it? “Sorrow” and “Atonement” are beautiful tracks also. Don’t worry about it, I’ve cried numerous times at every Metal Gear game, even the old MSX2 games. It’s easily my favourite game series of all time.

I can’t wait for MGSV. Not only do I think the story will let the philosophical monologues of all other games flourish to a whole new level, but I love the story and idea behind Big Boss and I can’t wait to see it be expanded.

Also it will give me a snazzy new “Diamond Dogs” avatar to use. I think I’ll prefer it to Fox Hound or MSF logos, even though they’re both incredibly meaningful.

I feel good things, right now I feel good things. It will be something I haven’t had the chance to feel in a long time playing the next installment in the Metal Gear Solid series. I thoroughly look forward to the soundtrack for that.

[quote]polo77j wrote:
Here’s the thing: yea sure, this topic has been talked to multiple times and for us who have been around here for a few years or more it might seem a little redundant. However when given a chance to breath and evolve into what threads naturally evolve into most of the time the people who want to partake in this conversation (whichever iteration it may be) tend to have a good discussion. Hell, sometimes someone mentions a band or a genre I had never considered listening to until perusing one of these thread.

Also, another thing to consider, there are a lot of people here who may be new and who don’t generally waste ample amounts of time at work or home glued to their computer waiting to sardonically reply to a rehashed topic with “dude, use the search function” or “not this again” or whatever iteration of that general comment your wit can muster (I generally appreciate pictures to accompany any witty or not so witty response … especially ones with wimminz). Topics like music and movies or books or what have you where tastes differ widely and can and do largely change over time and pretty rapidly should get a pass from these types of responses and be given a chance to breath and evolve. Not everyone knows everything like y’all do about every subject ever, plus these are generally enjoyable topics.

[/quote]

Yes, this. Stop being such fucking fags.

I used to train for powerlifting in my garage and though I changed the music regularly the music that got me up for PRs was the more aggressive stuff by Tool . Songs like Hooker With a Penis, The Grudge, Stinkfist were awesome when going for a heavy deadlift.

Now I train in a commercial gym and have to listen to crap like One Direction or Taylor Swift etc… F@#$ me it’s distracting but I guess it forces you to totally focus on what you are doing.

I would say however there is a huge difference in the mood and if you want to lift heavy you need to get in the zone. This has left me thinking that perhaps I should join the crowd that wear the headphones /ear plugs and listen to their IPods. I always thought that having that kind of thing on me would be too distracting and very anti social but I’ve never tried it before and not sure if I can put up with hearing another Justin Timberlake or whoever song.

[quote]Big Kahuna wrote:

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:

[quote]Big Kahuna wrote:
On a side note, I find it hilarious that all of your choices play on a kind of motivational “method acting”, please post a video of you going to the gym playing all the best hits from Rocky, with a grey hoodie and black beanie.[/quote]

Good choice of MGS tracks my favourite is Father and Son from MGS4, but I get too choked up listening to it to train with it haha

You are totally right about the motivation method acting hahaha, I’m probably the worst with Wolverine related stuff as Hugh Jackman’s build was always want I wanted to attain

Listening to this during my workout just makes me get furious [/quote]

I love Father And Son. This is good, isn’t it? “Sorrow” and “Atonement” are beautiful tracks also. Don’t worry about it, I’ve cried numerous times at every Metal Gear game, even the old MSX2 games. It’s easily my favourite game series of all time.

I can’t wait for MGSV. Not only do I think the story will let the philosophical monologues of all other games flourish to a whole new level, but I love the story and idea behind Big Boss and I can’t wait to see it be expanded.

Also it will give me a snazzy new “Diamond Dogs” avatar to use. I think I’ll prefer it to Fox Hound or MSF logos, even though they’re both incredibly meaningful.

I feel good things, right now I feel good things. It will be something I haven’t had the chance to feel in a long time playing the next installment in the Metal Gear Solid series. I thoroughly look forward to the soundtrack for that.[/quote]

They are unbelievable games, truly great experiences. I can’t wait MGSV either, will be the last game I get for this generation of console except for Dark Souls 2 if that doesnt come out for next gen.

Too busy collecting SNES games to waste money on this generation console garbage which brings me back to your point regarding 8 bit soundtracks…gotta get some Castlevania!

I have hopes for the new Wolverine, not extremely high hopes though haha but either way i will be at the midnight showing dressed in my tank top, beard cut and my claws on

Wow! I’m not going to quote because shit is getting too messy and cluttered. But I can say I am truly happy that I’m not the only person who enjoys (prefers) less-conventional music when I lift.

Especially when I see Yoko Shimomura! (Nerds, fuck yeah.). Nobuo Uematsu is awesome too. I still think J-E-N-O-V-A from the FFVII ost has got to be one my favorite ‘zone’ songs. Love the Castlevania! (I’m a huge fan - and love the original 8-bit Bloody Tears from Simons’ Quest.)

Funny side story, the only time I’ve ever puked from a workout was a few minutes after a leg day. I left the gym and was driving home with wicked nausea. I cranked Passion *After the battle from KH2, as it’s obviously a calm and quiet song. Well, I still ended up having to ralph, so I pulled into the closest available parking lot, which just so happened to be a center for the blind and hearing impaired, threw open my door and let it all go. What’s funny to think about is that there were several people in the parking lot staring at me as this happened… Some dude who just whipped in with some loud Japanese music playing, puked, and then left. Hell yes.

Anyway - some ‘calmer’ stuff I’ve been listening to recently has been more electronic-based - artists such as: Starkey, Ital Tek, Polish Ambassador, Kuedo, Com Truise, Solar Bears, Teen Daze, et al.

Also - Love the Chrono Trigger as mentioned earlier! So dynamic. I’ve become a huge fan of pretty much the entire Skyrim ost for obvious reasons as well.

I usually listen to house & techno while I lift. I DJ so while I’m at the gym is the best time to listen over my sets. It lets me listen to 1) whatever the hell I want and 2) it’s a good time to analyze my technique for mistakes and so on.

So yeah, I can be a head bobber between sets.

[quote]SSC wrote:
Wow! I’m not going to quote because shit is getting too messy and cluttered. But I can say I am truly happy that I’m not the only person who enjoys (prefers) less-conventional music when I lift.

Especially when I see Yoko Shimomura! (Nerds, fuck yeah.). Nobuo Uematsu is awesome too. I still think J-E-N-O-V-A from the FFVII ost has got to be one my favorite ‘zone’ songs. Love the Castlevania! (I’m a huge fan - and love the original 8-bit Bloody Tears from Simons’ Quest.)

Funny side story, the only time I’ve ever puked from a workout was a few minutes after a leg day. I left the gym and was driving home with wicked nausea. I cranked Passion *After the battle from KH2, as it’s obviously a calm and quiet song. Well, I still ended up having to ralph, so I pulled into the closest available parking lot, which just so happened to be a center for the blind and hearing impaired, threw open my door and let it all go. What’s funny to think about is that there were several people in the parking lot staring at me as this happened… Some dude who just whipped in with some loud Japanese music playing, puked, and then left. Hell yes.

Anyway - some ‘calmer’ stuff I’ve been listening to recently has been more electronic-based - artists such as: Starkey, Ital Tek, Polish Ambassador, Kuedo, Com Truise, Solar Bears, Teen Daze, et al.[/quote]

Yeah the videos are getting a little heavy handed I guess. #SadFace

I love Uematsu, Terra’s theme from FFVI is incredible, perhaps one of my all time favourites.

Ooh you’re into shoegaze kind of stuff? If you’re not already I’d recommend subscribing to majesticcasual on youtube, a lot of great indie songs on there, from all genres really. It tends to be more straight electronic, but they tend to throw in indie rock remixes and shoegaze/chillwave every now and then.

When I really need to pump up for a PR I just throw on the Yakety Sax.

Use at your own discretion. May cause frequent PRs.

always need a new thread. old thread old music, new thread new(er) music

always need a little heavy but love the change of pace

a definite T-Nation song

I gonna’ stand up and fight, gonna knock out the sky
cause I don’t give a shit!
Ya mother fucker’s feelin’ me, are ya mothers fucker’s feelin’ me

channel your inner Jimi for a little blues

just a great song and group

[quote]silverblood wrote:
always need a new thread. old thread old music, new thread new(er) music

always need a little heavy but love the change of pace

a definite T-Nation song

I gonna’ stand up and fight, gonna knock out the sky
cause I don’t give a shit!
Ya mother fucker’s feelin’ me, are ya mothers fucker’s feelin’ me

[/quote]

That Adrenaline Mob song is pretty sweet. That is precisely the reason we need new music threads every now and again. But there have been people complaining that “we’ve already had this thread a million times” since fucking forever on here.

https://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/lifting_music_2 (look at the 5th post)

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]silverblood wrote:
always need a new thread. old thread old music, new thread new(er) music
[/quote]

That Adrenaline Mob song is pretty sweet. That is precisely the reason we need new music threads every now and again. But there have been people complaining that “we’ve already had this thread a million times” since fucking forever on here.

https://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/lifting_music_2 (look at the 5th post)
[/quote]
too much great music out there to listen to the same stuff over & over like those damn classic rock stations. you’ll never know what you might miss!

and for those that like classic rock something new

something from the 80’s just recently released

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:

[quote]Big Kahuna wrote:
On a side note, I find it hilarious that all of your choices play on a kind of motivational “method acting”, please post a video of you going to the gym playing all the best hits from Rocky, with a grey hoodie and black beanie.[/quote]

Good choice of MGS tracks my favourite is Father and Son from MGS4, but I get too choked up listening to it to train with it haha

You are totally right about the motivation method acting hahaha, I’m probably the worst with Wolverine related stuff as Hugh Jackman’s build was always want I wanted to attain

Listening to this during my workout just makes me get furious [/quote]

Damn, I really liked that song! Most of the posts in this thread are songs I haven’t seen posted on T-Nation before; good thread.
Recently I’ve been playing this on repeat in the gym. It’s not new, but I didn’t even know about it until I was randomly going through IT’s discography one day.

Bit late, but I can get my funk on to this on Squat Day.

my best work out music tends to be Disturbed, killswitch engaged, Underoath. Most anything i can listen to and be perfectly fine with listening to it.

I love this one. Not heavy metal, but it’s made to look like the future of sports as seen from 1982 or something.