What is the best music for exercise?

It’s a pretty common sight to see runners these days packing a pair of ear buds as they push themselves up a hill or through that last mile. Go to the gym and you’ll see half or more of the people there listening to music while they work up a sweat. It’s no secret that we like to listen to music while we work out; it’s also true that while some music may be great, it’s not good for that morning run or Zumba session.

Do you ever wonder what, exactly, it is that makes a song more or less motivational when it comes to exercise? Some songs just make you want to jump up and move; others, not so much. The truth is, there’s actually some scientific basis when it comes to “good” exercise music.

Costas Karageorghis is an associate professor of sport psychology at Brunel University in England. He’s studied the effects of music during exercise for two decades, creating a rating system, Brunel Music Rating Inventory, for determining how motivational a song is during exercise.

Karageorghis found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that tempo is one of the main factors involved when deciding whether a song is physically motivating or not. Ideally, a song should be between 120 and 140 beats per minute (BPM). This corresponds not only to most dance music we hear, but also to the average heart rate of a person during a workout.

High intensity workouts such as running might work better with a higher BPM (147-160), while walking would be much lower—around 115 BMP. Speed walking, however is just below running, at 137-139 BPM.

If you can, it’s also good to eliminate gaps between songs, much like a DJ would mix one song into another. This allows for continuous exercise without a break between. People tend to work at the tempo of the music, so if there’s a pause or discrepancy there, it doesn’t work as well.

Past the BPM, it’s really a matter of musical preference. Some music is more associated with “power,” such as heavy metal—so it’s more popular with power sports like bodybuilding. Others might prefer pop music, rap, or indie. According to Karageorghis, the perfect workout song “evokes a state of optimism and excitement in the listener.”

Why Vinyl’s Still Alive

The introduction of the CD and of digital music was the end of vinyl for most people. But it wasn’t the end of vinyl altogether. Though it still only accounts for less than one percent of total music sales, there are still a select few who continue to stay loyal. These days, vinyl may not be the main media form for new music, but it still holds significance—whether it’s a keepsake, a physical representation, or a better sound—to many music lovers today.



It probably won’t ever return to its previous glory, though sales have been steadily growing in past years.. The records are fragile—they can break and be scratched, and they take up more space in an era where smaller is better.



In an interview with NPR, Andres Santo Domingo, who is a co-founder of the independent label Mexican Summer said, “Vinyl is definitely growing, and will continue to grow. But I think there’s a ceiling. I don’t think it’ll ever become the prevalent format. I think it’d be crazy to think that.” Mexican Summer is vinyl-only and a sister-label to Kemado Records, Santo Domingo’s other record label.

Andres Santo Domingo at Kemado Records' new location

Another reason vinyl will probably never return to its former glory is because of the complex process that goes into creating it, and the fact that consumers can’t do it right from home. In New York City, there used to be as many as 50 pressing plants; now there are three. The machines used to produce vinyl records aren’t even made anymore, so that makes upkeep very difficult and expensive.



It takes one machine about thirty seconds to make a single record. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gets melted down from pellet form into a shape similar to a puck. It then gets heated by steam and pressed by molds with the specific ridges for the A and B sides of each record. Next, cold water cools the record, it gets pulled from the mold and trimmed, and the next record gets started.

Part of the process of making colored speciality vinyl is taking pellets of polyvinyl chloride and melting them into the standard soft puck shape of an unpressed record

And though it is just a tiny speck of the music industry today, vinyl seems to be holding steady for now. Jenn Wasner, who is the singer for Wye Oak is a lover of vinyl. The duo is about to have their third album released in LP format, something they’ve been asking their label to do for a long time.



“It looks better,” she says of vinyl. “It sounds better. You can hold it in your hand. It’s a keepsake that you can hold in your hand and treasure for years.”

Death of a Piano

Silver Swan, from source

Every day, pianos all over the world are reaching the end of their days. They’ve lived long lives and now it’s time to go. Perhaps they were never well built, but they still made music, made someone smile. What sort of end does a piano deserve? When it can’t stay tuned and the restoration costs more than it’s worth—money most people don’t have—what’s to become of the beloved piano?

According to the BBC, the sad truth is that more and more pianos are going to the dump, being burned for the wood, or getting chopped up for wood chip. A few lucky ones get taken in by restorers willing to spend the money to fix them up, but these days there are far too many pianos at the end of their lives than there are restorers to take them.



Pianos saw their heyday around the 1920s. This was a time when they were finally being mass made for the public, not just for well-off families and those with high status. This meant they weren’t made as well—as so often mass-produced products aren’t—and it’s those pianos that are dying now. So, metal, wood, ivory and all, they get sent to the dump.



But there’s something inherently sad about a piano ending up in a massive pile of garbage, isn’t there? They are such personal instruments—they’ve made us laugh, smile, even cry at the beautiful music they’ve produced. They’ve helped us express ourselves, tap into our creativity, and feel the joy of making music. It seems like they should have a better end.



A lucky few might be made into furniture piece-by-piece, or even art. This feels like a more justified end for some reason—perhaps it’s because they can still be enjoyed and appreciated by people in those forms. They’re not just dismantled, thrown away, and forgotten about.



Blake Cooper at Cooper Piano in Atlanta, Georgia explained the process of disposing of a piano to BBC. “I’m not going to tell them I’m going to chop it up and put it in a hopper,” he said. “It’s an emotional thing. The piano is like a form of expression, and all of a sudden, you’re dealing in a strange situation. All those pianos had somebody happy at some time. All those pianos did that. They really don’t owe us anything. People were happy, even if only for a moment. Did the piano smile? I don’t know—it might have.”

Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst of Saddle Creek Records

Saddle Creek Records was born in 1993 in Omaha, Nebraska by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst. It was originally named Lumberjack Records and was a project in a college class on entrepreneurship. Its name was later changed to “Saddle Creek” after a street in midtown Omaha, where its first artists were discovered.

The record label found its beginnings in the same city it was founded—Omaha—signing artists like Bright Eyes (whose credited members include Mike Mogis, Nate Walcott, and Conor Oberst), Tim Kasher (Slowdown Virginia, Cursive, and The Good Life), as well as others.


The label is still growing today. It has kept many of its original artists, like Oberst and Kasher, and has also branched out. Its current artists include Bright Eyes, The Desaparecidos, Broken Spindles, Cursive, The Good Life, The Myrnabirds, and more.

Check out our full feature on the label for more information.

Andres Santo Domingo and Tom Clapp with Kemado Records

Kemado records was founded in 2002 by Andrés Santo Domingo and Tom Clapp and includes a sister label, Mexican Summer. Based out of New York City, the label is a small independent one that embraces the idea of vinyl as a medium.  

Andres Santo Domingo and Keith Abrahamsson at their vinyl co-op store

When Kemado records opened up their new location in Brooklyn they looked particularly for a location that would allow them to include a small vinyl co-op store and commerical recording studio.


"We just needed more space. We looked all over Manhattan and found a couple of spaces -- we looked everywhere," Andres Santo Domingo explained to Black Book Mag. "But when we came out to Brooklyn and saw the spaces out here in Greenpoint, we knew we could do a commercial recording studio."

One of their biggest successes was as part of Mexican Summer, which was the 2009 release of Crazy for You by Best Coast.  The release sold around 57,000 copies, including 10,000 of which were LPs.  

For more information about Andrés Santo Domingo, Tom Clapp, Keith Abrahamsson, and Kemado Records check out our feature on them.

How does music affect us?

Music has a profound effect on us. It can amplify our moods—positive and negative—and it can also have positive physical impacts. According to studies from a variety of medical and educational institutions—including the well-known Mayo Clinic—music truly does have the power to heal.

Music reduces anxiety and stress, improves mood, distracts us from feeling pain, and promotes positive emotions. Of course, these reactions also assume that a person is listening to music they like—doing the opposite can result in less positive or even negative reactions.

Because stress levels tend to go down when we listen to music we like, our blood pressure can actually decrease. This is good news for those of us with higher-than-normal blood pressure and tension. It’s also good news for patients recovering from operations, cancer, or other physical ailments, as it can help speed recovery time along.

In fact, music can decrease anxiety so much that one study even found that patients with Parkinson’s disease were more relaxed when listening to music—while on the operating table. Patients who listened to purely melodic music were comforted and some even fell asleep during the operation.

Our brains control our bodies. It’s no secret that positive thinking has had positive, physical health benefits. The same is true of music. Apparently, listening to “joyful” music has been connected with a healthier coronary system, triggering a dilation of blood vessels around the heart and allowing more blood to pass through.

Being a musician has its health benefits, too. Lifelong musicians have been linked with better sound processing, the difference becoming especially evident as aging progresses. Musicians have also shown greater mental acuity in old age, and retain that sharpness for longer than those who were not musically inclined.  Music can actually make you smarter.

Taking music lessons and being actively involved in making music has also been linked to better memory. Studies have shown that information recall and verbal memory in children who take music lessons is higher than average.

So, there you have it. If you didn’t already have a good excuse for being a music lover or musician before, now you have the proof and support of science. Now go and be merry. And listen to some tunes while you do it.

Record Owner Brett Gurewitz

Brett Gurewitz

Brett Gurewitz is a guitarist, songwriter, and record label owner. A member of the well-known band, Bad Religion, he founded Epitaph Records in 1981 as a means to publish the group’s music. Since then, the label has grown to become one of the largest independent pop music labels, signing groups such as Rancid and The Offspring. Epitaph also has several sister labels, including ANTI-, Burning Heart Records, Fat Possum Records, and Hellcat Records.



In 1979, when he was 19, Gurewitz joined Bad Religion. He has been a member on and off since then. He recorded two albums and one EP with the band from 1979 until 1983, when Gurewitz had to quit to go into drug rehabilitation. They reunited with them again in 1986 until 1994, recording a further six albums. In the mid-nineties, Epitaph garnered widespread popularity when The Offspring and Rancid released new albums with stunning success.



Gurewitz became immersed in Epitaph’s success, but from 1996 until 1999 he developed a strong drug addiction and had to leave the label for a short time after an overdose. After cleaning up, Gurewitz again began working with Bad Religion alongside his responsibilities at Epitaph, first co-writing a song for an album and later rejoining the band in 2001. He has been with the band ever since, but often does not travel for live performances unless they are nearby.



Brett Gurewitz has also been involved with several other bands outside of Bad Religion as both a producer and a guest artist—NOFX, Pennywise, Daredevils, The Distillers, Matchbook Romance, Parkway Drive, Heartsounds, and many others. Through his many years of ups and downs, drug problems, and personal woes, one thing has remained strong: his drive to succeed in creating great music. That’s why, apart from so many other great musicians, Brett Gurewitz is still around today inspiring musicians to succeed.

Thanks for coming to my blog!

Honestly, if it comes to one particular thing that has vastly improved modern life I would have to suggest that music make the list.  Music, and the ability to take it with us wherever we go, makes life immeasurably better. 

Here on my blog I'll be writing about music and the modern world, whether that's through write ups of independent record labels that I'm researching, descriptions of odd musical instruments, or simply whatever music news hits my fancy.  

Check back here weekly for more information about the music industry and music world.  I don't know about you, but I plan to have a blast.