Sometimes you can do all of the things—set fitness goals, schedule your workouts in your calendar, sign up for new and fun exercise classes, engage in movement modalities that have a mind-body connection, sync your workout plans with your cycle—and still not feel in the mood to workout when the time comes.
It’s important to take a moment and check in with yourself on those days and in those moments you’re just not feeling it. Sometimes the right thing for you and your body is to rest or take a gentle walk instead of doing the full-scale Pilates class you had planned. But there are other times when moving our bodies is exactly what we need to destress, get out of funk, and feel good again. Yet despite being able to discern these moments, it can still feel like an uphill struggle to start to move our bodies in the moment.
Enter the power of music. 🎶
We’ve all experienced the uplifting power of music. The way a specific song can transport us back to a certain memory in just a few seconds, or the feeling of freedom and possibility you experience when driving with the windows down, stereo blaring one of your favorite tunes.
That’s because when you listen to music, different parts of your brain light up, including the frontal lobe, which is involved in thinking, decision-making, and planning, and the cerebellum, the part of the brain that coordinates movement and stores physical memory.
Listening to music also increases dopamine production in the putamen (the part of the brain that processes rhythm and regulates body movement and coordination) and in the nucleus accumbens (the part of the brain that seeks pleasure and reward and releases the neurotransmitter dopamine).
Moreover, while we might not often think of music as being mathematical or analytical, music is incredibly mathematical and structural. Your brain has to work hard to piece together and make sense of the complex combination of vibrations that get transmitted through the air into your ears.
In all these ways, listening to music is like a workout for your brain. It forces the different neurons in your brain to fire in a specific way that makes you feel good and inspires you to move. That’s why turning on a great song is one of the best ways to find motivation when you’re feeling tempted to skip your workout.
Below are five of the songs we turn to do just that. From classic pop, to Latin, classic Oldies, these tunes are sure to lift your spirits and help you get in the mood to move.
Then, once you’re ready to crush your workout, head on over to FRAME’s Spotify account and grab one of our Plates playlists curated by our instructors!
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Listen to One of These Songs the Next Time You're Tempted to Skip Your Workout
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
By Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
The Vibe: Feel-good nostalgia. Whether you grew up listening to Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell’s classic, or have only danced to it at weddings and parties, its easy-to-follow-beat and uplifting lyrics are sure to get you in the mood to move.
Strings Attached
By Nu Aspect x Arkaden x Sam Welch
The Vibe: Dance electro pop with a soft, swaying beat. Pressing play will immediately transport you back to that time you danced till 5 am in that European, multi-story duplex club. Listening to it will quite literally help your body and brain warm-up.
TUKI TUKI
By Pucho y Tucutu X Gente de Zona X Motiff (feat Tony Succar)
The Vibe: Latin Urban with a Reggaeton flair and feel-good tone. It’s pretty much impossible not to get up and dance to the booty bouncing, hip-swaying rhythm of this song.
Soul
By Lee Brice
The Vibe: Driving in the car windows down, breeze blowing, music blaring. This upbeat, feel-good tune has just the slightest country flair that adds to the positive vibes and feeling of possibility you’ll experience while listening to it.
Put It All On Me
By Ed Sheeran (feat. Ella Mai)
The Vibe: Bright, beautiful, pop. The sweet lyrics and cheery beat of this song match its rhythm perfectly and give off those feel-good, groovin 'vibes you need when you aren’t feeling like following through on your workout plans.
