Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Bodymusic Gym CD mix

Do you listen to music in the gym? If I’m training by myself, I do. I hide under the noise-cancelling headphones my husband bought me for my birthday (best. present. ever) and get to work. The thing is, even with 3000+ songs in my iTunes, I end up listening to the same thing over and over again. I mean, can you ever have enough JLS? What? You can? Oh.

So it was with delight that I opened a mystery envelope this week to unearth a CD full of “choons” designed for the gym. Hoorah! Thank you, Defected Records and DJ Sam Divine.

Defected, the house music people, released the first edition of Defected Bodymusic (“I Like Exercise, But I Love Music”) last Summer. Now, they’ve brought out “Body Music Workout”, three new one-hour mixes (Run, Gym and Chillout Stretch), all mixed by Defected DJ Sam Divine. Here she is, being a lot cooler than I am.

Run is full of uplifting, bouncy beats and up tempo tracks, Gym – so the press release tells me – is deep grooves, and the Chillout & Stretch is a down tempo, melodic and hypnotic mix.

Well, I go to the gym, so I opted for the Gym CD. No flies on me! Here’s the link to it on iTunes. The mix starts off with a short “warm-up” section, which is slow but funky, before launching into the main workout section. It’s not as hardcore or fast as I expected, but then it is aimed at training in the gym, not pelting round a running track or something. It’s around an hour long and I guess an hour of techno would be a bit much, particularly in combination with a pre-workout supplement or a strong espresso. The mix is more lyrical, with plenty of tracks I recognised (but not ones which I’d heard too often already) and all of them worked their way into my head during the hour. There’s then a short cool-down section, which is slower and gentler. Full details in the blurb below, and here’s a screenshot of the tracklisting.

Here’s the blurb on all three, not just the one I tested out:

Defected presents Bodymusic Run (DJ Workout 2) – Uplifting and soulful with a bouncy beat that’s fast moving between tracks. It contains a main workout mix plus bonus warm up and cool down mixes. Based around classic uplifting house vocals from ATFC, Dennis Ferrer, The Shapeshifters and Kings Of Tomorrow amongst many others, there are plenty of house anthems and familiar disco hooks to keep energy levels high…

Defected presents Bodymusic Gym (DJ Workout 3) – Deeper grooves with contagious, head-nodding and toe tapping beats, surrounded by the coolest vocals. It contains a main workout mix plus bonus warm up and cool down mixes. More suited to a gym workout on machines or with free weights and interval training, the music is a little tougher and certainly more epic. Once again, there’s plenty to be familiar with: Bob Sinclar is joined by Sandy Rivera, Haji & Emanuel and Tensnake and with many of the vocal tracks there’s plenty lyrically to get inside your head and really push you to achieve the ultimate training goal.

Defected presents Bodymusic Chillout, Stretch & Tone (DJ Workout 4) – Melodic and hypnotic, with a seamless flow of quality chillout vocal house tracks. It contains two de-stressing DJ mixes. With this edition we explore another side to fitness, with slowed down sounds for a more sensual workout. Better suited to stretching, Yoga and Pilates, the focus is on well-being with house music for the mind, body and soul. Favourites from Afterlife, Louie Vega, Guitarra G, DJ Gregory and Dubtribe Sound System are included to transport you to a different place.

Sound good, don’t they? All three are available on iTunes now and are a bargain-tastic £4.99. I think I’m going to get the other two, actually!

Thank you, Defected!

What’s your favourite kind of music to listen to whilst training? Are you a cool, house music type or stuck in a boy-band jag like me like some people I’ve heard about?

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Bodymusic Gym CD mix is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.