Lifetiquing

Here's a workout resource that you probably haven't tapped: there are literally millions of sets from DJs all over the world in any electronic music genre you can imagine, at any BPM that you need for your workouts, available for free download.

I am a huge electronic music fan and have been for at least 10 years, making my way through the ranks of break beats, trance, dance, hard dance, hardcore, electro, electro house, techno and minimal techno. Since electronic music is very much about the live music scene and less about a particular popular track, DJs release their live or studio mixes online for free, which means that there is a neverending supply of 1-3 hour mixes containing the latest and freshest tracks available for free. Electronic music is designed to motivate you to move your body- what better workout music is there?

It is a common perception that electronic music consists entirely of repetitive euro dance or house remixes of popular songs. This is incredibly far from the truth, but it does take time to develop taste in/tolerance for some of the less accessible electronic music genres. Here are some recommendations that I have for you to get started on using electronic music for your workouts.

Weekly Shows

1. House/Trance: Judge Jules' Weekly BBC Radio 1 Radio Show, which starts with slightly more mellow house and electro house and builds to trance music. Judge Jules plays the newest and most popular electronic music tracks and will expose you to a variety of genres and artists- plus he has a great personality that makes the show fun to listen to. A new 2-hour episode streams from the U.K. at the BBC website every Friday (and you can listen live from 6-8 p.m. E.S.T.). You can also download the show for free from various websites, including All DJ.

2. Progressive/Trance: Markus Schulz's Global DJ Broadcast World Tour, which starts with progressive and develops into trance and tech-trance. Markus releases new Global DJ Broadcasts every week, but on the first Thursday of every month, he streams a recent live set from one of his tours. His live sets are much more energetic and interesting than the studio sets, so I'd highly recommend you try one of those first. GDJBC broadcasts live every Thursday at 12 p.m. on DI.FM and can be downloaded from All DJ.

Sets

3. House: Laidback Luke's 2011 Essential Mix. Essential Mix is another BBC Radio 1 show that broadcasts weekly on Friday nights, but it's hit or miss. Some of the artists are much more obscure and play less workout-appropriate music. Laidback Luke is a popular electro house DJ who released an absolutely killer mix earlier this year. I used it for workouts for several weeks. It's a slower BPM than trance but I think it's more accessible to people who are not familiar with electronic music. This set just compels you to get up and move! You can download it from House Planet DJ.

That should be plenty of food for your ears. If you'd like more recommendations, leave a comment and I will reply or possibly write another post with more recommendations