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How do I Choose the Best Indoor Cycling Music?

Sheri Cyprus
Sheri Cyprus

The best indoor cycling music to choose for your workouts should be favorite songs of yours that you find inspiring and motivating. You should pick songs with slower rhythms for the beginning and end of your indoor cycling program, but select more upbeat music for the middle portion when your peddling will be the most intense. Creating various compilations of indoor cycling music from which to choose for your workouts can keep you from getting tired of certain songs.

Keeping to an interesting theme is easy if you search online for "song lyrics" and add key words after that phrase such as "road" or "highway" for example. Once you listen to the songs in your chosen theme and have picked the ones you would love for your indoor cycling music, order them in your compilation with the most intense, lively ones in the middle. For instance, in a theme relating to highways or roads, Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" may make a good starter song, while Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" is more lively and Deep Purple's "Highway Star" is even more fast-paced.

Soft instrumentals, like those composed by P’yotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, may be good for workout warm-ups and cool-downs.
Soft instrumentals, like those composed by P’yotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, may be good for workout warm-ups and cool-downs.

You could also compile indoor cycling music that is all of your current favorite songs, or the top tunes from a certain year. For something different in the way of indoor cycling music, consider creating an instrumental soundtrack that involves many types of sounds from Irish flute to Spanish guitar. Some styles of music such as marches or Dixieland jazz can be especially uplifting and motivate movement.

Deep Purple's "Highway Star" is fast-paced indoor cycling music.
Deep Purple's "Highway Star" is fast-paced indoor cycling music.

Another option for creating indoor cycling music is to focus on a favorite genre, such as classical. Softer pieces and composers such as Tchaikovsky may be best for the warm-up and cool-down components of your workout, while more energizing sounds such as Vivaldi could be used in the middle. Avoid any music you may find depressing though, as the idea of cycling music is to keep you motivated so you keep going in your workout. While there are likely to be exceptions, drum solos or opera pieces aren't typically going to make great cycling music.

For people who enjoy singing, a good idea for motivating cycling songs is to choose tunes to sing along with, whether these are from Broadway shows or Top 40 radio. Singing along to indoor cycling music can be a great motivating factor in a workout as long as you do enjoy doing that. The more varied you can make the themes and music compilations, the more enjoyable your cycling workouts should be, as you'll have many different options from which to choose.

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    • Soft instrumentals, like those composed by P’yotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, may be good for workout warm-ups and cool-downs.
      By: Juulijs
      Soft instrumentals, like those composed by P’yotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, may be good for workout warm-ups and cool-downs.
    • Deep Purple's "Highway Star" is fast-paced indoor cycling music.
      By: cirkoglu
      Deep Purple's "Highway Star" is fast-paced indoor cycling music.