BEACH-BODY BINGO:
BUSH WILL PUMP YOU UP
This PoMo classic from Bush's 1996 debut album, nominated by BMX biker Mike Spinner, beat out 63 other “heart-pumping workout songs to earn the top spot,” as the press release put it. These included current tracks like Tame Impala’s “Elephant,” Fun.’s “Some Nights,” Bon Iver’s “Holocene” (?!) and Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” along with moldy oldies like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” McFadden & Whitehead’s “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” and Nirvana’s still-ubiquitous “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
The 64 tracks were chosen by including celebs including Will Ferrell, Mickey Rourke, Flo Rida, 50 Cent, Gabby Reece and Run DMC, as well as members of Gold's Gym and Men's Health readers. They asked to pick a song that personally motivates them in the gym, and their selections went head-to-head in the bracket-based tournament.
The winning track, Men’s Health noted, “ruled rock radio in the ’90s thanks to its classic, crunchy guitar riff, which still provides the perfect pump-up for a workout.” The rest of the Final Four: Eminem and Nate Dogg’s “Till I Collapse,” GrandMastaz’s cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” and LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem.” More than 40k votes were logged.
"There's no doubt that music has become an integral part of the workout experience," said Dave Reiseman, VP of Communications for Gold's Gym. "In fact, studies have shown that music can increase the intensity of a workout by up to 15%. We brought back March Music Madness because it's been a great way for fans to share and vote for their favorite workout songs, and maybe find a few some new additions for their playlists. It's been fun to hear which songs are helping our members knock out that last rep on the bench or mile on the treadmill."
While we’re on the subject, here’s an entry on “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” we banged out for the 2011 iTunes lifestyle playlist The Sound of Working Out. If you can find it in the store, let us know where it’s located.
“When you recover [from three sets of pushups], you roll over on your back and get ready to give your abs their turn. You slide up the volume on your iPod a notch to get the optimum lift out of McFadden & Whitehead’s pumpin' disco groove, using it as a funky metronome to spike your exertions. You put your core muscles through the ringer with crunches, reverse crunches, oblique crunches, bicycles, the works, exhaling audibly into the uplift of the chorus, John Whitehead's testifyin’ giving way to silky female voices: ‘Ain't no stoppin’ us now/we’re on the move…we’ve got the groove.’ You bounce up from the prone position surprisingly refreshed—you’ve caught your second wind…or is it your third—and you take a few deep breaths before heading to the weight room to pump some serious iron.”
Time to get started, 97-pound weaklings!
