A very important part of my workout routine has been selecting the right music for my playlist to keep me motivated. I had loaded up my cute little pink mp3 player with a good chunk of my digital music but it was getting to be a pain scrolling through to find songs that went with the various stages of my routine so I went through and picked a bunch of my faves to use. I have to admit seeing them in a list, they are kind of umm eclectic. Whatever. They work.

• One for the Mockingbird – Cutting Crew (not this version but this is all I could find but good classic 80’s song)

• Faith - George Michael (I dare you to not shake your butt)

• Freedom 90 – George Michael (Wave ya hands in the air)

• Love Song – Sara Bareilles (Love the piano on this song and it has a great steady beat)

• Never gonna give you up - Rick Astley (I danced to this in the 80’s and still love it)

• Pump it – Black Eyed Peas (Good song when you feel your energy flaggin’)

• Don’t Lie – Black Eyed Peas (There are a few BEP songs that are great to work out to)

• My Best Friend’s Girl – The Cars (Another good steady beat song and makes me remember my party days in the early 80s)

• Promiscuous – Nelly Furtado (Another good hip shakin’ song)

• Radio Radio – Elvis Costello and the Attractions (Makes me wanna pogo)

• Runaway – Del Shannon (Ok this one is weird I admit it but I love it anyway)

• Shakira – Hips don’t lie (Oh hey more hip shakin’ and this one it even says so in the title)

• Before He cheats – Carrie Underwood (A countryish song that crossed over but I love it, nice revenge music not that I have anything revengey to do)

• Stronger – Britney Spears (I like to save this until near the end if I need a good boost of motivation, yeah yeah it’s Britney but whatever, don’t judge me)

• Big Girls don’t cry - Fergie (A slow jive in some parts, but it has good pickup)

• Build me up Buttercup - The Foundations (Just a good happy song) *edit to clarify (for Tom’s sake) that it’s a fast peppy song not the actual subject matter

• Time to Start – Blue Man Group (Great drum beats)

• Unwritten – Natasha Beddingfield (It’s about things changing, what could be better in a song when you’re trying to change yourself for the better? Plus I like to sing along with it even if it’s being overplayed now by those damn Pantene commercials!)

• What goes around comes around – Justin Timberlake (JT is the king of sexy dance grooves)

• Sexy Back – Justin Timberlake (This one you get pretty tired to if you go backwards on the Elliptical, it’s a longish song and quite peppy)

• Cry me a River – Justin Timberlake (Ok yes I admit it I do like JT but not in THAT way he’s a baby)

• Who am I – Lena Anderssen (Fast song, great beat and hey, my Cousin was a producer (and mixer) on her albums, She is of Faroese Canadian descent too .. me with a little Scottish thrown in for good measure..and grew up the same place as me. I also recommend “Can’t Erase it” and “Things I’ve never learned”)

• Bootylicious - Destiny’s Child (My body IS too bootylicious)

• Candy Man - Christina Aguilera (Cute and cheeky retro sounding song)

• Home - Daughtry (Slower song but you can still move to it)

• Party for Two – Shania Twain (Billy Currington version, hate hate hate Mark McGrath)

• Aserejé - Las Ketchup (A silly little ditty in Spanish that I totally make up the words to..”A sera hey ha the hey the hevy to the hevyin sevyou no wa na havey and they boogie and they wigedy bee”- that’s what it sounds like to me!

• I Don’t Feel Like Dancing – Scissor Sisters (This song TOTALLY makes me feel like dancing and I still need to get THIS song, I love the video)

• Who Knew - Pink (Great song for working with resistance, especially PUNCHING)

• Just What I needed – The Cars (Yep another Cars song)

They will stay until I’m sick of them, or until I need to mix it up a bit. Some will stay some will rotate out but they are doing it for me so far.