Music to muscle by

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I should start working out, fuck./ Michael Chmielewski

I should start working out, fuck./ Michael Chmielewski

Do you listen to chill it or kill it tunes?

Let me just get straight to the point. When I work out, I crank up the Celine Dion tunes on my ol’ iPod. In fact, my favourite workout jam year-round is Celine Dion’s These are Special Times Christmas album. For me, nothing beats bench pressing to the sound of “Oh Holy Night” or doing an ab circuit to the tune of “Feliz Navidad.”

Do you think that’s weird? Probably. Whatever. I just know that for me, working out is a time of relaxing, breathing, and feeling good ‘cause I’m doing something I love, hence the chill Celine Dion tunes.

However, I understand that other people on this planet listen to more upbeat music to pump them up for their workouts. So, my friends, I set out to discover which type of music is more popular for gym-listening: chill it or kill it tunes?

As you know, I stand on the chill it side. Thankfully, I’m not the only one. On the chill it side, I got responses from various gym-goers, such as “Classical for days. ‘Cause it’s the shit” and “I listen to the Sound of Music because I’ve always wanted to look like Julie Andrews.”

Mmm, yes, Julie Andrews. The Carillon’s own Multimedia Editor, Brady Lang, also lands on the chill it side, stating that he listens to “Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Andrew W. K. – you know, the essentials.”

Also, former U of R student Jayla Wiest, who is now a personal trainer in Regina, says, “Country music, ‘cause you can be mellow when you work out.”

You see? Even a personal trainer says you can listen to chill music in the gym ‘cause it mellows you out, or, in other words, keeps your muscles loose, your body relaxed, and your mind in a good peaceful space. I’m so happy other people besides me like to listen to chill tunes while working out. I thought I was the only super odd duck in this world.

Anywho, let’s jump to the kill it side. The following gym-goers enjoy listening to more upbeat tunes to pump them up for killing it in the gym, responding in this way:

“Hip Hop… FOR DAYS.”

“[The] only working out I would ever do is running…but I would listen to several different songs that have the same, upbeat pattern to them so I can time my steps to the beat and keep an easy pace just listening to the music. I can lose myself in the beat and the run.”

“Hard-core beatz.”

“Depends on the workout. Long distance, running, or endurance training = Dubstep/R&B, weightlifting = Metal/Rock, and swimming = country.”

You can listen to music while you’re swimming? Interesting.

Furthermore, Sarah Campbell, one of the pitchers for the U of R’s softball team, stands on the kill it side for gym tunes too, stating, “Mash ups. Because they aren’t the normal song, so you don’t always know the words, and then it confuses and distracts me from the fact that I’m hating my life on chest day.”

There we have it, people! Seems to me that although quite a few people like the chill it tunes for workouts, quite a few people also like the kill it tunes. Seems pretty equal to me. I guess it’s just a matter of personal preference.

And, if you’re extra odd, like some of us at the Carillon, you may enjoy listening to the Mario Kart 8 soundtrack – specifically Bowser’s Castle theme – while running on the treadmill like Op-Ed Editor Taras Matkovsky does; or you may enjoy popping on a TV show to watch while working out – specifically The First 48 or other murder documentaries so you can imagine running away from the killer – like Graphics Editor Haley Klassen does.

But, that’s a whole ‘nother category. We won’t even go there.

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