Create A Mood Boosting Playlist to Enhance Your Workout

There are certain songs that completely enhance my mood and make me want to hit the gym.  I love to run to house music and lift to hip hop.  No matter what, I need to have something constantly on that makes me want to dance.  Studies prove that the rhythmic speed of your tunes influence your athletic performance. Fast-paced music is great for cardio (it makes sense that I like to run to house music). The best pump-it-up music should be between 120-140 beats per minute.  If you really want to check to see if you’re maximizing your playlist for your workout routine, simply count the beats in the song or you can use a Windows BPM calculator.

Choose your favorite, most high-energy song to start and finish your cardio routine. This will help you get going and entice you to finish.  Just when you think you can’t go anymore, the song will come on reinforcing you to fight to the end.

Here are some of my personal favorite, up-beat songs that get me to the finish line:

Dynamite by Taio Curz

I'm In Love by Alex Gaudino

S & M by Rihanna

Stereo Love by Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina

Gettin' Over You by David Guetta

Over by Drake

Win A ReFlex Safety MP3 Holder Band so Your Boobs Don't Break Your iPod

I have a confession: sometimes when I'm at the gym I place my iPod in between my cleavage so I can lift free weights. I have to admit, it worked well and "the girls" kept it in place , until one day when the screen went white.  At first, I didn't relate the problem to my cleavage.  Why would I?  But it turns out, my boobs broke my iPod! Allow me to explain – My iPod still plays music, but I can't see anything on the screen at all, which is beyond frustrating.  When I brought it to the MAC store for an explanation I was told that it got wet.  Which can only mean one thing – it broke due to the sweat that drips down my cleavage in my sports bra day after day.  It's official, my boobs broke my iPod.

Lesson learned, get an arm band!  But don't think I haven't tried them before.  Some brands, like the Nike ones are too big for my arm and slide down to my wrist.  I found a good one – ReFlex Safety MP3 Holder Band, $9.95 that fits and the pink one donates to breast cancer awareness.  It's made with reflective materials so you can run outside at night with and be safe.  ReFlex origionaly made reflective gear for the military so they're all about safety.

Want one?  I'm giving one away!  Follow @beautysweetspot and @reflexsafety and "like" Reflex Safety on Facebook and I'll randomly pick a winner at the end of the day on Twitter.  Good luck!