As long as I can remember, music has been a big part of my life ranging from my mom playing cassettes and records of the best songs from the 50's to the 80's, to listening to my big brother on the guitar playing blues & rock and all the way up to now listening to metal and hard rock. Some of my taste may give people the impression of "how can you listen to that noise" but also I have a taste that goes with many styles including some classical like Beethoven or Mozart.
You go through various stages in life and that will include music and although a lot of it can be off putting, some of today's music isn't all that terrible. When I was in grade school in the 90's, it was Tupac, Biggie, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and Metallica (talk about a weird combination of taste). In High School, it was Ozzy, Disturbed, Godsmack, Eminem and others. Once I hit my 20's, it was almost purely rock and metal. I still listen to the oldies and always loved 80's rock but more often these days it's a mixture of things from bands like Fozzy, Peyton Parrish, The Hu and others.
For years on Youtube, I would do my thing of demoing exercises and workouts such as bending steel, push-ups, bridging, swinging a hammer or mace and many more but something didn't always feel right and sometimes it just seemed boring or too quiet to do something. Once I learned about TikTok, that gave me the boost I needed to give my videos something more than just doing a movement or set of exercises. You can put music on Youtube but it can get tricky, with TikTok, you can do samples of thousands of songs to add into a video in a snap.
Putting a hard rock song or metal or a combination with a symphony just gives the video something more than just viewing. For me, the music may not always suit what I'm doing or demonstrating but it works for me and I get to pick some pretty cool songs that people might enjoy. I love metal so you'll hear that more often but other times you'll hear epic instrumental movie style music like from composer Antti Martikanien; his style ranges from pirates music to Celtic, Viking, the Highlands and pure classical.
I don't just show exercises, I want to give people an idea of the type of music I love and even be able to time the music with the exercise(s) being shown to make it a little more epic or fun (sometimes just being goofy). It also gives an impression that I like music while training. It puts you into another state of being and it can jack up the nerves in your body to get some crazy strength. Concert Virtuoso & Strength Training Extraordinaire Garin Bader knows this better than anyone and understands the true power of what music does when you workout.
One of my favorites is a warm up song I use from time to time is actually a remake of a Disney song from the 90's film Mulan by Peyton Parrish called I'll Make A Man Out Of You. The original is awesome in its own right but Peyton's version just makes you feel that raw, passionate and fire within you and want to conquer anything you put yourself through. Hell, if you have a dog, it might turn into a bad ass wolf the moment you put that song on. I've used a sample of it in several videos and it never ceases to make me feel like I can take on anything and do things I've never done before. That's the power of music.
Some will say that playing music while working out can make you lose focus and hinder your mind and body connections and it's best to train without music. Who really came up with that concept and who's to say it doesn't increase your level of awareness? Some do amazing workouts without music, some do amazingly awesome with it. There are a lot of benefits to listening to music while training (I wouldn't recommend the gym because most places does have shitty music and it's not always somebody's preference) but when you're at home in your garage or at a park or the beach, put some headphones on, play your favorites and get cracking. You might come out of that workout changed and feeling more alive.
Listen to the type of music that gets YOU going and kill it with your favorite bands or listen to soft style music like from a Japanese garden or meditation music for Yoga or for a stretching routine. Listen to music that makes YOU happy and gives you the thrill of being in an epic workout.
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