My chain gym, LA Fitness, actually plays a decent selection of music. They used to play a lot of uncensored gangster rap, but I guess someone at corporate finely took notice of all of the complaints and found a better mix for a gym in which 75% of the members are between the ages of 35 and 50. We now get a mix of best of 80s, and 90s with a healthy dose of current pop hits. I still would prefer my own mix, but the music is so loud that I have to play my ipod at way to high a volume to drown it out, so I don't bother trying anymore.

I complain about this to the trainers regularly. It's especially bad in areobics classes where the instructors favor the Britney-Aguilera-Madonna-Disco mix. I avoid those instructors like the plague now. High level aerobics are hard enough without feeling like the body is fighting with the music. Call me sensitive.

On the other hand, some instructors routinely pick excellent music and their classes are a pleasure. There are just too few of them.

And while the research my be technically correct that genre doesn't matter, i *do* believe that good workout music has a certain charactersitic that can be quantified, with the right fingerprint, descriptors and PCA program.

Here are my choices for good workout music that I have on my ipod:

Jump in the Line (Baseketball vrsion) - Aerobics

Seven Nation Army (White Stripes) - Tread, elliptical, spin

The Way - Aerobics

Further on Down the Road (Eric Clapton) -Tread, elliptical, Spin

Spirit in the Sky (Norman Greenbaum) - Tread, elliptical, spin

I Feel Like a Woman (Shania Twain)- Aerobics

Volcano (Jimmy Buffet)- abs

Baby, You Can Drive My Car (Beatles) - Toning, abs

Legs (ZZ Top)- tread, elliptical, spin

Jessica (Allman Brothers)- tread, elliptical, spin

Mas Qui Nada (Brazil 66)- tread, elliptical, spin

Honky Tonk Woman (Rolling Stones) - Anything aerobic

Short Skirt, Long Jacket (Cake) - toning, abs

Lake Charles (Lucinda Williams) - cool down

After 45 minutes of these tunes, you will feel refreshed and energized as opposed to 45 minutes of the electronica pop princesses who will make you feel like they've "Hit you baby one more time."

I like to switch between these two:

- Of Montreal's "Sunlandic Twins" (because it moves me)

- El-P's latest (because I imagine being chased by dogs and helicopters)

In Portland (Oregon), the gym I belong to will only play the worst hits of the '70s and '80s. There was so much good music made in those years, too bad they never play any of it.

No one will ever agree. But that's why ipods were invented. My constantly changing workout playlist currently contains:

• Million Young -- American Analog Set
• He War -- Cat Power
• I Knew This Nurse -- Crime
• San Francisco's Doomed -- Crime
• Start Choppin -- Dinosaur Jr.
• Merit -- Dirtbombs
• Natural Man -- Dirtbombs
• Refried Dreams -- Dirtbombs
• Little World -- Evangeline
• Mt. Pleasant Isn't -- Evens
• Blue Thunder -- -- Galaxie 500
• Return the Gift -- Gang Of Four
• Found Out About You -- Gin Blossoms
• Game of Pricks -- Guided By Voices
• Closer You Are -- Guided By Voices
• My Valuable Hunting Knife -- Guided By Voices
• Gold Star For Robot Boy -- Guided By Voices
• I'm Bored -- Iggy Pop
• Lust For Life -- Iggy Pop
• Brea -- Jawbox
• Motorist -- Jawbox
• You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory -- Johnny Thunders
• No Wow -- Kills
• Wake Up Dolores -- Los Lobos
• Don't Give It Up Now -- Lyres
• Help You Ann -- Lyres
• American Ruse -- MC5
• Kick Out Jams -- MC5
• N-Sub Ulysses -- Nation of Ulysses
• AAA -- Paul Westerberg
• Trigger Cut -- Pavement
• Nonalignment Pact -- Pere Ubu
• Sheela Na Gig -- PJ Harvey
• Lets Kill Ourselves -- Ponys
• Man with a Golden Helmet -- Radio Birdman
• One Way Street -- Saints
• This Perfect Day -- Saints
• Seminole Wind -- Sally Timms
• 2+2 -- Seger Liberation Army
• Master Blaster -- Stevie Wonder
• Loose -- Stooges
• Brand New Love -- Superchunk
• Run Run Run -- Velvet Underground and Nico
• Adult Books -- X
• Y Control -- Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Set to shuffle, and I'll never have to hear "eye of the tiger" again.

Gyms play crappy music in the weight room because...well let's face it, these people just don't know what good music is. Their minds are on how many calories they intake that day, or whatever. But for those of us who crave good music, I can say with certainty that the genre of choice is hard rock/classic rock music. This is the ONLY music played in school gyms (not for-profit clubs) or any other place where the guys who work out also control the music. Specifically, one band stands out above all: Led Zeppelin. I've been thinking about why this is the case that Zeppelin would be so widely played in weight rooms. Then I read Chuck Klosterman's writings. Case closed. Play Zeppelin! (and the Rolling Stones, the Who, Jeff Beck, Allman Bros, etc)

I always start any run with White Zombie's Thunder Kiss '65. After that I let the Ipod shuffle randomly through a run playlist.

The next 10 selections this time:

Ikara Colt - Sink Venice

Sons of Hercules - Gimmie Some

The Riverboat Gamblers - Ice Water

Mastodon - Hand of Stone

McLusky - Falco vs. The Young Canoeist

The Riverboat Gamblers - Hey! Hey! Hey!

Fugazi - Public Witness Program

Cows - Heave Ho

Clutch - Milk of Human Kindness

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

I agree that music in Spin class is absolutely paramount to whether I enjoy the class or not. I go to the same two instructors very early in the morning because they generally play the kind of music that pumps me up-- a great mixture of 80s rock and all-over-the-map from more 80s rock to New Age. I really don't care what kind of music is playing in the rest of the gym while I'm lifting because I'm either concentrating too hard on what I'm doing or I'm chatting with other members.