Working out when the motivation is not there is hard, but working out with a sporadic attention span much akin to a cat on catnip is much, much harder. As someone who struggles with both incredibly saddening ailments, it can get really hard to pull myself up by the bootstraps and get my blood pumping and body moving. I’ve been able to find ways to somewhat enjoy running. An interesting outdoor space and some good funky tunes often do the trick, but what if it’s raining? What if I simply don’t want to go outside? Gyms are a hassle, with or without the added fear of potentially catching COVID-19, and even if I did have equipment at home I always tend to stray from the machine-heavy workouts. Workout routine videos never worked for me, as keeping track of the number of reps was a lost cause and the repetitive routines quickly became boring after a few rounds. Music or having a movie or show playing in the background always helped, but it still lacked any structure needed in keeping a somewhat steady routine.
I was lost on my perilous workout journey and didn’t know what to do. Then, like a soccer ball flying out of nowhere heading straight for my unsuspecting head, it hit me. I could make the repetitive, yet stimulating, structure of lyrical music work for me.
First, get yourself ready for the workout. No matter how long or short you want it to be, it’s always important to drink a lot of water beforehand and do some light stretches to warm yourself up. After you’ve got yourself and your space ready, pick a playlist. It can be any playlist. This might take a while, as it is easy to fall into the indecisive scrolling wormhole that is picking what type of musical vibe you want to have for your workout, so doing this while stretching and warming up would be a great use of your time.
After you’ve picked your tunes, it’s time to begin. As the first song comes on, start off by doing some light jumping jacks along with the first verse. As it changes to the chorus, work those legs and do some squats. Once the bridge hits, hit the floor and do some sit-ups. The duration of each action and the routine as a whole depends on how long the verses, chorus, bridges and song as a whole are, as well as how long you are willing to let the playlist run. Worried about a song not having a bridge? Skip the sit-ups or replace any of the other sections of the song with the action you desire. Is there a song that’s longer than the others? Take it as endurance training and see how far you can go. Are one of the songs too short? Then it’s a short round of the routine, treat it as a cool down or the equivalent to a sprint. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the playlist workout. Feel free to play around with it with however much you want. Working out shouldn’t be a dreadful chore you keep procrastinating to do, nor should it be a mind numbingly boring experience, so kick the dust off of those kicks and get to moving and grooving.
