Spinning Redux …
01. Jai Ho – A.R. Rahman: Warm Up/Run/Burn (L+) Slumdog Millionaire ranks as one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. It’s based on the book Q and A written by Vikas Swarup. Jai Ho is the song that plays at the end credits but I think it makes for a great start to a spin class. Do some light stretching and then it’s time to GO, GO, GO! Throw in a couple of burns to keep it exciting!
02. Name Of The Game – The Crystal Method: Pioneers of the big beat electronic dance genre … despite it’s massive popularity, The Crystal Method almost never play it live. I re-discovered my love of this song when I heard it on the movie Tropic Thunder. It seems to be a staple movie song and perfect for a heavy out of the saddle climb.
03. Let Me Think About It – Ida Corr vs. Fedde le Grand: There are so many remixes for this song that it was hard to pick one. I stuck with the Fedde le Grand version that has a more upbeat ‘house’ feel. This song works well for a fast climb with moderate tension. Just tough enough to burn those legs but not so tough that we slow down to a crawl.
04. The Way I Are – Timbaland: How does he do it? So many catchy beats in his arsenal … you could run a whole class playing practically every Timbaland song. We’ll stick to this short song for today. Heavy tension, standing when Keri Hilson sings and sitting for D.O.E. We should be crawling by the end.
05. Candy Shop – 50 Cent: Written by 50 Cent and Scott Storch who also produced. Obviously influenced by middle eastern music and that’s what I love about it. Turn the tension down just a bit and alternate between hovers and standing climb. Always keeping up with the beat of the music.
06. Fire – Scooter: These guys are intense! Their trademark sound features spoken or shouted vocals, pitch-shifted vocals and live performance elements such as crowd samples. Time to put some fire into those legs! All out lung-busting run with burnouts on each chorus!
07. Let It Rock – Kevin Rudolf feat. Lil’ Wayne: Listed #28 on Rolling Stone’s list of the best 100 songs of 2008. Good enough for us! After that punishing sprint, it’s time to stand up tall and climb. Crank the tension up until you are moving in tune with the song. Continue adding a bit more tension after each chorus and don’t ever think of slowing down!
08. It’s Going Down – Frontline: This SF Bay Area group stand apart from the pack. They don’t consistently make records about violence and they often bring up the topic of being positive role models for youths in their lyrics. This song samples a Steve Miller song, the name of which I cannot recall. Here we stand and slow it down by adding more tension. Throw in a couple of hovers to really punish those glutes!
09. Let Go – Paul Van Dyk: One of the top dance singles of 2008. I really like this song because I hear a bit of U2 in the way it is sung. Let’s release some tension here and just go for an all out run with burnouts. There’s a bit of time in the middle of the song where we can catch our breath, then ride it to the end!
10. Man Eater – Nelly Furtado: Another great tune that will keep our legs pumping now matter how tired we are feeling! Add enough tension to feel like you’re pedaling against the wind. This is a climb and burn drill! We’ll stay seated except on the chorus, during which we will stand and hammer on the pedals as fast as we can. Tension up each time we come back to the saddle. Whew!
11. Inspection (Check One) – Leftfield: Yes, I went all the way back to 1996 for this one. This song is from the movie Hackers. One of my all-time favourites! Yes, Im a huge techno-geek but I’m not ashamed to admit it. I could teach an entire spin class to the Hackers Soundtrack but I don’t because I want everyone to like at least one song during the ride. For this one, we tack on just a bit more tension and do intervals in and out of the saddle with a few hovers in between.
12. Whine Up – Kat DeLuna: The title of this song comes from the Caribbean English (West Indian) pronunciation of Wind up meaning to move one’s hips on the dance floor. So let’s wind up and run switching between seated and standing. Steady pace with a little tension for the whole song.
13. Drive It Like I Stole It – Apathy: I first heard this song while playing Midnight Club 3. Yes, I play video games too. 
Bums back to the saddle, adding enough tension to feel like we’re pedaling against the wind. Again, steady pace and cranking it up every 30 seconds ’til the end. Feeeeel those legs burn! We’re almost there!
14. Slam – Onyx: Let’s go back to 1993 and slam this mutha! Everyone knows this song! Crank up the tension and slam down on those pedals! Standing climb all the way to the top!
15. Khalghi Stomp – Transglobal Underground: I love the eastern flair of this song. I found this gem in Thievery Corporation’s Versions album. Perfect for cooling it down.
16. Transcendence – Thievery Corporation: I use a lot of downtempo/electronica for cool downs and TC is one of my faves. Last song for clean ups and goodbyes!
Total Time: 57:34
