BPM of Exercise Music

I previously wrote a post about Music and Exercise. I’ve done a little more research on the subject and found that music with a BPM (Beats Per Minute) of 120 to 160 is the best for exercising. Generally, dance music and a lot of rock music are in this range. Play music with a tempo about 120 BPM for walking around 3 MPH, 140 BPM for power walking around 4.5 MPH, and up to about 160 BPM for running.


There is a free program you can download from MixMeister that will measure the BPM of your music. It’s called the BPM Analyzer. There are downloads for PC and Mac. I downloaded the PC version. It is a really fast download and is only 664 KB.

I am currently running the BPM Analyzer and scanning my music. I will then choose songs with a BPM of 120 or more and make playlists from there to correspond with the different exercise routines I engage in. I’ll make one playlist for my cardio sessions on the elliptical, stationary bike, and treadmill, one for my outside power walks, and one for my strength training sessions. I’m not going to rely exclusively on the BPM Analyzer results though. Just because a song may have 150 BPM doesn’t mean it’s a song that will motivate me while I’m exercising.

Please feel free to share any other ideas about exercise music or apps or programs that you know about by leaving a comment.


I originally posted this 12/21/11 on my other blog.