by Karyn Silenzi,
Fitness professional,canfitpro PRO TRAINER, ICG/Life Fitness Master Trainer North America
Have you ever attended a fitness class and been so moved by it that you tried to remember or recreate the playlist to use later? Music has always been a key driver in the fitness world. The two biggest compliments members have about a fitness class is the music and the class profile. The two biggest member complaints — Music and class profile!
As a fitness instructor, picking the right music is of key importance. Searching for songs and creating profiles can take hours. Creating your own workout playlist shouldn’t take that long but it can feel overwhelming at times. Spotify now lists over 50 million songs, amazon has over 55 million, and iTunes offers access to over 60 million songs. That’s a staggering amount of options.
I’ve compiled my top 5 Spotify hacks that make playlist creation a breeze. I encourage you to share yours or any “a-ha” moments after reading this list.
Do you have thousands of songs and playlists clogging up your Spotify library page?
Spotify allows users to create folders to categorize playlists into an orderly fashion. A time and sanity saver, organizing your creations will leave you with a fresh, crisp main page that is easy to navigate.
Are you needing the perfect song with a specific BPM and feel?
sortyourmusic is a website that links to your Spotify account and allows you to see and filter every song in your library by bpm. It also filters for key drivers that allow you to create the perfect mood for any occasion. Whether you are looking to create energy, the perfect danced list, sort by valence, or filter by popularity, this website does it all.
Do you love a certain playlist you have but tired of those exact songs?
Spotify allows you to “Create a similar playlist” of songs to give you a head start by pre-filling your playlist by 75% of “new to you” songs with similar duration, bpm, and mood.
Are you interested in creating a playlist of songs you own AND Spotify songs?
You can import your own tracks from the “Local Files” section in the Preferences menu. On a PC, go to Edit > Preferences (on a Mac go Spotify > Preferences) and click “Add Source” to add folders from your computer.
Do you want music that is specific to your tastes?
Spotify “gets” you. Spotify makes suggestions of songs you may wish to add to a playlist and new tunes released that may appeal to you. It’s a great way to add new music that you are sure to like but haven’t had a chance to explore yet.
BONUS
If you want to control your creations or instantly share a playlist…
Spotify has different privacy and sharing options. From making playlists private to creating collaborative magic, Spotify makes it easy for you to decide. Under settings, go to the “Social” tab to decide what and how much you want to share, or click on each playlist for more options.
For those of you with iTunes or amazon accounts — what are your hacks? For those of you with Spotify, what else do they offer that you find invaluable?
If a playlist can make or break a fitness class, what can it do for your own personal workout? Music drives intention, motivation, and emotion. Make sure your gym playlist has it all.
It’s difficult to find educated people on this subject, but you seem like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks