Illustrated By Mary Schafrath.The right music can make or break your workout. That's why we tapped some of the best instructors, trainers, and DJs to curate the perfect soundtrack for every session.
This Week: Clifton Harski of Fitwall
If you’re going to be spending 150 minutes a week working out (which you should), you need to refresh your music on a weekly basic. You can only sprint to Britney’s “Work Bitch” for so long before your muscles start to cringe every time they hear it. Hence, the creation of our Power Play series, where we pump our favorite instructors for their killer playlists. Yes, our reasons are entirely selfish: We want to find new, undiscovered songs (and classics we forgot about) for our own mixes. Our fitness fiend on tap this week is Clifton Harski, director of training and national head coach at the trendy new studio, Fitwall. (You may remember him schooling us on proper plank form last week.)
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“We take the music seriously,” Harski says of his studio. “The playlists always are a blend of contemporary hits, throwbacks, club bangers, and dance favorites. The magic in our mixes is that the music always matches the intended intensity of the workout.” The secret sauce for creating the perfect workout playlist, according to Harski? Playing funky, dance-fun tunes during moderate intensity work, then gradually building the volume and pace for the high-intensity sets — and finally, featuring slower, lighthearted songs during recovery periods.
So, whether you cherry-pick your favorite songs from the track list below, or train with this mix from start to finish, it’s time to give your go-to songs a break.