Cinematic Playlist for Running/Exercising
Run like Tom, for us who can’t but try.
What are some good songs to listen to when you’re exercising? Surely there are loads. What are some good songs or scores from movies to listen to when you’re exercising? I am asking for new suggestions for film music/film scores to listen to while exercising. I haven’t been keeping up with current music, so practically the only new music I get to listen to are music from new movies. I couldn’t be bothered anymore to look up new songs. Let alone get attached to one so I’d be comfortable listening to it while I run.
I find listening to film scores while running is great. There’s another level of layer of motivation to go faster or harder, like, “Well, Wonder Woman didn’t stop running before her theme ends, so why did you slow down?” or “Tom Cruise sprinted throughout this song and you stopped in the first minute?”
For me, a good start to the exercise would be ‘Waking Up’ by M83 and Joseph Trapanese from Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise. This should be your soundtrack when you walk from the changing room and stretch because this is when Tom Cruise was getting ready to do his job at the beginning of the movie.
Then you start running to ‘Growing Up Londinium’ or ‘Run Londinium’ by Daniel Pemberton from the much underrated/unfairly derided King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. It has a really nice beat to run as it was a score for a chase scene — hence the title Run Londinium (duh). Growing Up Londinium is shorter by a few and has a badass section near the end where you should sprint. Pemberton’s other music are also great for running, such as the ones from The Man from UNCLE.
After that I have some choices to do more running. I usually go with ‘Brothers in Arms’ by Junkie XL from Mad Max: Fury Road. In the first minute, you could jog or walk because it has a slower beat. Once the strings kicks in, you resume running. The motivation behind this is that this was played during the movie when Max, Furiosa and the Wives were teaming up as Immortan Joe was chasing them. So, do you stop when the bad guy is going after you?
Another choice is ‘Wonder Woman’s Wrath’ by Rupert Gregson-Williams, for the sole fact it has the Wonder Woman’s Theme in a faster beat. Also the scene in the movie was pretty badass even though she released her wrath unto the wrong person (oops spoilers).
By now, I would be exhausted because who am I kidding, I usually watch movies, not exercise. But I still have some song choices before I go to the cooling down track, just to alternate in different days (but you can go on running).
There’s also ‘Home’ by Hans Zimmer from Dunkirk, which I play when I really hate myself (which is never so this one only gets airtime when it’s on shuffle) because this one’s a long track with no slower or faster parts, so it would just guilt you if you stop any time before it’s over. Another one I recently play a lot during the session is ‘Stairs and Rooftops’ by Lorne Balfe from Mission: Impossible Fallout. Also a quite long track but Tom Cruise broke his ankle in this scene so who are you to complain? So with this song, I usually set the incline a bit high just to get into Ethan Hunt’s state of mind.
I used to throw in ‘If You Fight, I Fight’ from Creed by now-Academy Award winning Ludwig Goransson (who once liked my tweet praising his work in Creed). This one has a badass rap part and could make you think you have a physique like Michael B. Jordan for three minutes. Another track I like is ‘Fight Night’ from Batman v Superman, where Batman single-handedly and brutally took down a gang of bad guys to save Martha (don’t laugh, it’s a good scene!). Hans Zimmer & Junkie XL’s scores tend to go really well with running. ‘Mombasa’ from Inception is good, and most of Junkie XL’s track from 300: Rise of An Empire work too.
For the cooling down track I play ‘The Landing’ from First Man by the great Justin Hurwitz who was snubbed this year. Just think of you finishing your exercise was as great an achievement as Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. Pro-tip: Time yourself to stop running just as the loud orchestral boom hits. It felt great and you’d still have a soundtrack to stretch.
Please feel free to ignore the exercise tips because clearly I am not a health expert, but the songs are legit recommendations if you like film scores. So what other film scores are good to listen to while running?
