Fitness

Themed Spin Class Playlists

1 Comment

I write this post while blasting Jason Derulo in my earbuds. You may ask me why. What a great question: A. I’m hiding from construction noise at work. And B. I’m creating a theme playlist for Spin next week! DUH. Next Monday, 3/5/18, all Jason Derulo. I have been teaching fitness classes for more than 11 years, but I haven’t talked about it too much on the blog yet. One of my favorite types of Spin classes to teach is a theme class. Here’s why:

  • Costumes. Y’all know I love any opportunity to dress up.
  • The hype. There’s nothing I like more than gloating about my upcoming classes on social media. Like here where I posted on Instagram about my upcoming boy band playlist. Or here where I showed everyone my amazing talent of keeping my “Happy New Year” tiara on my head the whole 60 minutes during my “Top Songs of 2017” playlist. I also tweet about themes in the hopes that the Dodge YMCA will retweet me some day.

  • Groupies. People love a good theme. Advertising in advance means more people will come. And sometimes I can even get people to create the whole playlist for me! Remember when Tim created a playlist for my Guest DJ Ride?
  • Easy to make the playlist. I just type “hot” in Spotify and BAM. I have a playlist. Ok it’s not that easy. But it is easier than pulling 15 random songs out of thin air.

Sometimes a theme playlist is based on current events, sometimes it’s an artist I want to highlight, sometimes it’s a trip I’m about to take, sometimes it’s a holiday that is coming up, and sometimes it’s just when the mood strikes me. Like almost every Thursday when I decide to throw in some throwbacks (#TBT, ya know?).

Sometimes my themes are specifically requested, like the Jason Derulo class coming up next Monday, 3/5/18. I am always trying to get people to give me requests, and some of my best themes have been suggested by participants, like Britney v. JT. This particular theme was requested by my best friend, who happens to be a special guest next week. Monday, 3/5/18. (Have I said it enough times yet?)

Here are themes I have used in the past, including links to my Spotify, once I started using it. Feel free to follow my Spotify, or follow those individual playlists if the theme moves you:

Photos from My Theme Classes of Yore

I am always accepting new ideas for Spin class themes, song requests or theme requests. If you have any, leave them in the comments! And if you’re in the Brooklyn area, don’t forget to come to my class, next Monday, 3/5/18, at 7 pm. Wear your Jason Derulo fangirl outfits.
Continue Reading

Miscellaneous

Spotify Time Capsule

No Comments

Do you love the 90’s? If you were born in the late 80’s, probably the answer is “HELL YES.” If you were born in the 70’s and you love the 80’s, the same thing applies. Et cetera. Et cetera. Et cetera. What if I told you that you could be instantly transported to the best jamz of your youth, curated FOR YOU, with a click of a button? You’d totally be down, right? I thought so. Well that is exactly what Spotify Time Capsule is. It has changed my life and made my week. This feature has been available since September 28th, and I don’t know how I have survived a month (or 30 years) without it.

During my Monday night Spin class, I casually mentioned that I had done an all throwback 90’s playlist last Thursday (listen to it here!) so a newbie to my class came up to me afterward and informed me of this magical feature on Spotify. Somehow, through a mix of creepy stalkage, magic, and voodoo (and by asking the year you were born), Spotify creates a playlist of every song you listened to from 5th grade through twelfth. AND BEYOND. Ok maybe not EVERY one, but 55 of them! This is a creepily accurate list.

According to Spotify’s press release, this feature can be designed for any user over the age of 16, in 60 Spotify markets, and “gathers the 30 most nostalgic tracks from your teens and early twenties, creating the soundtrack for a trip down memory lane.” My capsule had 55 songs, so I guess it ranges per person. Maybe it’s because I obsessively use Spotify every day, and also because I pay for premium. But this feature is not reserved for only premium users! Most tech blogs presume that this idea comes from the “battle for subscribers” between Apple Music and Spotify, with both of them trying to add more personalized features. I have always been Team Droid, but in my completely biased opinion, I have to say, Spotify NAILED this one.

It would be one thing if it only picked songs from my already-downloaded library, but no. This list includes songs I totally forgot about but TOTALLY listened to. It starts with “This is My Party” from Fabolous and goes to “Case of the Ex” by Mya, two of my favs. At first, I was skeptical. Didn’t everyone love those songs? Also, are they only picking hip hop because I play a lot of hip hop for my spin classes? But then I scrolled down and realized a large majority of southern rappers, Trick Daddy appears more than once. Did they know I grew up in south Florida? HOW!? I didn’t even have Spotify back then!

Then I thought to myself, I liked more than Southern Rap. These Spotify biatches don’t KNOW me!! So I scrolled some more and found Backstreet Boys… then Fiona Apple… then Whitney Houston… a song from Pocahontas… OK THEY KNOW ME! THEY KNOW ME BETTER THAN I KNOW MYSELF! I have been listening to this playlist for two days straight. You guys absolutely must try it out and tell me if my playlist is different than yours! Click here to make your own, and then check out mine in all its glory. If you’re using the Spotify program and not the browser version, just type “time capsule” into the search bar. I guarantee you it will make your day.

https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1E516gnkWfVieT

Continue Reading

Fitness

Guest DJ Spin Class

4 Comments

I have been teaching Spinning classes for 11 years. During some parts of my life, I was teaching 4 classes/week on the bike. And I made the playlist for Every. Single. One. Y’all remember Kazaa? Napster? They were after people like me. JK. I downloaded allll of my music legally. 😉 Anyway, I digress. Monday, that all changed; I didn’t make the playlist, Tim did!

Tim has been attending my Spin classes religiously for a year. I thought it was longer, but it’s just because he never misses a class! When his sister was in town, he even brought her along for the ride. Literally. (I crack myself up.) Anyway, Tim had never made a playlist before, but after attending nearly 100 of my classes, he wanted to try it out. I had faith in his musical choices because he tends to win round after round of Name That Tune when I challenge the class. I figured if he could identify Taio Cruz with less than 1 second played, I was in good hands.

Sure enough, he pulled through. He sent me the full playlist on google play music, and I transferred it to Spotify, where I have an unlimited membership. See? I’ve transformed into a good, law-abiding citizen. Tim knows I love a good spattering of K-pop in my class, but unfortunately the only song he picked that I couldn’t find on Spotify was Energetic by BOA. Truly unfortunate because it is a JAM. Not to worry, I subbed in another K-Pop song in its place: New Face by Psy, the lyrical genius who brought us Gangnam Style.

The playlist featured some of my favorite artists including Busta Rhymes, Major Lazer and Ariana Grande. He also included some songs I had never heard of before by great artists, like Alphabeat by David Guetta. Tim told me the drills he thought would go best with half of the songs and left the other half to my spin drill expertise. I played the new songs through about 4 times until I felt comfortable cueing them, then I called it a day. So much less effort on my part.

We had a blast, and I had to do so much less work! Since I had been promoting the class for weeks on Instagram, I had to appease my followers. Accordinglyyyy, after class we took some awesome photos and boomerangs to commemorate the occasion and post on all the social meds. Duh.

If ANYONE wants to guest DJ in the future, send over your playlists! I even take requests for single songs. The only thing is, I always reserve the right to VETO. Maroon 5… never gonna happen.

The full playlist can be found here. And while you’re at it, click here to follow me on Spotify to stay up-to-date.

Continue Reading