Sure, He’s an Arse, but His Songs Rock for Workouts

Credit: SOCIALisBETTER

Love him or hate him (guessing it’s probably the latter), I will say one thing about Kanye West: He sure can put out a hella-good workout album. The past few weeks I have been jamming to “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”, and it’s kind of changed my fitness life, breathing energy into monotonous treadmill workouts (woe was me with so much snow on the ground!).

With the prevalence of iTunes, we’re switching up the usual format of our FitHits album reviews (after all, you don’t care about the songs that suck, only the songs that you need to download because they ROCK!) to highlight the must-download or at least must-preview tracks. And the songs you won’t be able to live (or at least work out) without? Many.

After listening to this entire album about 40 times, I really do like something about just about every single song—even if a number of them are naughty, naughty. The first track, “Dark Fantasy,” makes for the perfect warm-up track, as it builds in intensity throughout the song. “Power” is another amazing high-energy song that will seriously make you feel like you have the “power” to push through any exercise. Also, don’t miss “All of the Lights,” which is the single that features Rihanna and is perfect for a mid-tempo track when lifting weights or doing cardio. “Hell of a Life” is another high-energy track worth checking out.

The best tracks of the album though, in my humble opinion? “Monster” is a true show-stopper that will take any workout to the next level with ridic skills from Jay-Z and my current music obsession, Nicki Minaj. Then there’s “Lost in the World,” which starts off slow and builds into a super high-energy track. It’s perfect for running, especially when doing intervals. (And if you’re a Bon Iver fan, you’ll recognize this one for sure.) And be sure to end your workout with “Runaway.” It’s the right pace for a cool down, and it’s somewhat fascinating to listen to Kanye describe himself as a d-bag.

Whether it’s lifting weights, running or going for a power walk throughout the neighborhood, if you like rap and hip hop for your workouts, you definitely will want to add some new Kanye tracks to your music collection! —Jenn