I recently joined Jazzercise, and with the help of the best company Secret Santa gift EVER, am attending classes several times each week. Cause it's 2008, baby! 2008! Time to get my ass in gear.

Jazzercise no longer includes leotards and legwarmers (I know. Damn.), but luckily does still include one hell of a workout mix. With artists ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Justin Timberlake, the songs truly help me keep my energy up and get my dance on. Which got me thinking about what kinds of songs keep me the most motivated, and why.

Apparently someone at the New York Times was thinking along the same lines as me because they ran this article last week. Titled "They're Playing My Song. Time To Work Out." the article looks into the science behind workout music by speaking with Dr. Costas Karageorghis, who has spent the past twenty years studying the effects of music on physical performance. In fact, the good doctor even created a music rating system to rank the motivational qualities of certain songs in a fitness context.

The findings of Karageorghis' studies? Apparently the ideal song for a high intensity workout is "The Heat is On."

HELL YEAH GLENN FREY!

That one did not make the cut on my personal workout mix but I did listen to Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" twice while on the eliptical this morning...

Karageoghis bases his rankings on the beats-per-minute or B.P.M. of the song, which you can read more about in the article, though it seems pretty self-explanatory. Apparently the ideal B.P.M. for a workout song is 120-140.

I'm not sure about the B.P.M. of any of my own workout songs, but I do know that pop-hip-hop and hardcore tend to be the genres I choose. I run pretty damn hard to Kanye West's "Stronger" and I don't believe there's any better song to stairmaster to than "94 Hours" by As I Lay Dying. I mean, think about it, any song that drives a curly-blonde-haired girl to want to open up a pit in the middle of the Y is likely to burn some extra calories.

So what gets you all moving?

That is, assuming your workouts include more than a mop-top hair toss and a casual drag on your Parliament Light...