Bushwalking Fitness | My Bushwalk Training Music

To be able to successfully train for bushwalking using background music, you must first select music with a range of suitable BPM and then be able to vary the BPM depending on terrain. Find out how to do this, get some iPhone app recommendations and my iTunes playlist.

Firstly it is important to realise that choice of music  for bushwalking training is a very personal matter. Everyone's playlist will be different and depends on their age and musical upbringing. Mine covers pop, country, metal, R&B, reggae, but mainly rock from the 60's to the present.

While I may like the drum beat of a rock band, someone else might like the trombone of a Bavarian oom-pah band to pace themselves. For others, the regular beat of a metronome may be sufficient.

The essential selection criteria for me were:

• enjoyable
• distinctive beat
• suitable range of BPM ( beats per minute) for my hilly terrain

I have published my iTunes Bushwalk Training playlist (80-140 BPM) so you can check out my choices by playing a short clip.

This playlist is for use during bushwalk training over hilly terrain, with walking speeds between 2 - 7 km/hr. Music tracks were selected because they had a distinctive beat (BPM) between 80 and 140 and because I had the songs already. They cover pop, country, metal, R&B, reggae, but mainly rock from the 60's to the present.

I used MIxMeister BPM Analyser (Mac), Beat Monitor and Cadence Run DJ (iPhone apps) to select suitable music. Remember that the first section of many tracks has a different BPM than the remainder, so the first 30 seconds may not be a good guide.

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