The songs that get us going.

A good workout is all about sustaining motivation and music can help with that. Listening to the right music can cause the brain to release dopamine, thus boosting energy and causing you to push your limits that little bit further. There’s a reason SoulCycle classes aren’t held in silence and it’s not just because the instructor moonlights as a DJ at Fabric. But more importantly, and because you’re obviously dying to know, what do we listen to? From cycling and running to lifting weights, here are the songs that the MR PORTER team press play on to keep their blood pumping.

My Spotify library is a schizophrenic wreckage of everything from Depeche Mode to Vanessa Carlton and OutKast, so hitting shuffle while I’m working out isn’t really an option. What I do listen to changes month to month (although I find that Drake and Ms Azealia Banks both do a good job of keeping me going on the treadmill), but my favourite discovery has to be the energy-soaked Iglooghost. The London-based electronic music producer creates super-clean futuristic soundscapes that sit somewhere between drum and bass, glitch hop and wonky. The songs essentially sound like they were composed on another planet which, when I’m lying prostrate on the floor in the middle of a Hiit class, is exactly where I want to be.

Try this: Clear Tamei EP by Iglooghost

I’m currently reliving my youth through the up-tempo and quick-paced raps of early 2000s hip-hop boyband Pretty Ricky. It’s the sort of music that can get you pumped up while, er, pumping up. Their bass-heavy hits “Personal Trainer”, “Your Body” (aptly named – I have neither, so need both) and “Push It Baby”, which features Mr Sean Paul, are my personal favourites and the motivational #fitspo songs I need to help me get my summer bod.

Try this: “Personal Trainer” by Pretty Ricky

While, for legality, it would be unwise to recommend listening to music while actually cycling – although, ahem, earphones allowing for peripheral noise are available, or you could just use one earbud – the sport lends itself to certain genres. As Kraftwerk grasped with 1983’s “Tour De France”, drawn-out electronic epics with repetitive beats to keep up the cadence do sit comfortably when eating up lengths of road (even if, 100km in, you don’t sit so comfortably yourself). In fact, disco (see Ms Donna Summer and Mr Giorgio Moroder’s sublime “I Feel Love”, the full 12in version), electronica (Orbital, The Field), post-punk (New Order, The Durutti Column) and krautrock (Can, Neu!) all work. LCD Soundsystem merged all this and took it a step further with 45:33, a largely instrumental composition supposedly structured around a workout (although Mr James Murphy, not exactly a figure of fitness himself, later admitted this was mostly a pretence for sponsorship from Nike). The bulk of that record became Sound Of Silver, which is the ideal album for a long bike ride, if you are that way inclined.

Try this: “Get Innocuous!” by LCD Soundsystem

Drum and bass is the only music to listen to while running, period. Why? Most runners strike the ground between 160 and 180 times per minute, which corresponds exactly to the genre’s preferred beats per minute (BPM). With a BPM of roughly 175, Ed Rush & Optical’s 2009 classic Travel The Galaxy occupies the bouncier, more high-tempo end of the spectrum, which is a good thing, because a faster cadence is preferred when running (elite runners typically aim for 180 strides per minute). I challenge you to run a mile while listening to track five, “Chubrub”, and not go faster.

Try this: Travel the Galaxy by Ed Rush & Optical

Cardi B’s Invasion Of Privacy has been my go-to album for training since the first time I heard it. I was on the NYC Subway when a woman entered my carriage with a boombox blasting (and rapping) the track “Bodak Yellow”. I was immediately captivated by its lyrics: “You in the club just to party/ I’m there, I get paid a fee/ I be in and out them banks so much/ I know they’re tired of me”. I dare you not to get excited while listening to this! “I Like It” is the perfect track for a spin class or a run in the park and when I have to wind down and stretch I skip to track eight, “Ring”. Breathe in, breathe out, listen to Cardi B!

Try this: Invasion Of Privacy by Cardi B