The 50 Best Indie Workout Songs of All Time

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Indie rock never gets a fair shake when it comes to workout music. Blame Zac Braff’s Garden State soundtrack, which tarnished a genre that trashes and crashes and motivates your ass into gear just as well as heavy metal (speaking of which…) and punk. And indie rock pushes you as it surprises you. The tympanic-membrane-shredding of Sonic Youth’s guitars. The organ-grinding-madness of Pixies’ vocals. The brain-bending-powers of The Flaming Lips’ bleeps and bloops. Indie rock is exciting, empowering, heart-clenching, gut-wrenching, and for all those reasons it’s essential for any workout playlist. Indie rock is the uncharted, and you must venture forth not quite knowing what to expect. Except that with these 50 ultimate indie workout songs, you now have a guide. Venture forth.

1. “Movement” by LCD Soundsystem

The cymbal-crash chaos of this 2005 James Murphy track is the shortest on the self-titled double album, but bursts with adrenaline. Play it when you need to get yourself moving.

Motivating lyric: You’re history and I’m tapped // You’re fast asleep and I’m tapped // You’re pillaging and I’m tapped // For best results well I’m tapped

2. “Z) Eliminator Jr.” by Sonic Youth

There’s just something about Kim Gordon panting and grunting over a single simple guitar riff for 40 seconds before launching into semi-incoherent shouting that’s relatable to anyone who has ever worked out.

Motivating lyric: Take a walk in the park? Shit, yeah

3. “A/B Machines” by Sleigh Bells

Some songs propel a workout because of their encouraging lyrics. Others, like this one, propel a workout because they are REALLY FREAKING LOUD.

Motivating lyric: [That single scream at 3:00]

4. “Wide Awake” by Parquet Courts

Off the same 2018 album with the song “Total Football,” this potent ditty is a pair of jumper cables for a fresh-out-of-bed workout. If you’re not up an at ’em after the first few bars, there’s not much more help for you.

Motivating lyric: I’m wide awake // Movin’ and groovin’ and I ain’t ever losin’ the pace

5. “XR” by Cymbals Eat Guitars

A song about the wildness of youth comes charged with a relentless snare and furious vocals that sound as if Joseph D’Agostino is rabid and ready to leap for the jugular.

Motivating lyric: Imagining victory // Our alternate history

6. “Run Run Run” by The Velvet Underground

Plug the 1967 classic into your mix right around mid-run. Lou Reed’s delivery is tired though determined. A plodding guitar keeps pace, even through the head-spinning solo that feels like the whole thing is going to fall apart at any moment. Somehow, it all finishes strong.

Motivating lyric: You gotta run, run, run, run, run

7. “Kill V. Maim” by Grimes

There’s so much weird and wild and wonderful packed into 4:06 that it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to put this one on loop and let it ride.

Motivating lyric: Cause I’m only a man, do what I can

8. “Baptiss Blacktick” by Pavement

Somebody must have pissed off Stephen Malkmus on this 1993 deep cut from Westing (By Musket and Sextant). He snarls. He shrieks. He wails. He’s a whip crack when you need one.

Motivating lyric: [incoherent screeching at 1:32]

9. “Stay Useless” by Cloud Nothings

It’s a song about remaining sedentary, which is also strangely motivational.

Motivating lyric: Can I see what’s going wrong with me // I used to have it all, now I’m alone // I never said, I’m better off this way // I need something to do, somewhere to go

10. “That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate” by Mission of Burma

You could spend an entire afternoon re-watching Dead Poets Society, or you could listen to this two-minute 1982 powerhouse for the same carpe diem effect.

Motivating lyric: This might be your only chance // To prove it on your own

11. “Junko Ozawa” by The Raveonettes

See #3.

Motivating lyric: Prepare to die, prepare for war // I can tell the oceans in your eyes are red // I’m all fired up to end this now

12. “Bastards of Young” by The Replacements

The classic un-protest song doubles as a fist-raising kick-in-the-pants, particularly within the last frantic 30 seconds.

Motivating lyric: Take it, it’s yours [repeat]

13. “Panic Switch” by Silversun Pickups

You know that moment when you’re trapped beneath the threat of a descending bench press bar or facing the last brutal mile of a marathon training run? When the alarm bells of “I can’t do this!” start to clamor? That’s the panic switch.

Motivating lyric: Will you step in line or release the glitch? // Can you fall asleep with a panic switch?

14. “Idioteque” by Radiohead

This apocalyptic slow-build ratchets up the pressure until a sense of chicken-with-its-head-cut-off insanity kicks in. There’s an urgency that hurries you to move, move, MOVE!

Motivating lyric: Throw it in the fire // Throw it in the fire

15. “Waiting Room” by Fugazi

For appreciating the health you have, and enjoying it for all its worth.

Motivating lyric: But I don’t sit idly by // I’m planning a big surprise // I’m gonna fight for what I wanna be

16. “Dig Me Out” by Sleater-Kinney

The 1997 hit from indie-punk trio comes laden with a sneering resentment best reserved for the most hated of exercises.

Motivating lyric: One to get started // Three till we go

17. “Break My Body” by Pixies

As Frank Black howls, you pray for strength under duress.

Motivating lyric: I’m a building jumper // Roof to roof you’ll see me flying in the air

18. “Pearly Gates” by The Men

You know that bar fight scene in Roadhouse? This six-minute-plus bottle-throwing, chin-targeting, no-holds-barred brawler of song is that scene, in song form.

Motivating lyric: We gotta go // We gotta go

19. “Paddling Out” by Miike Snow

For you swimmers out there, a salute.

Motivating lyric: You say isn’t it hard? // Paddling out, paddling out

20. “Swim” by Surfer Blood

Seriously, that sport is no joke.

Motivating lyric: Relish in your energy // That’s the line of symmetry

21. “New Day Rising” by Hüsker Dü

Lyrics-wise, there’s not much to the opener of Dü’s 1985 album. But there’s a force behind the frenetic drums, blasting guitars, and primal screams. It’s audial horsepower.

Motivating lyric: [unintelligible]

22. “Midnight City” by M83

For every quiet moment in this track from 2011’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming there’s a equal and opposite burst of intensity. And if you’ve never worked out with a sax solo in your headphones, it’s time.

Motivating lyric: Waiting for a roar

23. “Assassins” by Lighting Bolt

It’s the sound of blood pumping hard in your ears. It’s the flush and rush of the pump. It’s the lightheadedness of survival. It’s madness.

Motivating lyric: [don’t bother]

24. “Old Wounds” by PUP

This mauler feels unstoppable, a powerful hunger for retaliation fueling the entirety of its breathless two-minutes. Save it for your last set.

Motivating lyric: You keep trying to rip open old wounds // It’s so embarrassing, don’t you know I’m over you?

25. “Running” by Gil Scott-Heron, Jamie xx

The unlikely indie superduo races through several paces in this synth and spoken word drill sergeant of song.

Motivating lyric: Because I have to be running for something of more value // To be running and not in fear

26. “Wolf Like Me” by TV On The Radio

From the first drumbeat, there’s a runner’s high that permeates the whole thing—a fuzzy, elevated, ecstatic, yet wholly determined sense of purpose.

Motivating lyric: My heart’s aflame // My body’s strained, but, God, I like it

27. “License to Confuse” by Sebadoh

It’s short, but the track’s power resides in that earworm of a guitar hook that ducks and dodges vocalist Lou Barlow’s lines as if it’s in the first round of a prize fight.

Motivating lyric: Like I’ve been letting me slide // Just some nonsense on my mind

28. “Enfilade” by At the Drive In

From its ominous opening phone call, this 2000 caterwaul is an anthem for an uprising. Its chorus is frenzy, concentrated, and begs to be chanted at the top of your weary lungs.

Motivating lyric: Freight train coming // Freight train coming

29. “Heavy Cross” by Gossip

This eerie 2009 steamroller of a track features Beth Ditto styling all over janky guitars and punchy drums. It’s Gang of Four by way of the dance floor.

Motivating lyric: We can play it safe or play it cool // Follow the leader or make up all the rules // Whatever you want, the choice is yours // So choose

30. “Golden Skans” by Klaxons

Here’s a fun treadmill workout: Ratchet up the machine whenever the chorus of this 2007 track fires up. Then bump it back down to something manageable during the verse.

Motivating lyric: A hall of records or numbers or spaces still undone

31. “Cut-Out Witch” by Guided By Voices

Robert Pollard sings about a shifty witch while a haunting and ever-intensifying guitar chases you down. You’d better run.

Motivating lyric: Do you think she can change your life?

32. “I Break Mirrors With My Face in the United States” by Death Grips

The hip-hop-electronic-punk-rock-art-project-that-isn’t-and-then-is-again delivers an onslaught of sound that leaves you feeling as if you’ve sprinted a 100-yard dash as fast and as hard as you can.

Motivating lyric: Don’t break my concentration with those thoughts baby

33. “Romantic Rights” by Death From Above 1979

There’s a chugging and a scraping to this 2004 track that feels like those times when you want to quit, but can’t.

Motivating lyric: You’re beating walls now you just won’t quit

34. “Damaged Goods” by Gang of Four

Though it may be about another kind of “working out,” there’s enough sweating going on in the lyrics that it won’t matter.

Motivating lyric: The change will do you good

35. “Abundant Living” by Iceage

The Danish punk-charged band starts this cherry bomb of a song with a battle-charge of noise, followed by the barking of vocalist Elias Bender Rønnenfelt. After that, you can’t turn back.

Motivating lyric: In the gaslights fire // I felt the power

36. “Doin’ the Cockroach” by Modest Mouse

What begins as a casual, meandering Mouse song gradually ascends into higher planes of hurry-up guitar and commanding vocals. Halfway through, you’re swept along, blood burning and feet on fire.

Motivating lyric: One year // Twenty years // Forty years // Fifty years // Down the road in your life // You’ll look in the mirror // And say, “My parents are still alive.”

37. “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” by Arctic Monkeys

The English band unleashes on this fun-as-all-hell 2006 track off Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.

Motivating lyric: Oh but you’re an explosion (you’re dynamite)

38. “The Rat” by The Walkmen

There’s a chip on the shoulder of this song. That edge digs in, holds on, and doesn’t release until it’s 4 minutes and 22 seconds are over. Neither do you.

Motivating lyric: When I used to go out I’d know everyone I saw // Now I go out alone if I go out at all

39. “Last Nite” by The Strokes

And not only because Albert Hammond Jr. knows his was around TRX Suspension Training.

Motivating lyric: And I don’t know why // I keep walking for miles

40. “Queen of Hearts” by Fucked Up

There’s a lovely story in here about the proletariat and affection and the meaning of being alive, but you’ll likely be pushing yourself too hard to pay attention.

Motivating lyric: Dawn breaks across this town and a new dawn breaks for me.

41. “Slow Hands” by Interpol

This one’s for enhancing your time under tension. Think of it as slooooooow hands.

Motivating lyric: Yeah, I already know that there ain’t no stoppin’

42. “My Shadow” by Jay Reatard

You know that feeling of competing against yourself? Of wanting to push yourself beyond what you currently are? So does this song.

Motivating lyric: The way you walk // The way you step on through // The way you do

43. “Titus Andronicus vs. The Absurd Universe (3rd Round KO)” by Titus Andronicus

There are moments during exercise when you will ask yourself the question posed, ad nauseum, in this 2012 offering from Local Business.

Motivating lyric: [you’ll get the point]

44. “Race for the Prize” by The Flaming Lips

Okay, technically it’s about a scientific race for a cure, but if you’re listening that closely to the lyrics, you’re not running hard enough.

Motivating lyric: Upwards to the vanguard // Where the pressure is too high

45. “Constructive Summer” by The Hold Steady

The something they are building does not preclude muscle.

Motivating lyric: We’re gonna build something this summer

46. “Set You Free” by The Black Keys

From their 2013 album Thickfreakness, this juicy guitar jam charges toward a sprint finish.

Motivating lyric: I’ll set you free [repeat]

47. “Arrows” by Mas Ysa

What begins as a whisper rises to a crescendo of hysteria. Thomas Arsenault orchestrates it all himself, too. And you think you’re the one who’s exhausted.

Motivating lyric: So run, if you can’t fight us // Then you count to us, and you don’t see it

48. “Gun” by CHVRCHES

There’s a rage that runs through this 2013 banger that Lauren Mayberry’s sprite-like voice only makes more threatening.

Motivating lyric: You had better run from me // With everything you own // ‘Cause I am gonna come for you // With all that I have

49. “Booty City” by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

For glute day.

Motivating lyric: This is the best that I ever had in my life.

50. “Exercise Man” by Dean Ween Group

You made it. Feel the burn.

Motivating lyric: Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! // You’re the Exercise Man

Check out the full playlist below and follow Men’s Health on Spotify:

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