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What are relevant tempos for the best workout songs or running songs?

Figuring out the right tempo for your exercise can be difficult.  After all, most people don’t count the number of steps they take in a minute when walking or running or their rotations per minute when cycling.    How do you find the best workout songs or running songs if you don’t know the right song tempos?
 
PaceDJ makes the process easier for you!  When you first launch PaceDJ, you tell the app whether you are a runner, walker, or cyclist.  PaceDJ then sets the default BPM for your chosen activity.  You can speed up or slow down the target pace using the up and down arrows in the main screen. 
 
Song tempos are marked in beats per minute (BPM).  If you are wondering what are typical BPMs for running, walking, or cycling, check out this article , written by James Sundquist, explaining the typical BPM zones for running walking or cycling.   Using this chart as a guide, you can hopefully begin to figure out the right tempos for the best workout songs or running songs.
 
Here are some excerpts from the article, illustrating typical pace zones in BPM.   
 
Walking Pace Chart:
  • Very Inactive: 80-100 steps/minute (roughly 2 mph)
  • Lightly Active: 120 steps/minute (roughly 3mph)
  • Moderately Active: 130 steps/minute (roughly 3.5mph)
  • Active: 140 steps/minute (roughly 4mph)
  • Very Active: 150 steps/minute (roughly 4.3mph)
  • Exceptionally Active: 160 steps/minute (roughly 4.6mph)
  • Athlete: 170-190 steps/minute (roughly 5-6mph)
 Running Pace Chart (Recreational to Athlete):
  • Very Active: 150 steps/minute (roughly 6.0mph)
  • Exceptionally Active: 160 steps/minute (roughly 6.7mph)
  • Athlete: 170 steps/minute – 190 steps/minute (roughly 7.5mph – 11mph)
Cycling Pace Chart:
  • Very Inactive: 50 RPM (100 beats or steps/minute)
  • Lightly Active: 60 RPM (120 beats or steps/minute)
  • Moderately Active: 65 RPM (130 beats or steps/minute)
  • Active: 70 RPM (140 beats or steps/minute)
  • Very Active: 75 RPM (150 beats or steps/minute)
  • Exceptionally Active: 80 RPM (160 beats or steps/minute)
  • Athlete: 85-95 RPM (170-190 beats or steps/minute)

Want to see how our partners at Ezia Human Performance tested PaceDJ?  Check out this blog posting: “In Search of the Best Workout Songs: Ezia Human Performance Puts PaceDJ To the Test”