A song workout ties an exercise to a repeated word or phrase in a song — every time the lyric hits, you move. It is one of the easiest ways I know to make training more fun, whether you are working out with your kids, with a partner, or just need to shake up your own warm-up like I do. Two songs carry most of the load for me: Roxanne by The Police, and Bring Sally Up. Pick the song, assign the movements, press play, and hang on.
Watch now: press play on the video above, or listen in the player at the top of the page.
Play Roxanne by The Police. Every time Sting sings the word Roxanne, you do a burpee, and every time he sings the word light — as in put on the red light — you do a squat. The song starts slow and ramps up hard, and Police songs are perfect for this because Sting repeats the same phrase over and over. Sometimes I put it on repeat and run it three or four times in a row.
On the lyric bring Sally up, you move to the top of the exercise; on bring Sally down, you move to the bottom and hold. With pushups that means holding your chest an inch off the ground until Sally comes back up, and holding a plank at the top. The down holds stack up fast, and the song decides when you get to move.
Pushups are the classic, but pull-ups turn it brutal — top of the pull-up on up, dead hang on down. Back squats, front squats, and goblet squats all work too: stand tall on up, hold the bottom of the squat on down. Pick the movement that matches your level, and repeat the song if a single pass gets too easy.
Find a song with a chorus or phrase that repeats over and over, then assign an exercise to each repeated word. There are millions of songs that qualify. One word triggers a rep, or one phrase toggles you between the top and bottom of a hold. It is a fun way to take a song you love and turn it into a song you cannot stand.
Because fun is what keeps people training. A song workout drops perfectly into a warm-up, levels the field when you are training with kids or a partner, and makes a hard effort feel like a game instead of a grind. I use them whenever my own training starts feeling stale — a little variety goes a long way toward consistency.
Here are the two workouts I use, plus the rule for building your own.
I demo the timing on both songs and explain how the holds should feel in the episode. Press play in the player above.
Sting repeats the same phrase over and over and over, which makes for a good song and an even better workout trigger. Roxanne starts deceptively slow, then the chorus piles up on you and the burpees come in waves. You will find out exactly how many times he says Roxanne the first time you try it — and you will never hear the song the same way again. I tell you what to expect round by round in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Harder than they sound. The down position is the killer: chest an inch off the floor, or the bottom of a squat, or a dead hang, held until the song decides you can move. The first minute feels easy. By the back half you are bargaining with Sally. Repeating the track or switching to pull-ups takes it somewhere truly dark. I talk through pacing and scaling in the episode — press play in the player above.
Nobody sticks with training that feels like punishment forever. The whole reason I throw games like this into my warm-ups is that they make me look forward to the session, and the same trick works double with kids and training partners. A workout that produces laughing and trash talk is a workout that happens again next week. I share how I program these into a normal week in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Use music. Pick a song with a chorus that will not quit, hang movements on the lyrics, and let the track coach the session. It costs nothing and it works with any level of fitness, from your kids to your hardest training partner.
If you invent a great one, text me at 305-930-7346 — fill out the short form so I can text you back. I will throw your song into my own workout, and I mean that.
Roxanne · The Police · Sting · Bring Sally Up · burpees · squats · pushup holds · pull-up holds · goblet squats · warm-up games · working out with kids · text thread 305-930-7346
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the training, nutrition, and mindset that keep fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong, healthy, and in the game for life — short, practical episodes you can put to work the same day.
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