10 Best Workout Songs: Pump Up Your Gym Music Playlist

You know that feeling you get when the perfect song pops up on your workout playlist? It's a shot of pure adrenaline—exactly what you need down the stretch of a tough workout.

That feeling is more than a placebo effect. There's actual science to back up the notion that music makes us better athletes.

The pros know it too. In fact, in 2007, USA Track & Field banned the use of "performance-enhancing headphones" at their official events. Fortunately for you, the only thing banned at your gym is taking their towels home.

Music wields a lot of power over us. We put together a list of the best songs to boost your workout experience.

Honorable Mention No. 1: Metallica - Enter Sandman

Every good workout playlist needs an opening track, and "Enter Sandman" is one of the best there is. The first song on Metallica's eponymous fifth album, "Enter Sandman" starts with a simple yet intense guitar riff and slowly builds over the next minute and 10 seconds into an ass-kicking, name-taking rock anthem. Just hit play as you step on the treadmill, and by the time James Hetfield's voice hits you'll be in a full sprint.

Honorable Mention No. 2: Eminem - Lose Yourself

If you're gonna tell us you've never stared at yourself in the mirror of your gym's locker room while listening to this song, we're calling BS.

Honorable Mention No. 3: Olivia Newton-John - Physical

"Physical" may be cheesy, and it may be a little on the nose—even for this list—but why should your workout playlist be so serious all the time? If you're willing to have a little fun at the gym, this is the track for you.

10. Kendrick Lamar - DNA

Warning: video contains profanity.

A good workout track starts and ends strong, and "DNA" meets those criteria. Kendrick Lamar might not be an artist who comes to mind when you think of the type of hip-hop you want to lift weights to, but this track is a departure from the chiller, more cerebral tracks on DAMN. When the beat changes at the song's 1:50 mark, you'll get that extra burst of energy you need for your final set.

9. Foo Fighters - All My Life

Like "Enter Sandman," this song is the perfect workout starter. With a simple yet powerful opening guitar riff, "All My Life" will get your blood pumping even before Dave Grohl's hissing vocals begin. Crank up the volume (and your pace on the treadmill) and get to it.

8. Rihanna - Bitch Better Have My Money

Warning: video contains profanity.

If you're like us, you feel way more badass at the gym than any person curling 15-pound dumbbells ever should. "BBHMM" will feed your ego and get you pumped up while you're pumping iron. Just be mindful that once this song starts coming through your headphones, it will be tough to keep yourself from belting the hook out loud.

7. C+C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)

No, we're not kidding.

What C+C Music Factory lacks in musical depth it makes up for with an innate ability to make everybody—especially drunk baby boomers at weddings—get on their feet and dance. If you hear the first five seconds of this song and don't get fired up, you might as well stop reading this list because you're a lost cause.

6. Queen - We Will Rock You

For a song that doesn't feature a single instrument until past the midway point, "We Will Rock You" has what you need to get you through your workout. One of the world's first stadium rock ballads, it still stands the test of time and is one of the most widely played songs at American sporting events 40 years after its initial release. If you're looking to break up your playlist with something classic, this is the move.

5. Lil Wayne - 6 Foot 7 Foot

Warning: video contains profanity.

There's something about the flow of this track that makes you want to move. The beat is repetitive—it stays consistent throughout the track. Sometimes that can ruin a good workout song, but "6 Foot 7 Foot" has enough lyrical oomph to overcome it. In a shade over four minutes, Lil Wayne and Cory Gunz pack 82 bars into three verses with no repeated lines. Just get lost in the lyrics and keep pushing through.

4. Rage Against the Machine - Bulls on Parade

Warning: video contains profanity.

This song is three minutes and 49 seconds of fist-pumping, ass-kicking adrenaline. Honestly, this list could have just been 10 songs from the Rage Against the Machine discography, but for the sake of variety we decided that might be too much. With the repetition of this song's powerful guitar riff and the distorted vocals of Zack de la Rocha coming at you in megaphone form, by the end of the track you'll want to overthrow the bourgeoisie and reclaim the means of production…and do another set of seated military presses.

3. DMX - X Gon' Give It to Ya

There are two types of people in this world: those who appreciate DMX and liars. "X Gon' Give It to Ya" is everything rap in the early 2000s was about: It's in your face, it's repetitive and it features a dude in the background yelling "WHAT" every few seconds. That’s exactly what we're looking for when we fire up our workout playlist.

The song was the lead single from Cradle 2 the Grave, a box office dud that starred Jet Li and DMX. While that movie only holds a 26 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the soundtrack will live on forever.

2. Kanye West - Stronger

Sometimes a workout jam comes along that combines the right rhythm and cadence with the perfect lyrical theme. Kanye West's "Stronger" is the king of those jams. It takes the best aspects of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," which it samples, and adds a dark twist musically. Add Ye's refrain of "That that don't kill me can only make me stronger," and this track essentially becomes a Gatorade ad in music form.

1. Bill Conti - Gonna Fly Now

This is the type of song you throw on your workout playlist and pray nobody at the gym sees on your phone screen. But there's no need to be embarrassed—this song was made to get your blood pumping. Written for the 1976 boxing classic Rocky, "Gonna Fly Now" has a special place in cinema history as the song that sparked the cliched workout montage that has become so common in film ever since.

Put this song on repeat and run through the streets of your hometown. We guarantee you won't be disappointed.