Nike Sport Music Mix Reviews

Posted by Mitch Michaels on 04.23.2008

Work out with Lance Armstrong, Serena Williams and Kara Goucher as they coach you using their favorite tunes on these mix tapes, plus, enter to win a $100 NIKE GIFT CARD…

Famed four-time Olympic gold medalist runner Jesse Owens once said:

"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."

Seventy years later, the Black Eyed Peas stated:

“What you gon' do with all that junk?/All that junk inside that trunk?/I'ma get, get, get, get, you drunk/Get you love drunk off my hump.”

Today, Nike has found a way to combine those two sentiments.

One day, a man put on a pair of rubber soul shoes and took off running for no reason at all. The next day, I’m convinced that the man did the same thing, but with a pair of headphones on.

Combining music with running, or any kind of exercise, is a no-brainer. It’s the reason arm bands for iPod’s are so popular. It’s the third biggest reason to create a mix tape or playlist (just behind road trips and letting a girl know you dig them). Nike has taken that one step further, by taking popular athletes and having them set up play lists that do more than sound good: they help control and vary the pace of your running.

Since these aren’t your normal albums (all the tracks are hot singles, after all, and not necessarily in their entirety), this won’t be a normal review. Instead of just listening, I’ll be taking five of these mix tapes out for a test run and telling you how the run turned out. I’ll be using the following rating system:

Cold: You won’t even feel it.

Nice: A fun, brisk run.

Warm: Be sure to bring a towel, cause you’ll be getting warm.

Hot: Do this one every day and you’ll be buying new shoes soon.

All of these albums are available digitally via iTunes. To order, just click on the titles. And don’t forget to check out the CONTEST for a FREE $100 NIKE GIFT CARD at the end of the review.

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Lance Armstrong: Run Longer Coaching Mix

01. Lance Armstrong: Run Longer
02. Island In the Sun (Weezer)
03. Dance Inside (The All-American Rejects)
04. Love It When You Call (The Feeling)
05. Woman (Wolfmother)
06. 3’s & 7’s (Queens of the Stone Age)
07. Yesterday to Tomorrow (Audioslave)
08. Moving Along (The All-American Rejects)
09. 155 (+44)
10. Is It Any Wonder (Keane)
11. Say It Ain’t So (Weezer)
12. Everybody’s Changing (Keane)
13. Loser (Beck)
14. Sewn (The Feeling)

Our first program was put together by Lance Armstrong, a seven-time winner of the Tour de France and pretty much the poster boy for athletic inspiration in the 21st Century.

Lance’s mix is great for rock enthusiasts, as it contains tracks by Weezer, Queens Of The Stone Age, Beck and others. The set is 40 minutes long, and designed for a longer run. Because of this, the mix starts out with a long period of slower-tempo songs, like Weezer’s “Island In The Sun”. Lance then plants a Nike firmly in your ass with the fast-paced “Woman” by Wolfmother. And that’s when the workout really begins. Fast tempos and brief cool downs continue throughout the mix.

Lance does a fun job with narration here, though…well, he’s not the best voice actor. I would put his performance on the level of the guys in the Tony Hawk games. Very laid back though. My favorite line is “You should be feeling good now. And if you’re not, that’s cool.”

I really enjoyed the tracks on this set (being into rock first and foremost). It lulls you into a nice little run, but once the fast tracks kick in, you’ll be feeling the burn fast.

Rating:

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Serena Williams’ Interval Run

01. Whatever U Like (Nicole Scherzinger)
02. The Way I Are (Timbaland)
03. Give It to Me (Timbaland)
04. My Humps (Black Eyed Peas)
05. Makes Me Wonder (Maroon 5)
06. Tambourine (Eve)
07. Impacto (Daddy Yankee)
08. Out of Control (State of Emotion) (Kenna)
09. Glamorous (Fergie)
10. Fergalicious (Fergie)
11. Pump It (Black Eyed Peas)

Serena Williams, of course, is an Olympic gold medalist tennis player, and she’s bring the beats for her first workout mix.

Serena’s Interval Run is the shortest of the mix tapes I’m reviewing, but it definitely has a lot of bounce. Oh, and if you didn’t know, Serena is a BIG fan of Fergie. With tracks like “My Humps” and “Glamorous”, the mix should be a favorite for the ladies, but, seeing as how this is headphones-only fare, I can get my freak on without anyone knowing.

Ms. Williams does a fun read and offers a lot of encouragement, though she’s a bit more demanding than Lance Armstrong. Probably better for days when you don’t feel like lugging all that junk in your trunk out for a run.

A bit more strenuous than Run Longer, but at ten minutes less, it won’t blow you up.

Rating:

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Serena Willams’ Spontaneous Speed Workout

01. Family Affair (Mary J Blige)
02. Just Fine (Mary J Blige)
03. Let It Go (Keyshia Cole)
04. Instigator (Kaci Brown)
05. Release (Timbaland/Justin Timberlake)
07. Apologize (Timbaland/OneRepublic)
08. Give It To You (Eve & Sean Paul)
09. Unbelieveable (Kaci Brown)
10. Nolia Fairytake (Vanessa Carlton)
11. A Thousand Miles (Vanessa Carlton)

Serena shows up twice in this series, and her second mix is a bit different. It’s another lean half hour, but Serena cuts in tracks by Keyshia Cole and Timbaland like a DJ on acid, making for an unpredictable experience. In most workouts, the celebrity coaches will let you know well in advance when they’re going to pick up the pace, but on Spontaneous Speed, Serena only gives you a moment’s notice before kicking it into a higher gear.

My biggest beef with this mix over the previous two is that the tracklisting just isn’t as nice. There aren’t as many huge hits here, and there’s less variance. If you don’t dig Serena’s tastes, you’re not going to be enjoying this one as much.

Still, the unpredictability makes for a challenging run, and as long as you’re down with modrn R&B, you should be pumping your legs pretty well tot his one.

Rating:

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Kara Goucher’s Endurance Boost

01. Let’s Get It Started (Black Eyed Peas)
02. Don’t Phunk With My Heart (Black Eyed Peas)
03. Timebomb (Beck)
04. Say Goodbye To Love (Kenna)
05. Somewhere Only We Know (Keane)
06. For The Girl (The Fratellis)
07. Lay Down The Law (The Switches)
08. Where It’s At (Beck)
09. The Middle (Jimmy Eat World)
10. Sorry Sorry (Rooney)
11. Come To You (Carina Round)
12. Chase The Light (Jimmy Eat World)
13. Stop Stare (One Republic)

Kara Goucher comes in to lay the smackdown as the first host to actually be known for her running. As an “endurance” playlist, Endurance Booster takes you the distance for 40 minutes.

The songs are a mix of Serena and Lance’s favorites, as Kara mixes R&B (Black Eyed Peas) and indie rock (Keane, The Fratelis). Kara’s voice clips are pretty similar to Lance’s (in fact, they have a couple of lines that are exactly the same…SCRIPTED?), but Kara sounds much hotter saying it. In fact, if you’re running with a girlfriend, this could be your mix of choice, as it’s got enough edgy rock for guys and bouncy, fun R&B for girls.

Rating:

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Fearless: Zoom Jasari + Mixed Run

01. Wake Up Call (Maroon 5)
02. Love Today (MIKA)
03. Tick Tick Boom (The Hives)
04. Flathead (The Fratellis)
05. When Did Your Heart Go Missing? (Rooney)
06. Rehab (Amy Winehouse)
07. Crank That [Travis Barker Remix] (Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em)
08. Chelsea Dagger (The Fratellis)
09. Ruby (Kaiser Chiefs)

Playtime’s over on this one. In fact, the Fearless mix is gonna kick your ass so hard, that no celebrity athlete would host it, for fear you’d wanna punch them in the face. Instead, we get a smarmy “instruction voice” type guy, who you’ll for sure be wanting to throttle.

Even the warm-up is faster here, as Maroon 5’s “Wake Up Call” will get you puffing. Another mix of mainstream hits and indie rock high tempo numbers, Fearless includes tracks by Amy Winehouse, The Hives, Kaiser Chiefs, and a really interesting mix of Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” by ex-blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.

My favorite mix of songs (heck, you might even discover something new here), but definitely the most demanding workout.

Rating:

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You may be wondering, how can I get these mixes? Well, aside from using the buy links in the review, you can also check out the Nike+ Plus site, or Nike Sport Music.

The mixes run between $10 and $15 bucks and are worth it if you’re looking for something to changeup your workout.

Even better, though, 411 is giving away a $100 Nike gift card, which you can use to buy any of these mix tapes or other cool Nike gear. Hey, we don’t care how you use it. Even buy a visor if that’s your thing.

All you have to do to enter is send your own running playist (song lists only, between 8 and 12 tracks) to [e-mail] with the subject “Nike”. The contest will run until Tuesday, April 29th. The person with the coolest mix will be declared the winner of the gift card. So get to it!

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The 411: The Nike Sport Music mix tapes are an awesome idea and a great way to organize your workouts. The songs are all great and current, and the different sets combine indie rock, mainstream R&B and big modern rock hits. The addition of celebrity athletes to provide tips and encouragement throughout makes them better than just a list of songs, and each mix is designed to get the most out of your 30-40 minutes. Recommeded for runners at any level.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]