This feature originally ran in The Standard-Times on Feb. 21, 2004.

By Nick Tavares
Standard-Times correspondent

It's time for your daily workout, so you gather your essential gear -- Spandex tank top, friction-free shorts, breathable-mesh shoes.

And your Walkman, of course.

What will it be today? Eminem? Led Zeppelin? Or how about OutKast or Justin Timberlake?

These are just a few of the artists who help drive exercisers through their various routines.

Walk into any gym or fitness center and you'll see that earphones are as common to a workout as muscle shirts. For some listeners, the music is deliberate, picked off the CD shelf to propel that day's routine, while for others, it's just something to push the boredom away.

"It all depends on my mood," explains Mallory Rossi, a sprinter on the New Bedford High School track team. "I listen to almost everything, but I like to listen to something really upbeat before I run.

"Before my last meet, I had a mix CD of a lot of R&B and rap, with people like 50 Cent, Jay Z and Beyonce."

In the weight room at Health Trax in North Dartmouth, Manny Pimentel, 42, shares some of the favorite artists he keeps fit to.

"If I bring the headphones, I like to listen to Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin -- I like heavy metal," he says.

"But some of the stuff they play here is good, too. The new stuff, like Justin Timberlake, that's good music to work out to. It's something to keep you moving, keep you going."

Justin Blier, 20, and Josh Bonneau, 19, of Dartmouth agree, adding that they draw a distinction between the music they listen to while working out at home versus the music they listen to in the weight room.

"Here, I like a lot of alternative rock -- Staind, Puddle of Mudd, Linkin Park, and at home I listen to more hip-hop," says Mr. Blier. "I listen to it to give me that extra push when you're really working."

"Yeah, and 3 Doors Down, if he didn't mention it," adds Mr. Bonneau.

Upstairs on the treadmills, Katie Marchessault, 29, of Fairhaven offers a different perspective.

"I don't listen to anything when I'm jogging outside because I like to be aware of what's around me, like cars. But here, it's more monotonous, so sometimes it's the music that keeps me concentrated," she says.

"I listen to mostly fast stuff. There's a lot of dance music, like Prodigy, and earlier OutKast was on.

"Just about anything fast," concurs Kerri Goodhue, 19, her cousin and workout partner.

While the musical emphasis is mostly on anything speedy and upbeat to keep people moving, manager Lisa Porto of Curves Fitness Center in Fairhaven has a more scientific approach to music and exercise.

"Curves sends us the CDs, and they have a lot of remakes and remixes of older songs," Ms. Porto says. "Every song has to have 140 beats (per minute), so that's why a lot of the older songs are redone.

"Well, we play a lot of different stuff -- oldies, country, top 40, Latin -- and we need that, because we have a very (diverse) clientele, with the ages ranging from 14 to 40. But it's all very upbeat and keeps everyone going."

The need to keep the beat moving and to stay motivated rates high for most everyone. But working out to a particular band, or music in general, is not for everyone.

Greg Homol, fitness center supervisor at UMass Dartmouth, prefers not to be distracted by music.

"Really, it doesn't affect me," he says. "I don't listen to anything, just whatever happens to be on the radio here. I like to concentrate, and as long as it's not too distracting, it doesn't really matter to me what comes on.

"Unless it's Charles and Anthony (the afternoon DJs at 94 HJY). Those guys drive me up a wall."

NBHS track coach Steve Gardiner offers a more humorous look at it all.

"When I go running, I like to go out to clear my head. I've worn headphones maybe twice in the thousand times I've gone running."

Then he adds with a laugh, "Real runners don't need to wear headsets."

This story appeared on Page C1 of The Standard-Times on February 21, 2004.